CON GAMES: The Tragedy Of Irish Ireland

June 26th, 2008 at 10:52pm Michael Conniff 2

Aspen Mayor Mick Ireland was yelling at me as he was walking out of the KNFO studio after his live appearance with City Manager Steve Barwick on "Con Games" Wednesday morning and I was yelling back.

It would have been better all around if Mayor Ireland had been so kind as to scream at me on air, just as it would have been better if he had blown his top at the City Council meeting after, instead of before, they turned the cameras on. But such overt displays of pique would not be in keeping with the kinder, gentler politician promised during the election campaign just past.

Not that Mayor Ireland did not have good cause to be angry as he climbed on his bike and left the station for adventures unknown. No wonder he was mad: I had asked him to name names--to name the people who were "Swift boating" him with "illegalities."

Instead of an answer he said: "I will have no comment on that." I said the man who has a comment on everything suddenly has no comment and I could not let it go because I wanted accountability. I don't think the Mayor of a city can fabricate illegal campaign activities of those who are supposedly against him and get away with it; or I think the Mayor is at least required to name said Swift Boaters if they actually exist. Otherwise he may seem to the uninitiated like a paranoid nut job.

I had actually said in an email earlier this week to Mayor Ireland that if he merely admitted he didn't know the origin of the supposed "illegalities," all he had to do was tell me he didn't know and I would drop the subject--hardly a gotcha scenario. But he just couldn't do it.

Ironically, as he left the station, the Mayor was not yelling at me about Swift boats but because I was "rude" and I kept interrupting him. I did this knowingly because I was not going to allow Mayor Ireland to pull his favorite "if you would just let me finish" routine, his silly way of trying to fillibuster every question. And I was not going fall for tactic two--that anyone who dares disagree with the Mayor is "politicizing" the event. I wish my listeners could have seen the look of utter disdain as Mayor Ireland, nothing more or less than a career politician, deigned to answer my questions, the disgust made manifest as he refused to ook me in the eye.

Stripped bare of his two sure-fire tactics, the Mayor was left with his remaining strategy: to yell at his adversary. I yelled back as he turned his back to me that on my show I could interrupt him if I wanted to, that this was not a City Council meeting where he controls the proceedings with a waggle of the gavel.

I think we can put to rest the notion that there ever was such a thing as a "new Mick" in contrast to the old Pitkin County Commissioner who was put to recall elections by voters before managing to hang onto his job. But the story is sadder than that: whether Burlingate or Swift boats, Mayor Mick Ireland is now calcified and codified as a man who can't admit a mistake.

In the great Burlingate scandal, all he had to do was to say we are going to investigate and get to the bottom of this. He was and is entirely incapable of that kind of honesty and the kind of action that would so obviously work for the public good. He is so invested in the false god of afforedable housing--and getting re-elected--that he can't even countenance the possibility that a moratorium on affordable housing is not only called for but an ethical responsibility. Instead the besthe can offer is to say: "We have to move on."

Whether on television or on radio, people in Aspen are now seeing Mayor Ireland as they have never seen him before and it's not a pretty picture. He's a bully plain and simple but I was not going to let him bully me because I now know all of his tricks. More and more people are seeing the Mayor for what he is: a sad, tragic figure who can't listen, can't grow, and can't change.

If I could choose I would pick the old Mick: like it or not, what you saw was what you got. This new guy, the Mayor of the city of Aspen, a pol who was term-limited out for five minutes before he went right back in, is completely lost with no evidence that he will ever be found.

Entry Filed under: Aspen, Colorado, Con Games, Radio, Race For Mayor 2007, Affordable Housing, Aspen City Council

8 Comments Add your own

1. Jerry Bovino | June 27th, 2008 at 5:57 am

A very well written column, Michael!

The frustrating thing is that Aspen is supposed to be a liberal town and I believed we elected a liberal Mayor. Ironically, I always thought liberals were supposed to be more "open-minded" than conservatives. However, there doesn't seem to be much room in current-day Aspen for dissenting opinions. It saddens me that Aspen, the home of the Aspen Institute and the embodiment of Walter Paepcke's "mind body and spirit" ideal, has evolved into a fascist one-party town.
2. Mitch Mulhall | June 27th, 2008 at 7:47 am

[It would have been better all around if Mayor Ireland had been so kind as to scream at me on air]

Mick's anger and vitriol came though quite clearly at the end of the interview. An on-air screaming rampage would have done little to make his bilious state more obvious.

