Vote for Integrity?

District 1 Chisago County Commissioner Lora Walker is running for re-election to the county board. On her campaign website http://www.lorawalker.com./ , Commissioner Walker proclaims “Vote for Integrity” as she apparently believes she exemplifies integrity. However; integrity has not exactly been her track record.

For example; on one previous occasion, Commissioner Walker openly admitted to an Open Meeting Law violation while posting her comments to a local political blog called “Fiefdom Politics.” On another occasion, Commissioner Walker billed Chisago County for her attendance at a meeting she did not attend.

As another example, there are many who believe Commissioner Walker and fellow County Commissioner/attorney Ben Montzka successfully lobbied the Chisago County Attorney to look the other way when the county was served with a written criminal complaint lodged against their political ally and former District 5 county commissioner candidate Bob Carter. The criminal complaint accused Fish Lake Township Supervisor Bob Carter of violating Open Meeting Law and committing several gross misdemeanors as well as ultra vires acts. Although Carter himself had openly admitted in the Cambridge STAR newspaper that he had, in fact, committed one of the illegal acts for which he was accused, the Chisago County Attorney failed to take any action against Supervisor Carter.

So when it comes time to vote at the upcoming District 1 County Commissioner primary election on August 14th, perhaps voting for integrity will mean selecting a candidate other than Lora Walker.

Drunken Sailors Anchored at the Boardroom?

Once again Chisago County commissioners voted to spend money taxpayers don’t have. At the July 5th county board meeting, commissioners voted unanimously to purchase two new Cat 938K front-end loaders for the county Public Works Department at a cost of $385,980.

This extravagant purchase comes on the heels of an “Early Retirement Incentive Program” resolution enacted at the June 20th county board meeting. The resolution, effective July 1st, is intended to circumvent a projected $2,000,000 budget shortfall in fiscal 2013 by financially enticing county employees to retire early. Those employees accepting the early retirement offer would continue to receive health and dental benefits or the cash equivalent for as long as one year after their voluntary retirement. Under the terms of the “Employee Separation Agreement,” they would likely be eligible for unemployment benefits as well.

Given the dismal economic climate, can Chisago County taxpayers afford such incessant fiscal irresponsibility? Isn’t it time to hoist anchor and vote out the incumbents who spend, spend, spend, spend, and spend?