IN THE NAME OF GOD, GO!

Summary: Outgoing Cathedral City mayor Kathleen DeRosa’s resistance to facts and her refusal to concede the mayoral election to her challenger Chip Yarborough shows a dangerously monarchical conceit, to say nothing of demonstrating the potential existence of a diagnosable psychopathology.  Certainly, DeRosa’s conduct has managed to make her and the city into local laughingstocks.  She should stop fighting facts and concede the election with such small scraps of dignity are now left to her.  Her bad behavior has certainly pounded the last nail into the tawdry coffin of her political ambitions.

 "You have sat too long for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!"

          -Oliver Cromwell, dissolving the Rump Parliament, April, 1653

Yesterday, I blogged about outgoing Cathedral City mayor Kathleen Joan DeRosa’s tasteless and inappropriate behavior in opining that under her successor, Chip Yarbrough, Cathedral City would change for the worse.

In this morning’s Desert Sun, there is an article to the effect that DeRosa is refusing to concede the mayoral election in Cathedral City.  DeRosa seems to have forgotten John Adams’ immortal observation in the trial of the British troops accused of conducting the Boston Massacre: “facts are stubborn things.”

Facts are stubborn things.  They don’t truckle to mobs or monarchs, but demand obeisance from both mobs and monarchs.  Certainly, Kathleen Joan DeRosa has entertained a significantly monarchical conceit of herself as mayor of Cathedral City, but now it is time for DeRosa to adult up and face facts.

Given the unattractive personality traits DeRosa has displayed in such abundance over the last few days, it is not unreasonable to hypothesize the existence of some kind of diagnosable psychopathology or personality disorder.  The implications for Cathedral City’s body politic are sobering.  Once again, DeRosa has managed to make both herself and her city  local laughingstocks.

What is more worrisome, as a number of observers on social media have noted, is the flagrant disrespect DeRosa displays for democracy.  One is forced to ask whether, in the face of bad electoral news --- had she been able to get away with it --- DeRosa would have simply done what dictators around the world have often tried to do.  Would she have simply annulled the results of the mayoral election and had her opponent arrested?  Would she have run some kind of municipal self coup? 


DeRosa’s conduct raises disturbing questions, both about her commitment to democracy, and whether she entertained secret mental reservations and purposes of evasion when she took the oath of office required by Article XX of the State Constitution.  She should remember, if she took the oath falsely, that lying under oath is a crime.

Many DeRosa supporters, repulsed by her churlish conduct, have begun to turn away in disgust.  They have been able to accept the verdict of the voters.  It is a pity that the women they support, the woman who sought to fabricate a cult of personality, appears to think that democracy is beneath her.  It is also a pity that for so long she enjoyed the uncritical support of the Desert Sun and of so many so-called community leaders in the Coachella Valley.  Sadly, Kathleen Joan DeRosa has left behind a legacy of embittered division in Cathedral City.

By refusing to concede and depart with such minute shreds of dignity as might be left to her, DeRosa has tried to pull a Mitch McConnell, instilling in voters lingering questions about the legitimacy of Chip Yarborough’s mayoralty.  We may hope that Cathedral City’s body politic rejects the poison pill DeRosa hopes to administer.

At all events, DeRosa’s unbelievably churlish performance should spell the end of her political career, pounding the last nail into the tawdry coffin of her ambitions.  She has sat too long for any good she has been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with her.  

In the name of God, go!

-xxx-

Paul S. Marchand is an attorney who lives and works in Cathedral City.  The views expressed herein are his own, and not necessarily those of any entity with which he is associated.  They are not intended as, and should not be construed as, legal advice.