I guess that everyone knows there is an election coming up in a month or so. I think it is really an important election. I’m not talking about the national election. I’ve made my decision on that one. I tune out all the garbage both sides are putting out in their attempt to sway the undecided. I’m talking about the local election.
In the last local election we had an aggressive swing to one party. They won the election by their great advertising effort. We had two Republican incumbents and we elected three new Republicans. Newly elected people are not usually well versed in the governmental process. They most often depend on the incumbents to set their feet on the path to correct governmental procedures.
In the last election this didn’t happen. The three inexperienced commissioners grabbed the helm and began steering the ship of county government on non-governmental seas. As a result we had the County Attorney fiasco at a cost to the county of a quarter of a million dollars over a few years. We are paying an attorney a huge salary not to do any work for the county. The firing of the Road Supervisor has led to a lawsuit that has the potential of costing the county another large sum of money. Both of these situations are from not fully understanding governmental management.
In the coming election the voting public has the opportunity to elect Nancy Joy Valk, a governmental experienced Independent, and Big Dave Smith, a common sense Democrat as Commissioners. If they are elected it will not change the Republican structure of the Commissioners’ office but it will add a broader scope of thinking to the office. It is quite possible that the views of the Independent and the Democrat will help steer the county ship of state on a better course to a safe harbor and a more acceptable approach to the management of the taxpayers’ money.
It is only a suggestion, folks, but if we want a balanced form of county government it appears to me the Independent and the Democrat are the way to go.
John W. Robinson
Corvallis