Mayor Orr is trying to mislead the people of Cheyenne. She owes them an apology

“Just remember, what you are seeing and what you are reading is not what's happening. Just stick with us, don't believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news.” – President Donald Trump to a Veterans of Foreign Wars Convention in Kansas City, Mo., July 24, 2018

BY D. REED ECKHARDT

Apparently Cheyenne Mayor Marian Orr is having a Donald Trump moment.

Her Honor has spent the last several days on local radio complaining about coverage of her recent sudden

and surprise request for funds for pothole repair. She has asserted that this is not an “emergency” and that she never declared it as such. She is demanding that this bit of disinformation be corrected.

The mayor topped that off today (Sept. 7) with a guest opinion in the local paper in which she again pushed back against her critics.

“Are potholes an emergency?” she asks in her propaganda piece. “Although I never used that term, keeping our roads fixed and safe is certainly a priority of mine.”

Please note those words, now compared them with portions of the memo she issued on Aug. 9:

TO: Purchasing Division

DATE: August 9, 2019

REFERENCE:Emergency procurement

In according with the Purchasing Policy and Procedures Manual Part 11.8, Emergency procurement, I have deemed it essential to procure services for the City of Cheyenne for street patching. This emergency exists due to an unusually wet spring … The only avenue for procuring these services is under the Emergency Procurement procedures. … The unexpected situation could not have been foreseen and a shortage of personnel created the need for street patching to be completed this calendar year. … The budget for this project is $250,000 …

Marian J. Orr

Mayor

City of Cheyenne

So, dear reader, according to your mayor, you are not reading what you are reading, and you are not seeing what you are seeing. Yes, four times Orr uses the word “emergency” in her executive memorandum, but none of those are there, and she never used the word. Thus there “is some information out there that we should correct.”

Yes, let’s correct some misinformation. 

Your eyes are not deceiving you, nor are your ears. Orr has used the word four times in her memo. There is no error in the media that needs to be corrected.

But, yes, the mayor apparently expects you to hear and see only the words that she now uses on the local radio and with her computer in the local paper. She never said “it.” She never said “it.” She never said “it.” And you should believe only her. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Secondly, there is no potholes emergency. Potholes appear every year in Cheyenne, and this year is no different. If the city is short of money to fix potholes, it is because the mayor and her staff failed to do their job, which is to properly forecast city needs and then budget for them. That they failed to do that is not the fault of the local media nor the City Council nor anyone else except those responsible. Only by trying to stir up an attack on the “fake media” can Orr deflect that fact.

The only emergency is that Orr promised when she was elected in 2016 that she would fix city streets. That clearly has not happened, and she clearly is facing some political heat. The only rush here is to get some lipstick on this pig before election day, 2020.

This episode is shameful, and it again reflects the arrogance that is embodied in the Mayor’s Office. Does Orr really think the people of this city are so easily misled that she can tell them to ignore what plainly was written by her on Aug. 9 and is clearly before their own eyes? Apparently so.

Yes, there is some misinformation that needs to be corrected. Orr did use the word “emergency,” and she did declare the pothole situation an “emergency” since that is the only way she could get the funds. 

She should stop this disinformation campaign, correct the facts and apologize for disrespecting her constituents.
            And then she should just shut up.

D. Reed Eckhardt is the former executive editor of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.