One Year Later, Just How Did Trigg Get Appointed and How Will Future Vacancies Be Handled?

January 27, 2014 | A little over one year ago, by a 3-1 vote the Elk Grove City Council appointed former Elk Grove Unified School Distr...

The Elk Grove City Council
January 27, 2014 |

A little over one year ago, by a 3-1 vote the Elk Grove City Council appointed former Elk Grove Unified School District Superintendent  Bob Trigg to the Elk Grove City Council to fill the vacancy created by Gary Davis' election to Mayor.

For those who followed the contentious process to fill the District Four vacancy, the selection of Trigg came as something of a surprise. Trigg’s name only came into consideration after Roy Herburger of the Elk Grove Citizen named the long-time Elk Grove resident as a last minute compromise appointment in his weekly column.

After it became apparent that Davis and fellow Democratic Council Member Jim Cooper reached an impasse with their Republican fellow council members Steve Detrick and Pat Hume on who should be appointed several names placed into nomination, Hume tossed out Trigg’s name.

One of the questions we have pondered for the last year is just how did Trigg’s name come into play? Did Hume simply pick-up on Herburger’s idea and run with it or was Trigg’s name planted in Old Roy’s column?

If there was some cooperation between city officials or other interested parties and Elk Grove’s largest media outlet, could Davis have also been advised that the vacancy he created and the resulting $500,000 special election would be hung on him in local media like a bad suit?

We obviously will never know the real story behind just how the Trigg appointment was rigged, but it wouldn’t be the first time that allegations circulated of local elected officials, any elected official for that matter, using their influence to gain more favorable media coverage.

Let’s not forget the City of Elk Grove does pay thousands of dollars in public notice advertising. In this day and age of quickly dwindling newspaper advertising column inches, this is now more than ever an especially significant source of guaranteed revenue.

So as we look ahead to this year’s general election, Elk Grove could well see another repeat of last year’s appointment war. If Vice Mayor Cooper is successful in his Assembly bid, how will Mayor Davis and the rest of the council handle this vacancy?

Will The Elk Grove Citizen again be a proxy of sorts for an elected official; will Mayor Davis be more willing to stand firm should there be another Democratic-Republican deadlock or will he again succumb to pressure to avoid a special election?

As we move forward with the election of two council seats and the mayor, this is a question all candidates need to answer.       

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3 comments

Coffee Bean said...

The title of your article says it all: Trigg was 'appointed'. The charter should read that all city council members shall be 'elected' by the voters. If it is truly "the people'house", then the "people" should be the ones who put their representatives in it.

Anonymous said...

Bob Trigg was no surprise to Pat Hume. They have served on the Elk Grove Community Foundation for years.

Hume needed a plan to ensure that Chaires wasn't appointed to the council because his disdain for Roger Dickinson loomed large ever since Dickinson made the comment about Nancy being the next council member and Hume held Chaires responsible.

Now that Hume and his puppet Steve Detrick have control of the council, waking of Trigg to vote with them, they aren't about to give it up.

Pat Hume may be a lot of things, but he is no dummy. He knew exactly what he was doing to punk both Gary Davis and Jim Cooper to make sure that Nancy Chaires didn't get the appointment.

Hopefully Nancy will get the last laugh when the voters rightfully elect her to the District 4 seat. And then we shall see what the gents do when we finally have a woman with a brain on the city council.

Mad Hatter said...

Next time around one can only hope that hiz Honor, Mayor Davis, has a little less "laser focus" on covering his own behind.

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