It seems that magical thinking occurs at the national level as well but some Coos County commissioner campaigns have taken faith based governance to a level of lunacy unsurpassed anywhere. Two thirds of the candidates for commissioner, Fred Messerle, John Sweet, Tim Bishop and Melissa Cribbins believe a mythical savior, a guru, an earthbound but otherwise cosmic being, AdminMan, is the only thing that will keep Coos County from “falling off a cliff”. Not only do they claim to believe this but by doing so they are admitting through implication that they aren’t up for the job for which they are campaigning. In effect, they are running for position of superhero headhunter and we are supposed to vote for them because only they will choose our new messiah. Only they know the bat signal and the secret code necessary to call AdminMan to the rescue.
To be fair, Bob Main and Don Gurney are probably putting way too much faith in the federal government and Congressional action but they do appear to want to work full time as commissioners rather than as part time volunteers. This is a good thing because I am not optimistic Congress will cooperate with either of their plans.
Position two candidates, Sweet and Bishop are well entrenched in this magical thinking and absent a wave of write-in votes for someone like Randy Sanne, (hint, hint), we are stuck for the next two years.
For those who find all or some of the current crop of candidates unpalatable, let me recommend Randy Sanne, Larry Van Elsberg and Jody McCaffree has viable and alternatives to put in the write-in slots. Each are smart, incorruptible and would be unlikely to accept contributions from for profit special interests.
The only plan four of them have is to hire someone to takeover their jobs and the other two want to privatize more public forest. We are doomed
At least Messerle, the Joe Biden of local politics, has finnaly fessed up and told us what we already knew, the super admin will cost us about $250,000 annually – probably much more. Where does that money come from Messy? And, dont insult us by telling us the commmissioners salary will be reduced to $1,000. As the ordinance is written, that will never happen.