January 11, 2024 03:59 PM UTC

MAGA of the month: Andrew Sawusch and Miguel Zuniga

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• by: Sara Loflin

The MAGA playbook lesson: When we can’t beat you by being a bully or being verbose charlatan, we will sue you – regardless of the will of the voters. All the better if you are a person of color. This is the MAGA definition of democracy: we can sue you and threaten you if we disagree.

I am publishing the information below of my own volition. The opinions below are my own, and do not represent my elected position as Mayor Pro Tem of Erie.

Let’s talk about the MAGA playbook. Throughout his career, Donald Trump has been a dogged entrepreneur in one particular tactic: the art of the temper tantrum. While some call it charisma, genius, leadership, etc., it is truly the worst of a white supremacist and colonialist ethic. The basic principal is this:

“Do what I want, and I will bury you with mountains of cheap, trashy praise that make you feel as though all of your hatred and resentment has paid off… even if you are materially worse off than when we started this relationship.”

“Don’t do what I want, and I will deny your opinion, humanity, and even the very notion that you count. What’s more, I will incite others to follow me in executing (sometimes violently) my temper tantrum singularly against you.”

From my Psychology 101 days, it is the worst form of indulgence of the id. At some other time I will rant about the MAGA movement and left extremists being two sides of the same coin and the worst cultural demonstration of privilege and stunted human development. But now the tactic has been explained.

In Erie, we have watched this dynamic play out in a microcosm.  

I was first elected to the Erie Board of trustees in March 2020. I was the only woman (and a woman of color) in a field of eleven people running for three trustee seats. A little over one month after I was sworn in to the Erie Board of Trustees, George Floyd was murdered by Derek Chauvin, and my friend Justin, emerged as a leader in our town, working to keep his kids safe. Our suburban little town hosted a march, with the support of our police department, of over 1,500 people, and Justin’s leadership has proven time and again to yield economic, public safety, and community benefits.

When (now) Mayor Brooks ran for mayor in 2022 (and since his win over Kelly Zuniga), Miguel Zuniga – a major Republican donor to failed GOP candidate Heidi Ganahl, husband of Mayor Brooks’ failed opponent and ousted planning commissioner Kelly Zuniga, and the Boulder County Republicans – has been working to energize local MAGA enthusiasts (such as Council Member Andrew Sawusch) to undermine Mayor Brooks and the will of Erie voters.

In November of 2022, Erie Voters elected a group of nine individuals to create a home rule charter. Mr. Sawusch spent much of 2022 (as an Erie Trustee) working to undermine the charter commission, regularly publicly arguing with Erie staff and attorneys. Then, planning commissioner, Kelly Zuniga did the same. In the November 2023 election, Erie voters voted to make Erie a home rule municipality and adopt the Erie charter. The transition section of the charter (Article 16.03), moves Erie municipal elections to November of even years and extends the term of existing council members until successors take office:

(2) The Mayor and new Council Members shall take office at the first regular meeting of the Town Council in 2025, following certification of the election, and they shall continue in office until their successors have been elected and take office.

Voters in Erie voted to adopt the home rule charter 58% to 42%, and because the attempts of Erie’s conservative extremists to misinform and mislead the public failed, Mr. Zuniga has decided to sue the Town of Erie and every individual member of the Town Council – wasting taxpayer dollars and ignoring the will of Erie voters.

Given that his law suit bares considerable overlap with statements made at charter commission hearings with Mr. Sawusch, we should all be curious whether Mr. Sawusch is advising this suit.

The lesson from the MAGA playbook: If I don’t like what you’re doing, I will use Google (or Republican lawyers) to sue you…that’s democracy.