Mayor Orr can be ousted if she seeks re-election, but it is going to take the perfect opponent to beat her

BY D. REED ECKHARDT

            When former Councilman Richard Johnson wrote here in early August that Marian Orr could not be beaten if she chose to run for a second term as mayor (https://bit.ly/2Og4faP), it was hard to argue with him.

            After all, Orr fits right in that sweet spot that Cheyenne’s majority naysayers seem to like. She is little more than a carbon copy of former Mayor Rick Kaysen — a do-nothing who does not threaten the established order, has

Mayor Orr address the media during her tiff with Council President Case.

no vision for progress and who is friendly with the Chamber of Commerce crowd. That is why in 2016 she took out the visionary Amy Surdam, who actually hoped to move Cheyenne into the present, if not the future. That, and the fact that Orr is a dirty campaigner who will do anything it takes to win. She proved that against Surdam.

            And it doesn’t appear Cheyenne’s basic mindset has changed all that much since then. It continues to think it is part of the Old West, that outsiders (read that, “greenies” from Colorado) need to stay home and those who differ from its majority (anti-LGBT, white, conservative-minded, Christian control freaks) are made to feel unwelcome. 

All of that thinking will cost the Capital City its future, but that is a subject for another day. 

            Still, a lot has changed since Johnson’s August analysis. Consider Orr’s mounting problems:

1.     She tried to bring an end to Superday, this city’s great event that brings the community together like no other. http://bit.ly/2RMAC2M

2.     She accepted a gift of a pickup truck from Dealin’ Doug for use during Cheyenne Frontier Days. This was a clear violation of basic ethics — avoid even the appearance of impropriety — as well as the city’s purchasing policy. http://bit.ly/3b1O0b4

3.     She declared a phony emergency to try to improperly move funds to fix potholes in an effort to curry votes. Fortunately, the City Council blocked her. http://bit.ly/2GMDW82

4.     She was caught misusing grant funds for her own personal ends. The Bloomberg Foundation provided the money to help downtown. Instead, the mayor used it to further her extravagant lifestyle. She has since repaid the funds she used for personal business, and the city had to divert public funds to pay for her recklessness. http://bit.ly/31qSkwh

5.     She invited a personal conflict with City Council President Rocky Case since he was the one who discovered her abuse of funds. Case went too far in his accusations, but the mayor’s claims that this was a “personal” fight were pure political bull manure. She had misused the funds. And she got caught. Period. End of story. http://bit.ly/2GQ70v3

All this adds up to an incumbent who is no longer the darling of the naysaying, anti-growth, opposed-to-progress crowd. Witness the conservative protests that occurred in the wake of the revelations about the Bloomberg grant. These people not longer are a lock for Orr. 

Add to that the fact the progressive portion of the community wants — no, begs — Cheyenne to move forward, and you have a candidate with electability issues.

The problem is to find a candidate who is able to defeat Orr. And that will not be easy.

Former City Council member Patrick Collins, who was part of a coalition that included former Mayor Jack Spiker and who helped lead the city during a progressive spurt in the early 2000s, is running for mayor. He certainly has the skills, vision and local government experience as well owning the brand of a businessman who can manage City Hall. 

But Collins will be identified with the progressive wing. That will not attract the unhappy conservative voters to him.

Similarly with City Councilman Pete Laybourn, who has hungered to be mayor for years and has neither the temperament — he can’t work with anyone — nor the political tools to lead the city. He would appeal to the same demographic as the non-dissatisfied Orr bloc, but few progressives are going to support him.

No, it is going to take someone who can appeal to both ends of the political spectrum who will be able to unseat Orr. 

A good example would be the aforementioned Johnson. His willingness, even joy, to stick it to council leadership and stand up against misuse of funds, crappy policies and the Chamber of Commerce crowd — he’s a true change agent — would appeal to the dissatisfied former Orr supporters who are fed up with her abuses. 

And Johnson also understands the need to move Cheyenne into the 21st century to attract Front Range young people and business. But he is not so visionary as to frighten anyone away. He tends to focus on small projects that improve the city without threatening those who fear change.

But Johnson has said he does not intend to run for mayor, so finding the right candidate to defeat Orr will be a challenge. Case recently mentioned former state Sen. Pete Illoway, but he is too old and too much a part of the good ole boys network. And the pro-Trumper James Johnson, who already has announced a run, is just too far right politically and lacks any kind of understanding of city operations to be taken seriously.

So despite Richard Johnson’s August prediction, Orr can be beaten, but it will take the perfect person. Those who want to oust her should begin looking in earnest. There is no time to waste.

I wish those people luck. Another four years of do-nothing leadership — that would be 16 in a row — will potentially put Cheyenne in a place where it never will catch up with its Front Range competition. 

The time for change is now. Let’s get ’er done!

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