Marion’s dysfunctional city government is showing no signs of improvement.

A ham-handed attempt to influence last spring’s mayoral race by raising questionable charges against Mayor Mary Olson ended last week with a letter from the state attorney general saying Olson would not be prosecuted for allegedly violating a largely unenforceable state law.

Rather than move on, however, the mayor chose to reveal her exoneration only to select people not occupying positions on her enemies list. Some received copies of the letter from the mayor; some did not, despite having equal reason to know whether their mayor did the wrong thing. In at least one case, the mayor flip-flopped on whether people were on her friends list or her enemies list — initially accusing them of being non-supportive and withholding her exoneration, only to drop off a copy of the attorney general’s letter the next morning.

The time for petty politics and negativity is over.

Olson was elected by a group concerned that City Administrator David Mayfield, trained not as a city manager but as a police officer, had assumed too much power.

In turn, Mayfield, along with former council member Gene Winkler, have contended Olson has been an ineffectual and frequently confused leader. The two were central to the allegations brought against her last spring.

The city, meanwhile, has careened out of control, losing out on development opportunities and doing such things as awarding excessive raises last year and none this year.

Observers of City Council meetings are frequently struck by rancorous exchanges and unprecedentedly huge amounts of time devoted to trivial, off-topic matters.

Like it or not, Marion has both Olson and Mayfield. It is rapidly nearing the time when one or the other — or both — should go. But until that time arrives, everyone must learn to stop playing childish political games with the city’s future.

-- eric meyer