In a previous report in the Citizen Review, we documented the accusations leveled at Sequim City Councilor Mike Pence, namely that he falsified his resume in order to obtain his appointment to the Sequim City Council. In a sense, we documented the case for the prosecution, in that we reported on the charges and statements from current and former city officials supposedly supporting the claim.
In this report, we will examine the evidence, gleaned from official city records at our formal request. We placed our request with Ms. Amy C. Blake, IPMA-SCP, SHRM-SCP, Director of Human Resources and Risk Management for the City of Liberty. Ms. Blake originally estimated that it would take several weeks to obtain the records from the archives. In response to our request to expedite the search, she was able to respond to our specific questions in a day. She answered several questions posed by the Citizen Review in an email request directly and succinctly by email. She did not provide any additional information.
In way of context, Liberty is much like Port Angeles. It is a suburb of Kansas City and the county seat of Clay County. 2010 population is listed at 29,149. It is home to one institution of higher learning: the William Jewel College, with a 2018 enrollment of 739. Its main commercial activity is warehousing and distribution, with Hallmark the leading employer in that field. It also is home to several corporate headquarters and a Ford stamping plant. A major Ford assembly plant is located nearby.
Mike Pence’s tenure ran from 1988 through 2009. According to the official records obtained by Ms. Blake, he was the Director of a Department entitled “Utilities and Maintenance” during part of that time. As Director, he would be reporting directly to the City Administrator. According to an organization chart provided by Ms. Blake, Pence’s Department consisted of four subordinate organizations: Utility Maintenance; Maintenance; Water Wastewater Treatment; Cemetery Maintenance. According to Pence, street maintenance was also part of his duty, and he supervised approximately 20 workers in that department.
Transcribing from archival records, Ms. Blake reported that Mr. Pence, as Director of Utilities and Maintenance, was assigned the following duties: plant maintenance, sewer maintenance, state reporting, training, capital programming, snow removal, work assignments, creekway maintenance, performance reporting, budget management, communication with the Board of Utilities, meter replacement, groundwater protection program, cemetery maintenance.
Ms. Blake strongly defended her staff members, who previously responded to “the multiple first inquiries of “Was Mr. Pence the Public Works Director for the City of Liberty?’” Blake asserted that “My staff answered correctly according to the electronic records available in-house.”
Unfortunately, her explanation/rationalization/excuse fails because her staff went far beyond merely answering the question as in: “No Mr. Pence did not hold the specific job title of Public Works Director.” Recalling that Ms. Cox, Ms. Blake’s direct assistant, told KONP that “…Pence’s claims of being responsible for supervision and development of the water and sewer department would not have been part of his job description…” Yet they clearly are, as her boss transcribed for us.
Ms. Vanderhoorn confidently told the PDN that “He was not the director of public works, nor was he ever an interim or anything.” But, Mr. Pence clearly was a “something”. The website thebalancecareers.com provides a listing of duties and skills needed for generic public job descriptions. According to thebalancecareers.com, scope of responsibility of a Public Works Director varies from city to city but can include: water and sewage treatment plants; streets; parks; utilities and equipment maintenance.
During his employment with the City of Liberty, Pence was clearly doing the job of public works director but under another title: “Director of Utilities and Maintenance”. Had Ms. Vanderhoorn stopped at the statement “He was not the director of public works…” she might have been on safer ground. However, by adding “…nor was he ever an interim or anything.”, she makes a false statement. In addition, her “not ever” echoes Ms. Cox’ “never” both of which turn out to be, at a minimum, rash and untrue statements.
Which brings us to Steve Hansen, the retired engineer and government contractor. He is the one who told the PDN that “(Pence) has misrepresented himself and he has been less than truthful…” According to information provided by Ms. Blake, Hansen was the City Engineer before he became the Director of Public Works. The job title, City Engineer in Liberty is more akin to what we would call Community Development: construction and building inspectors, etc. The public works functionality in what became the Public Works Department was something Hansen inherited from Mr. Pence’s organization.
In a nutshell, in 1994, the Utilities and Maintenance Department (doing the public works job) was moved under the City Engineer and the new combined department was renamed “Public Works”. In the new organization Mr. Pence became the Superintendent of Maintenance (a public works function) reporting to the City Engineer (renamed Director of Public Works).
While this all seems very confusing, it all boils down to Mike Pence being the top public works guy prior to the 1994 reorganization. Two of his public works subdivisions became separate divisions in the new Public Works department. He remained in charge of one of those subdivisions (Maintenance) doing public works work.
In light of all this, the Citizen Review concludes that while working for the City of Liberty, Missouri, Mr. Pence:
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- At one time, occupied a senior executive position in terms of authority and accountability;
- While in this position, managed the responsibilities customarily associated with the term “public works”;
- Continued to work in the public works area as a Superintendent/Supervisor after his department was abolished due to a reorganization.
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“In our opinion, Mr. Pence has been fully truthful and did not misrepresent himself whatsoever on his application to join the Sequim City Council.”
It is also apparent that city officials and former city officials from Liberty have defamed Mr. Pence. What is not so clear is whether this defamation was intentional or whether it was simply a result of a lack of professionalism. We also do not know, at this point, what role the Sequim Cancel Culture* and local media had in defaming a man’s good character. We will attempt to pursue these questions in our third article: case for the defense.
In the meantime, Mr. Pence’s fine reputation is intact.
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*Cancel Culture – There is no single accepted definition of cancel culture, but at its worst, it is about unaccountable groups successfully applying pressure to punish someone for perceived wrong opinions… (Forbes)
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