This recall process has undoubtedly been a bumpy road. We knew it would be filled with challenges. Is recalling Aderhold, Lewis, and Reynolds worth risking friendships and social connections? The answer, is apparently, “yes.” Why? Because honesty matters.

Honesty is the backbone of trust; without it, trust cannot stand on its own. If a community cannot stand on its own…it has no strength at all. Isn’t that what we are all striving for—a strong community? Our city council is the very structure that holds our town in place . If any one of the six pillars of council begin to fall…so goes our town.

Council members Donna Aderhold, David Lewis, and Catriona Reynolds tested the very structure of our happy little town this year by drafting Homer into a Sanctuary City document. Passed at the council table or not, seems not to matter anymore. For more than 436 voting residents, it was the straw the broke the camel’s back. The trust had been broken by placing their name to a document that abhorred the idea that our president was making good on his campaign promises. The trust had bee n broken when the council members knowingly put our town at risk of losing more than 1 million federal dollars, annually. The trust had been broken when the clear intent was revealed through evidence of official city emails.

If they had been honest….If they had owned up to their intent to make Homer a Sanctuary City, perhaps we wouldn’t be approaching a recall election. Perhaps the town would have had an opportunity to discuss the process of whether or not it was needed; but they misled. They hid the fact they were indeed working against the current administration and clearly violating their oaths to uphold the Constitution.

If only…If only these three council members had come forward and apologized for their clearly irresponsible behavior in this highly controversial subject. If only they had chosen to trust the constituents who voted them into office by allowing the recall to proceed without suing the city and incurring thousands of dollars of extra expense to the city. But they didn’t.

What they did was for themselves. They broke their oaths of office to honestly, faithfully, and impartially serve this faithful, seaside town. It took a superior court judge to convince them of the democratic process of a recall election they are now forced to face. Their actions cannot in any way be justified for the betterment of Homer. This recall is democratically voting for our freedom, voting for our families, voting for our posterity.

So here we are; days away from a special election that could likely hold the highest turnout rate in Homer’s voting history. Will you be there to cast your vote to uphold honesty and integrity? Will you stand with Heartbeat of Homer and vote YES to accountability, YES to responsibility, YES to truth on June 13th? I hope you do.

Heartbeat of Homer