A request for $2,400 from the city triggered a new and public confrontation between Keizer Mayor Cathy Clark and Councilor Lore Christopher.
The political tensions between the two have long been present. Christopher, a former mayor, sought to return to that office last year but lost in the November election to Clark.
The tension emerged again during the April 21 meeting of the Keizer City Council.
Christopher accused the mayor of having her investigated, leading the council to approve new restrictions on the mayor and the council.
In her prepared remarks to the council, Christopher also accused the mayor of privately referring to her as a “wild woman.” Clark denied making the comment.
The tempest was triggered by Christopher’s request at an earlier council meeting for city money. She proposed the city give the Keizer Cultural Center $2,400 in motel tax money to print rack cards. Such cards are envelope-sized marketing pieces given away by organizations.
Christopher sits on the board of the cultural center, representing the city.
“I was accused by the mayor of acting independently of the committee I was assigned to as a liaison – the Keizer Heritage Foundation Board,” Christopher said in her statement to the council. “Her actions impugned my integrity and intentions.”
Christopher said it wasn’t the first time that Clark sought an investigation of a councilor but she didn’t elaborate. She declined to respond to subsequent questions from Keizertimes seeking details about such episodes.
She said two witnesses reported that Clark also said in a private meeting that “I wanna make sure this wild woman is not acting independently of the board.”
“I am appalled,” Clark retorted, saying she had been badly misquoted. “I did not refer to you as a wild person. I very much object to that language.”
The other councilors sat silently as the two engaged.
The dustup flowed from a routine meeting regarding the most mundane of government actions – creating a meeting agenda. Clark and two councilors, Marlene Parsons and Kyle Juran, convened with City Manager Adam Brown to review items for the April 21 council meeting.
In an interview, Clark said she asked for verification that the request for the $2,400 had been authorized by the Heritage Foundation board.
“That’s pretty standard,” Clark said in the interview.
Brown and Parsons confirmed that request. Juran didn’t respond to emailed questions about the session.
“The mayor asked to check with Robert Becker to see if the board voted on the request that Councilor Christopher had had for,” Parsons said, referring to the foundation board president. “There was nothing about an investigation.”
Brown recalled that “I was just asked to see if the request came from the cultural center board.” He said he wasn’t asked to investigate Christopher.
“I was a little surprised that asking for minutes amounts to an investigation,” Clark said.
Brown said he learned the board had not approved the request for the $2,400 before Christopher asked to council to act on it. He said after Clark’s question in the agenda meeting, the heritage board conducted a special vote to make the request formal.
Parsons and Brown confirmed that Clark made a personal remark during the agenda meeting about Christopher. They couldn’t recall the specific words.
“Councilor Christopher took this very personally,” Parsons recalled.
Christopher declined to respond to questions about the matter.
“This recent issue was resolved in the last city council meeting, which was a public meeting,” she said in an email. “I have no further comment.”
Records obtained through a public records request by Keizertimes show that Christopher communicated from her personal email account with Parsons and Juran about the matter. All have city-issued email accounts intended for city business.
In a text message sent to Parsons, Christopher chided those in the agenda meeting. Keizertimes obtained the text as a public record.
She thanked Parsons for her telling her about the meeting “though it reflected negatively on you and Kyle and Adam for not standing up for me when my motives were falsely called into question.”
Christopher then reported on a talk she had with Juran.
“I had an opportunity to talk with Kyle today about how we have to take a stand for one another and push Cathy back when she makes false allegations and personal attacks to another councilor,” she wrote.
“If she does that in my presence about you or any other councilor, I’ll back her off,” Christopher said. “Kyle agreed it was a missed opportunity to curb her behavior and committed to making a stand in the future as well.”
The council voted unanimously to award the $2,400.
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