Cheers,
3. Post Staff | June 27th, 2008 at 10:01 am

Thanks for the comments.

For me it's really about accountability. If Mayor Ireland knows who is illegally out to get him, just say so. If he doesn't know, just say so. And if he made a mistake and made the whole thing up, he should just admit he was wrong and "move on" as he would so like the likes of me to do.

When I first started writing about Bob Braudis and Mick Ireland, I jokingly referred to them and their supporters as "The Bath Pary," a play on Sadamm's Baath Party. I wrote a satirical piece in the voice of a Comrade to liken their ways to the Soviet Union.

But now I see unequivocally that this is no joke--that my satire was perilously close to the truth. The Bath Party is both undemocratic and anti-democratic, led by a handful of underachievers who act as if they have the power to turn the clock back to a backward time that probably never existed in the first place.

It so happens they are doing so in a town that is (or at least was) made of money with no end in sight. That makes everything worse. They also have zero business sense, which means they think there is no end to the money. And they are also collectivists, which means they want to eat the golden goose even as they destroy their means of cash production.

No, Jerry, they're not fascists--they're Marxists who need to be seen as totalitarians who have somehow gained control of the purse. How did that happen? People in affordable housing--some have called them the Entitlement Class--are the voters. Second-homers et alia don't vote but they provide the cash flow for affordable housing. Thus has The Bath Party, well-organized in the ways of getting out the vote, managed to gain power.

When Mick had his $5,000 bike stolen ($5,000!!!) I was glad he got it back. But I also admit to a smile when it was stolen because I felt the Mayor needed to know what it's like to be on the butt end of an unwilling transaction where somone unlawfully takes what is rightfully yours. I can't afford a $5,000 bike, just as Mayor Ireland can't afford a Hummer, and I couldn't help but hope the robber was at least a member of a class lower than the Mayor's, which is saying something.

In the world of The Bath Party, why shouldn't a deserving citizen have the right to take Mick Ireland's bike? And what right does Hizzoner have to complain about it?

Best, Con Man!
4. Pete | June 27th, 2008 at 12:51 pm

Liberals attacking liberals. I love it.

Next thing you know, Mick will be out, an "Aspen conservative" will be in, and Con Man will be pining for the good old days.

Some things never change!!

Best,

PETE
5. Jerry Bovino | June 27th, 2008 at 7:25 pm

Michael...it's interesting that you say Hizzoner is a Marxist rather than a Fascist. However, I have always embraced the idea.... that if a Marxist and a fascist meet on the other side of the world, they will ultimately end up in the same place. They will be usurping the rights of the citizens for their own agenda.
6. Mitch Mulhall | June 27th, 2008 at 9:57 pm

Pete,

Are you suggesting that the proclivity to be a total a-hole has nothing to do with party affiliation or political philosophy?

And all this time I thought the lyric was "I want a new truck."

Cheers,
7. Michael Conniff | June 29th, 2008 at 5:49 pm

Pete:

Interesting you should see this as liberal versus liberal. I can honestly say I've never seen it that way. (See "accountability" above.) In fact, as with Braudis, it was always about not letting an elected politician getting away with murder.

Is Mick a liberal. Not to me. Gun to head I'd say socialist or Marxist as above.

Best, Michael!
8. THX1138 | July 13th, 2008 at 9:37 pm

Michael,

Since when due construction projects come in on budget?
I realize the magnatude of the budgetary mistakes but the plot will only thicken with more purchased properties by the city of aspen and or pitkin county. Start looking into the former BMC West property at the Airport Business Center. Maybe Aspen needs to take a look at the construction cost and amount of time it has taken for Carbondale to build their four lane entrance and bridges. Can we have a socialized building center? Wont be long and construction workers will be driving from Aspen to Basalt to pick up their goods, this is good for the economy! Oh, with the new found attitude of our big box stores, where the shelves are controled by managers not working in the store, you will not be able to get what you nead readily, if things are out of stock than too bad. This has been a common occurance in recent times. So those of us that need hard goods product s are left traveling further down valley hoping we will get what we need there as well. Sorry to ramble on different subjects.

THX1138