Anne Corrock, the architect of a recent recall effort that targets Ketchum Mayor Randy Hall, is no stranger to Ketchum politics.
The Wood River native is a Warm Springs hairdresser and 37-year local resident. She served on the city's planning and zoning commission from 2004 to 2008 and ran unsuccessfully for city council in 2001 and 2005. Prior to the expiration of her term on Jan. 7 she was chair of the P&Z.
Politics and political involvement, she said during a Wednesday morning interview at her Warm Springs home, are the result of both her father's long-time service on the Ketchum City Council and of a decade-old controversy that landed planning and zoning issues at her back door.
"I got interested with the zoning code when the planned unit development ordinance was being abused as a tool to create higher-density projects in the low-density neighborhoods," she said. "That was probably the beginning of when my true interest (in local politics) came."
Corrock said she became engaged in politics in the mid-1990s when the Ketchum City Council, of which Hall was a member, began brokering a deal to allow higher building density in exchange for deed-restricted, affordable housing units at The Fields at Warm Springs, which is mere blocks from her home. Corrock's father, Jack Corrock, spearheaded a failed 1998 recall effort of Hall and other council members who voted in favor of The Fields, which became Blaine County's first community housing development.
"The recall, as I find it, is counterproductive," said a befuddled Hall in October 1998. "...I just don't get it."
Hall once again finds himself the target of a recall effort, this time in crosshairs aimed by the daughter of the man who previously attempted to give him the boot. Moreover, the issues that have driven the younger Corrock to target the longtime public servant are similar to those stated by her father in the 1990s. It's a passion for the integrity of pre-established zoning regulations. Moreover, Anne Corrock was adamant that the current recall effort has no connection to her father's.
"You know what my goal is?" she asked "To get our government back to a place where it has reliable zoning."
She said she is concerned more than anything else about the welfare of Ketchum.
"This is my home. I grew up here. I raised my family here. I think it's unique to the other resorts. That's what our attraction is, and I'd hate to see us lose that. Do you think I want to spend my summer vacation doing a recall? No. I'd much rather be hiking and spending time with my family and dog."
Corrock said that during her tenure on the P&Z there was very little communication between the mayor and commissioners.
"I talked with Randy (Hall) less than a handful of times, maybe two, in four years on the P&Z," she said. "He talks about being a communicator and a communicator with the P&Z. That was not happening."
It's unclear who pulled what strings, but Corrock said two P&Z commissioners were asked to resign mid-term during her time on the P&Z, and a third, highly-qualified commissioner's term was not renewed.
"They fired everybody and never told me," she said. "On the day I became acting chairman I was faced with an almost entirely new P&Z."
She said the P&Z also regularly received very poor information from the city's planing staff in order to process applications during her time on the board.
"It's the staff's responsibility that the staff gives the commission the facts and figures so the commission can make good decisions," she said. "We never got the facts we needed to make really good decisions."
But at the core of her quest to kick Hall out of office is leadership she said is "broken down."
Special interests like the Wood River Economic Partnership and Sawtooth Board of Realtors are being heard more than the voices of local residents, she said.
"It segregates out the voice of the voters, the people the council is supposed to be representing."
Explaining her position further, she read from some of Hall's 2005 campaign literature, which states Hall would screen the city budget for efficiencies, practice sound judgment, set priorities and get things down, "listen, listen and listen some more."
"I agree with all of his campaign promises, and I don't see them happening," she said. "It's true. I agree with Randy on all of this. We did elect someone who did have the values of the community. It's hard to hear him say he's following through with his campaign promises when these are what they were."
More than anything, though, Corrock returned to the desire for strong zoning codes. She said strong zoning encourages positive development and encourages developers to work responsibly.
"A recall is democracy at work," she said. "A long time ago a wise person said you stand up for your beliefs and accept the results. It's like voting. If you don't vote you can't complain."
Anne Corrock is the woman behind the pending recall effort targeting Ketchum Mayor Randy Hall. The Warm Springs hair dresser and ski instructor has been actively involved in Ketchum political issues for 10 years. Photo by David N. Seelig
