CPG vows Menard recall

WASILLA — While the city council did not formally ask Steve Menard to resign his office, a Mat-Su Valley based political group is preparing a recall petition.

Jennie Bettine, president and CEO of Conservative Patriots Group, said her organization has contacted the city about recalling Menard and is preparing the wording of a petition.

She said the move is in response to Menard’s behavior earlier this month while attending an Alaska Municipal League conference in Sitka. The city had to pick up a $350 cleaning bill for Menard’s hotel room at the Westmark Sitka, which the councilman repaid.

It was the nature of the damage and that the councilman was attending as a representative of the city at Wasilla’s expense that prompted the city council Monday to censure Menard, ask him to repay the entire $1,400 cost of the trip and restrict him from traveling on city business for the remainder of his term.

That doesn’t go far enough, Bettine said.

“We had hoped (Menard) would have been man enough to man up and say, ‘I did something wrong and the people who voted for me shouldn’t have to put up with this,’” Bettine said. “He did not choose to do that.”

Prior to meeting with the rest of the council in a closed session at Monday’s meeting, Menard addressed the incident. An itemized bill from the hotel lists damages to his room as including two mattresses and a chair that had been urinated on, there was vomit on the carpet, a window screen had been removed and a mattress was burned.

Menard issued a public apology, admitted a problem with alcohol and said he had been sober since the incident. He also said he’s seeking help.

“I am truly embarrassed and sorry, truly sorry,” he said.

When contacted Friday about the Conservative Patriots Group’s intention to recall him from office, Menard said he’s focused on his recovery and that he can still be an effective city councilman.

“When you have this illness, to make a life change you have to throw yourself 100 percent into it and take a hard look at yourself personally,” he said. “What other people say or do, if you focus on that, that will lead back to the bottle. I have to focus on what I can control and on redeeming myself.”

Menard said that, as of Friday, he’s 14 days sober and that, while humbling and embarrassing, the Sitka hotel incident is one that can change his life for the better.

“It hasn’t been the best two weeks of my life, but what it has been is life-changing,” he said. “I personally have to take this situation and turn it into a positive and say, ‘listen, you (messed) up. You need to take a serious hard look at yourself and make some changes.’ If this incident in Sitka had never occurred, would my behavior have changed? Not a thing. If I would’ve done things differently and it didn’t leak that I destroyed that room and it didn’t hit the media or the paper or become such a huge issue, I know exactly how my behavior would’ve changed — it wouldn’t have.”

That may be good for Menard personally, but for the Conservative Patriots Group, his actions were too damaging to the city and his position as a public servant to not be subject to a recall, Bettine said.

“Conservative Patriots Group is about values, it’s about getting our elected officials to understand when they take public office, they represent the people,” Bettine said. “As far as we are concerned, their job is to represent us with ethics, and his actions were just not acceptable. We don’t care who you are, you have to have some values. If you don’t, we’re going to try to get you out of office. … It’s kind of like someone being caught doing a crime. He’s not sorry before he got caught, he’s only sorry he got caught. This puts a bad taste in everybody’s mouth about the Wasilla City Council.”

Although the council as a whole didn’t formally ask Menard to resign, some council members say they agree with the philosophy behind CPG’s recall.

“To be honest with you, I was in Sitka and I did have to deal with the problems there and, to say the least, was embarrassed,” said councilwoman Colleen Sullivan-Leonard. “I personally would’ve liked for Mr. Menard to have stepped down. When you think about behavior of an employee, to give you an example, if I had a business and an employee had done that, he would’ve been fired. I believe the Conservative Patriots Group bringing this forward is a good move toward allowing the people in the community to (vote) on this matter.”

Sullivan-Leonard also said she plans to introduce an ordinance that more specifically addresses ethics and conduct for city council members, mayors and department heads.

“That way we have some teeth that says if there’s gross misconduct, we can have some action to move forward on that (as a city council),” she said.

Councilwoman Leone Harris sits next to Menard at every council meeting and said she’s never had any indication he’s ever been intoxicated or impaired while performing his elected duties. She said the council needed to condemn his actions, which it did.

“I think this has all shocked everybody,” she said. “I’m disappointed and I think some council members were a little concerned about the reputation of the council as a whole. I think the voters realize we are all accountable for our actions.”

She also advises people to not let strong emotions lead to snap judgments.

“I honestly believe everybody deserves a chance,” she said. “That has to be very humiliating. He admitted he has a problem and is seeking help. You know, I know there are a lot of people very angry at Mr. Menard, but we have to keep in mind he was elected by the people. Who am I to tell him he should step down when he was elected by the people? It’s up to them to tell him that.”

Quitting not

an option

Menard said he understands the emotional response people have and that his addiction to alcohol is a problem that’s been a longtime part of his life. The Sitka incident isn’t Menard’s first public run-in with alcohol problems. Those include a 2004 conviction for DUI and a guilty plea in 2007 to a charge of being drunk on a licensed premises. The 2004 incident, where he was found to have a blood alcohol content of .219, more than double the state’s .08 intoxication threshold, came during his first successful city council campaign.

But as a former Marine, the councilman also said “it’s not in me” to take the easy way out and just resign. He said he still has a passion for Wasilla and being a councilman, but if voters decide they don’t want him to continue serving, he’ll respect that.

“Absolutely, that would be easier, and that’s just not the Marine in me,” he said about resigning. “Listen, you pull your pants on, strap it on and get back into the battle. The easier thing would be to hide in a hole and resign, put your tail between your legs, but that’s just not in me.”

After that 2007 incident, Menard publicly said he had stopped drinking and it wouldn’t be a problem while serving on the council.

So why should anyone believe his promises now?

“I don’t know,” he said. “I cannot sit here and tell you I’ve got this thing whipped. I’ve got it one day at a time. I’m 14 days into (dealing with) a lifetime of problem.”

Menard said anyone who questions his ability to be an effective councilman should “ask around.” Aside from his personal behavior in Sitka, he said he has a good record of service.

“Let’s remove this alcoholism and my drinking problem from the equation and ask around and see what people say about me just as a representative, as a councilman,” he said. “Not about my family history or anything else, look at my record as a councilman.”

To recall Menard, Conservative Patriots Group has to turn in its application to the city including language outlining the basis for the recall, Wasilla City Clerk Kristie Smithers said. If it’s approved, CPG will need to collect a little more than 200 signatures of registered voters, or a number equal to at least 25 percent of the turnout for the last election.

And then a special election would be scheduled to vote on the proposed recall, she said.

In her 14 years as city clerk, Smithers said she can’t remember a recall election for a Wasilla city official.

That’s going to change, Bettine promised. The only thing that will stop CPG’s recall effort is if Menard resigns before it can happen, she said.

“He really should just resign and not put the city through this,” Bettine said. “If he’s going to have this kind of conduct and spend the city’s money this way, we need to recall him.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.