There were some interesting lessons learned today but first, it will come as no surprise that I think the appointment of Fred Messerle to the Coos County commission is a disappointing and mediocre choice. Hopefully, mediocre is as bad as it will get and not a total undoing of the small gains, if in fact there have really been any, that may have been made with the ouster of Kevin Stufflebean.

During the last appointment I was openly critical of the process of selecting a new commissioner and while the committee appeared to be more diverse this time, we still witnessed the same schizoid and name recognition type selections as before. Additionally, despite the vital importance of selecting an effective commissioner, Main and Parry gave up their right and responsibility to be the final arbiter in the selection process, ceding it instead to the selection committee. If, as I suspect, Messerle had been the preferred choice of both commissioners all along, this may have been a way of getting the man they wanted without taking the heat for the decision. After all, eight of nine picked Messerle in the first round.

Further, while this is a non partisan position we now have three Republicans sitting as commissioners in a county with a Democrat majority. (Nikki was a democrat in name only, in my opinion, so there really isn’t any change in that regard). So we now have two Republicans who never or almost never took the time to attend commission meetings previously sitting on an all male Coos County commission. Now we have three Messerles on the public dole, Fred, Ken who receives thousands of dollars every month in consulting fees from the Port and other public entities and Fred’s wife, Sandy working for SCDC.

Of course, I would have preferred to see Jody McCaffree on the board because she would drive the renewable energy projects that Nikki and she were working on and I don’t see Messerle doing that. On the bright side, Jody will be able to keep her full attention on the Port and the Jordan Cove issue and she and I and a few others will continue to work on bringing renewable energy jobs to the region independent of the county. (February 2012 look for some ducted fan wind turbines in Coos County for a start).

Regarding lessons learned. A lot can be learned about a person based upon the company they keep and/or the people they select for committees. A couple of the selection committee members were overheard outside during a break in the proceedings today making what can only be described as ignorant, small minded, deeply misinformed and cruel comments about a candidate. Maybe it isn’t fair to judge the commissioners based upon the bad taste of these two individuals but it does call their judgment and their associations into question.

Parry, for instance, listed Mike Cook and Wayne Krieger amongst his references and referred to the late Richard DeChambeau as his “dear friend” and while Parry is artfully excellent at disguising his feelings and opinions and careful not to criticize anyone, his friends have all publicly, in print, on the air and at public forums resorted to very hostile ad hominem attacks much like was overheard today.

While Parry and Main may be able to see past some negative characteristics, considering we all have them, many of the people chosen, from the two selection committees to the industrial acquisition team have clear, hard right political perspectives. This should cause those of us with differing ideological views to question just how sincere the commissioners are about working with disparate groups.

Anyway, what I have come to realize and what was confirmed for me today is that I am unable to trust Main or Parry to make impartial decisions or genuinely include those of us who disagree from time to time in anything more than token roles.