Like a train wreck, we can’t help but watch Houston

Say what you will about the three-ring circus that is Houston politics, there’s no argument it can be entertaining and is rarely boring.

As city residents were lining up outside the big top for Tuesday’s main event — a recall election to decide the fate of Mayor Roger Purcell — the ringleader surprised the audience at Thursday’s Houston City Council meeting by resigning.

That’s right, effective 10 p.m. Monday — the night before the recall vote was to take place — Purcell will no longer be mayor. He’ll retain his council seat, which is up for election in October, and has said he does not intend to run for another term on the council.

Purcell, like anyone else, is entitled to resign a public service appointment — or any job, for that matter. What makes this move baffling is the months of staunch refusals to step down under the weight of pressure from many Houston residents. He’s been taken to task for a budget shortfall that threatened to terminate Houston’s small police department, for the city’s shooting eight dogs to alleviate crowding at the animal shelter, for pulling motorists over acting in a law enforcement capacity and for running lights on a city police vehicle on a trip to Fairbanks.

In the face of what became relentless criticism, his personal woes were also brought into the public realm, including an eviction and ongoing bankruptcy proceedings. All along, the pressure to resign continued, but Purcell stoically resisted.

Until now.

Those pushing to oust Purcell are now upset the mayor has resigned, citing the timing of the move. By waiting until Thursday to announce the resignation and making it effective the night before the scheduled recall election, the mayor has denied Houston residents an opportunity to make their voices heard where it matters most to politicians — the ballot box.

Of course the timing is a little suspect, but the frustration over being denied at the polls should not be directed solely at Purcell. Look no farther than his cohorts on the Houston City Council who accepted his resignation, which essentially killed the recall. Well, at least the four who sided with Purcell’s resignation — Lance Wilson, Ruth Blanchard, Lee Himes and Rosemary Burnett. Councilwomen Virgie Thompson and Natasha Schachle voted to not accept the resignation.

Had the council sided with Thompson and Schachle, the recall would have proceeded as planned.

To be fair, Purcell says his decision was motivated by increasing pressure on his family in retaliation for the controversies of his mayorship. When his son answers the telephone and hears a death threat, that’s crossing the line.

He also wonders why those pushing for recall are upset. They got what they wanted; Purcell won’t be mayor.

“Now they’re mad because I resigned,” he said. “If I paved the streets with gold, they would be mad because it wasn’t the proper carat. If you cure cancer, it’s not good enough because you didn’t cure something else.”

That’s a valid point, but hardly satisfying for those who followed the correct process to become engaged and involved in their local politics. It’s like if the captain of the Titanic at the last possible second before the ship sank exclaimed, “Well what do you know, another lifeboat!”

Regardless of how you feel about the work Purcell’s done, it’s hard to dispute he’s done a lot of it. What other mayor do you know of who spends a week driving a newly purchased city truck through Canada to save on delivery costs? And we’ve tried, but failed, to come up with a major state or borough meeting with implications for Houston at which the mayor was absent.

Come 10 p.m. Monday, Purcell will no longer be mayor. On Thursday, the council will meet to choose a new mayor. Whether anyone will want the job remains to be seen, but it should be entertaining.