Crossville city recall battle (part 3)

Crossville's mayor pro-tem, Pamala Harris has also issued a statement in response to the recall efforts being made against her. When reached by phone earlier today, Ms. Harris said that she did not plan to lower herself to the level of those attacking her. She said watching TV this week a commentator had described politics as being a blood sport and while she said it did feel like that sometimes, would continue to take the high road in the current situation. She said she had seen the signs that have been put up and she said they are disturbing to see at first, but after looking at them she had to laugh as the signs really seemed pretty silly.

Ms. Harris' statement:

I would like to take this opportunity to set the record straight on the subject of the recall petition that has been instituted against myself and council member Danny Wyatt.

First of all, those initiating the recall have never approached me to discuss their concerns. Sadly, we have a small select group of dissatisfied people who have been grossly misinformed. Unfortunately, these citizens only know parts and pieces surrounding the issues. They have been mislead via gossip and hearsay. You can be certain that this group does not represent all 11,000 plus citizens of the City of Crossville.

Did you know that under Tennessee Code Annotated 6-31-301no specific grounds are required for recall? In other words, any citizen of the City of Crossville can get angry at a Council Member because of the way we vote on a specific issue and decide to initiate recall. As I'm sure you will understand, no matter how hard a Council Member may try to consider all citizens' opinions when weighing a vote, we are incapable of pleasing 100 percent of the people 100 percent of the time. Not all decisions are “cut and dry” or “black and white.” When being falsely accused as a Council Member, human nature is to call out your accuser out publicly, but you don't even when they publicly and privately attack you, because you are committed to taking the high road. But, rather then waste everyone's time trying to defend against these inaccurate allegations, I'm going to have faith that the truth will be revealed and justice will prevail.

I ran for City Council because I believe community service is important. I did not set out to do this job as a career. Being a City Council Member is a thankless job. To survive, yourservice has to become a labor of love.

Should any citizen of Crossville choose to contact me, I would be please to answer any questions that may be of concern. In the meantime, rest assured that I will continue to do my very best to fairly represent ALL the citizens of Crossville and not just a select group.

In closing, Crossville is an absolutely incredible place to live, work and play. There are other cities who would give anything to have the assets and natural resources our city possesses. We are blessed!

I consider it an honor and a privilege to serve you.