Elections clearly bring out several sides to a person or a candidate…That is if you’re close enough and looking. The following letter is in addition to an up coming “Letter to the Editor” in The Olympian and is from a fire fighter who just happened to get “close enough”.
Some quick background is that all of the fire fighters/EMT’s at Lacey Fire District #3 would all give you a different response to the question of why the city council is upset with the fire district because “we don’t know”. Everything was fine for over 40 years and then one day we are accused of things that vary day to day and are clearly unsubstantiated. What is it? Why? What is the real issue? If you don’t like our chief or our commissioners, then we understand the politics, but when you lash out at fire fighters and public servants who are doing nothing wrong other than wear a uniform of service, then that speaks volumes about character and integrity.
I have attended dozen’s of meetings at the Lacey City Council and in other public venues, and I’ve always kept my mouth shut and listened. I’ve never challenged directly a council member or said anything personal or attacking to any of them. But after arriving at a public debate at Panorama City with city council members and challengers, I experience first hand that John Darby ignored me while I stood in front of him, greeted him, and then watched as he actively reached around me to shake someone else’s hand . My crime? I am a fire fighter, and how dare I belong to a group that doesn’t agree with him. Even though our group is predominantly Republican (nationally, this is true) and endorsed him in the past, speaks volumes about his character and integrity. We don’t have to like each other but as both being public servants, decorum, etiquette, and discipline should make the simple act of a hand shake and returning a greeting an automatic response. After that event, I now fully believe the following account of John Darby’s interaction with other fire fighters.
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At the recent Thurston County Fair while on duty and in uniform I and another Lacey Fire Fighter were publicly ridiculed by notable local political figures Scott Roberts and John Darby. Mr. Roberts is the head of the TCRP (Thurston County Republican Party). Mr. Darby is on the board of the TCRP, the Deputy Mayor of Lacey and running for re-election for Lacey City Council this fall. Lacey Professional Fire Fighters endorsed Darby a few years back, though are endorsing his opponent Andy Ryder this year due to Darby and the current city council’s complete lack of support for adequate public safety.
Roberts and Darby were working the TCRP food booth when we stopped by to order a meal. Roberts proceeded to taunt us by stating “Hey I bet Lacey will have a better fire department when you guys get a new city council!” Darby followed up by informing us that we were opposing him, stating “The Democrats booth is down there (finger pointing included).” We responded with no retaliatory comments only expressing that we hoped some sort of solution will be worked out. We then proceeded to leave.
It must be stated though that the level of hostility that we received from Scott Roberts and John Darby was unexpected, unacceptable, and unprofessional. About half of our members vote Republican and on a national scale nearly 60% of union fire fighters vote Republican. The IAFF makes more political contributions to Republican candidates than any other union in the country!
One would think that Roberts and Darby would take these facts into consideration and exhibit a high level of tact, customer service, maturity and professionalism when dealing with the public at TCRP events. Instead these two have sunken in joint political grandstanding against uniformed professionals and citizens a like. Such actions only alienate those who have supported them in the past and exhibits poor leadership and representation of the Republican Party.