The April 9, 2013 city council agenda has item 1, “Discussion and action regarding the legal debt incurred by Mayor John Cook in fighting the illegally circulated petitions calling for the recall of Mayor Cook, Representative Byrd and Representative Ortega. ”
The process, which lasted more than two years, left Cook with $579,939 in legal bills. Cook said he owes $551,044, which is far more than he can afford.
“I fought what should have been the city’s fight,” Cook said.
How?
How can it have been the city’s fight? City council did not vote to tell the mayor to take it to court. The mayor made that decision. He has no right to commit the city without the vote of city council.
To me the arguments regarding initiative and referendum are interesting, but they are not the point. He and he alone chose to fight these issues in court. If he wanted city support he should have asked for it.
How did this cost $579,939? Did the mayor fail to manage his lawyer? Did the mayor think that he would get reimbursed? What was he thinking?
Are the fees reasonable for this action? What did the other side spend?
Why?
Why did the mayor choose to fight this in court? Why not allow the recall election and see what the voters wanted? Was this about principles? Then why not fight it in a principled way?
What now?
I feel badly that this bill needs to be paid, but not badly enough to pay for it myself.
The city is developing a costly habit of using taxpayer money to sue the taxpayers in court. Their lawsuit filed in Austin to try to legitimatize their ball park actions is an example. State law allowed the suit to be filed in El Paso or in Austin. The city chose to fight the battle in Austin making it more difficult for the local taxpayers to show up in court to have their day.
I can’t help but note that this is an issue that should take a good deal of attention during the city council meeting — the same meeting where the railroad give away is going to occur.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
How about the hole the city of El Paso left the owner of the three legged monkey in, should a special session be set fourth in for his legal woes as well? “I fought what should have been the city’s fight”, says a concerned Mayor Cook? HOW ABOUT THE FIGHT HE SHOULD HAVE FOUGHT FOR IT’S TAXPAYERS WHEN IT CAME TIME FOR THE DECIDING VOTE ON THE TEARING OF A PERFECTLY FUNCTIONAL CITY BUILDING…. COOK!? You are just as corrupt as the rest of them are, except you hide behind a guitar and a savvy bottle of BBQ sauce!
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Unless the mayor spends a lot of time whining and sobbing, this should not take much time at all during the upcoming meeting. How long can it possibly take for each council member to just say “NO”? After Cook leaves office, his bills will likely be paid through the auspices of those to whom he has been so generous while he has been in office. One would think that the Gay/Lesbian/Transgender community would also be carrying the collection plate on this one.
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Hey, that’s no way to talk about America’s favorite Boy Scout. Well, unless the Boy Scout leaves the camp ground almost a billion in the red, and soon to be 1.5 billion in the red. And didn’t you just love hearing Mayor Cookie da Shnookie FINALLY mentioned that the ballpark “…is not an economic driver. It’s quality of life.” Gosh, I don’t remember Shnookie or the other pro stadiumites saying that. ln fact, l do remember hearing what a great economic impact this will be. How do you pro stadium ignorant morons feel knowing that you’re favorite Boy Scout finally told the truth about your precious little toy stadium? And speaking of slimey weasels- wasn’t it interesting that Ortega mentioned that he’s going to let the voters decide on whether we should pay for Shnookie’s version of Perry Mason? My guess is, is that he has internal info suggesting that Shnookie isn’t all that well loved, otherwise he would be jumping in to help out his fellow good ol’ boy. Hey Ortega, how come you didn’t care about the voters when it came to the “same-sex issue,” but NOW you want our imput? Oh that’s right, you weren’t running for mayor back then. Weasel.
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