In regards to your article Aug. 16, “Resident apologizes to city,” I have known Art Gourley for a number of years and I know him to be a person who loves and cares deeply about this community.
While many of us sit with our coffee buddies and complain about Vernon council and city staff, Gourley takes his antipathy for this council to the next level and voices his concerns directly to them.
Personally, I admire anyone who can even talk to a politician as I find them so utterly contemptible that if I was forced to have to talk to one, I would become incoherent.
I would confidently conjecture that if Gourley was some sycophant and was calling council members at home or in the office or meeting them on the street or going into city hall and lauding them about how great a job they are doing, they would absolutely love him and would probably hold him up as a paragon of a good citizen. However, because Gourley wants to hold them accountable for the job they are doing, they want to use taxpayer money to silence him.
Next city election, I will be going on the Vernon website and writing down the name of every member of council and I will vote for anyone who is not on that list.
Gourley has talked about running for mayor and if he does, he will certainly get my vote.
I would suggest that if anyone running for city council is that thin-skinned, then they should stay in their safe space and leave politics to those who can stand to take some critical input from their citizens.
M.C.R. Klein
Vernon