Could Carl Mumpower be censured?

Could Ashvegas City Councilman Carl Mumpower be censured by his fellow board members?

That’s the question some are beginning to whisper around City Hall. As the tug-of-war between Mumpower and city officials – more specifically, police Chief Bill Hogan and City Manager Gary Jackson – continues, it might just come under serious consideration by Mumpower’s frustated colleagues.

There’s certainly a precedent for censure, and there are some eerie similarities to the last time council censured a member. It happened just three years ago. Let’s take a closer look.

The year was 2003. Councilman Brian Peterson was the board’s neighborhood activist-slash-board naysayer. But he wasn’t an outsider. He had Mayor Charles Worley and council members Jim Ellis, Holly Jones and Terry Bellamy with him, politically speaking. Joe Dunn and Carl Mumpower, the two Republicans, were political allies on the board.

But Peterson had some problems. He got stopped by police in early morning hours twice, and was found with what police termed “known prostitutes.” Peterson was never charged with soliciting a prostitute. And the women he was with were never charged with prostitution.

But the stain was there after then-Police Chief Will Annarino went to the media with the information. Annarino said at the time that he was coming forward to quell rumors in the community. And he said he didn’t want people to think the cops were covering for a city councilman.

So the story was huge, and Ashvegas council members couldn’t ignore it. As the public grew louder in demanding that something be done, the council settled on a public censure resolution. It was a political “shame on you.” The board voted to approve the resolution, which said in part: “Peterson’s conduct … tends to undermine and damage the council’s credibility with the public in general and with law enforcement in particular.” Dunn went so far as to call for Peterson’s resignation.

Flash forward to now. Carl Mumpower is the board naysayer, the lone Republican on a Democratic board. Ashvegas police this time are complaining about Mumpower, claiming that he’s interfering with their investigations and endangering them and himself along the way. Mumpower continues to put public pressure on police, claiming they’re not pursuing local drug dealers.

If things continue, council could certainly deem that Mumpower’s actions are tending to undermine and damage council’s credibility with the public in general, and with law enforcement in particular. There’s a difference – current police Chief Bill Hogan is still fairly new, not nearly as entrenched as Annarino. His style isn’t quite as blunt as Annarino.

Holly Jones and Terry Bellamy, who censured Peterson over nothing – Peterson was never charged with anything, remember – are not Mumpower’s closest friends. And other members might be convinced to go along – Brownie Newman and Bryan Freeborn, in particular.

And if things continue, censure might come into play. City Council is holding its annual retreat meeting this weekend, and one of the topics up for discussion is a “clarification” of staff and council roles. In other words, they’re going to talk about whether Mumpower has over-stepped his authority as a board member.

The latest salvo in the Mumpower-police battle is that Mumpower has made a public records request and asked for all email communiation between police officers. This comes after a series of e-mails in which officers complained loudly about Mumpower’s recent behavior.

Keep your eyes on this one, folks. It’s far from over.