Yellow Pages
A more suitable way for Mayor Bud Norris to honor a family friend would be to invite him home to dinner.
But Mount Vernon’s mayor has chosen instead to give controversial right-wing talk show host Glenn Beck the key to the city.
And, like it or not, Sept. 26 is to be declared “Glenn Beck Day.”
Thanks to the mayor, Mount Vernon is on its way to becoming a national laughingstock. Newspapers and broadcast outlets from Seattle to Boston have picked up on the story.
Painfully, many of the headlines read “Mount Vernon to award Glenn Beck keys to the city,” or some variation of it. The fact that it is solely the mayor’s show is lost on the out-of-town media.
The mayor lamely explains that he wants to honor Beck because he was born in Mount Vernon. He sees Beck as a local boy who made it big and, besides, he says “I like the guy.” Norris was also a friend of Beck’s family, which once operated a popular bakery downtown.
An accident of birth and Beck’s fame, or rather notoriety, hardly justifies the mayor’s plan to exercise his authority to hand the key to the city to one of the most divisive voices in broadcasting.
Many believe that Beck’s commentary, expressed in florid rhetoric, feeds the paranoia of those who see government as the enemy and President Obama as an alien invader.
Much of the anger that Beck arouses on his talk show is now directed, however unfairly, at Mount Vernon. Some callers and letter writers have even threatened to no longer do business in the city. Others say they will boycott next year’s Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.
Of course, Beck has the freedom to express himself in any way he sees fit. This is not about free speech. If his visit to Mount Vernon was simply for a speaking engagement we would have no objection.
But Norris’ plan to give official honors to Beck puts the city’s imprimatur on views that many find repugnant.
Councilman Mike Urban researched the Municipal Code and found that there is nothing the City Council can do to prevent the mayor from proceeding with the Beck ceremonial.
All council members can do is distance themselves from it. Six of the seven declined Norris’ offer of free tickets to the Sept. 26 event at McIntyre Hall.
The City Council may want to fix the Municipal Code to require council approval before any more keys to the city are handed out.
Events have shown that the mayor alone should not be entrusted with that duty.
Norris recently mused that it would bring some attention to Mount Vernon if he could bring the city’s famous (some say “infamous”) son here.
Well, unfortunately, mission accomplished.
