Margie and the new toilet

County Commissioners met without Marge Webster who was absent due to an eye ache which is exactly what she gives me. This spurious biz of her taking every available trip to any conference that she remotely qualifies for is no closer to being resolved than it was when it first came up almost a year ago.

Here’s what she has in common with the new $2,500 stainless steel toilet that has to be replaced in the County lock-up. They both have cheaper alternatives. The shiny toilets are of a one piece welded design that come in (and I shit you not) lefty or righty models. Please allow 8 – 12 weeks for delivery. Marge, who is more likely to spew crap than flush it, is also too damned expensive.

On her most recent trip she is reported to have received a “prestigious award.” For what, no one seems to know. My guess is that she was so honored because she managed to bilk this cash-strapped County for every nickel she could scrounge from it. She once snapped at me during the time we were all ranking on the Sheriff for spending $2,300 of the tax payer’s money on civilian suits and ties, “It’s his money. He can do what he wants with it.” I reported that and referred to her as a “barmy budgeteeer” who felt the taxes that you pay becomes her personal travel fund. A few more unkind cuts and she got to my boss who told me to back off and when I didn’t I got canned. So yeah, the sight of her makes me pretend to barf but the real reason that we all need to stay on this subject is because she will continue to spend like the proverbial drunken sailor on leave.

The Daily reported her saying “On the next trip I will leave the county credit card at home.” THE NEXT TRIP? She only has four more months in office. What the darn heck could she possibly learn on yet another one of these ginned up junkets? I read in the Independent – Marge had sent in a press release – that the award she got was for “excellence.” Dudn’t get any simpler than that.

Marge is a bully and appears to be no more competent than the other two but just smart enough and with enough brass to make them knuckle under and even lie to the public about what actually goes on. She’s got the Chairman “approving” her trip after she came back and since Olkkola voted against, it was only Marge’s approving her own trip that made it pass. Sorenson keeps saying he doesn’t know how all this works and it's confusing which is malarkey. There was a rule. She broke it. The other two did nothing. It’s that simple. What is to stop her from doing it again?

The Daily reported that the weekly meeting after she got back was a brouhaha and all the attendees I talked to agreed. Nate was able to get a couple of stories about it but the Independent stuffed Ashely’s well-told retelling of the event on page 11. Having seen a colleague get the axe for failing to defer to Margie, it was probably the safe place for it. The publisher of that paper has shown his willingness to do Marge’s bidding before; why take a chance?

And the blundering nincompoopery never fails to be the central theme of these meetings where nothing seems to get resolved. Yet they are always using the pretext of trying to save the county money by squabbling over the cost of toilets or the price to charge for hay bales. They seem not to have any sort of long range plan. Each Wednesday, after the 15 minute public session, they come in and interview department heads, ask a few questions to imitate paying attention and then move on.

Lately there have been more people showing up to these meetings because some of them are running for the two available commissioners spots. We will surely be rid of the Barge come ’09 and I hope the thoughtful and diligent Henry Spencer will get to take her place, but the other two running would be little improvement on what we have now.

It is worth mentioning that having covered for years these kinds of meetings it is a wonder that anyone volunteers for the position. And yet people pay out of their pocket to get elected and when they do, they find it is difficult to form a consensus with people until you have worked with them for a while and by that time there is rampant cronyism, back room bargaining, unethical behavior, manipulation of the rules, temper tantrums and the usual kind of behavior that one can expect from pubescent sixth graders. Olkkie, last week, yelled at one of the regulars, “Don’t squint at me.” Jesus H. Christ! Even if you are genuinely upset, is it too much to ask to remember that you are an elected official at a public meeting and there are reporters in the room? And so it goes, as Kurt Vonnegut used to say.