The lawsuit brought by the Emerson’s against the county is what can be expected when we have sitting county commissioners using the power of their office to politicize and fast track issues before an election.
IF John Dean had not used his political influence to instruct county employees to circumvent existing county procedures so that he could have an issue before an election the county would more than likely not be defending itself against a lawsuit. The building code violation would have gone through normal county channels and more than likely the Emerson’s would have followed the law and paid their fine.
Many of you posting here blame the Emerson’s for this fiasco. I blame the politicalization of our county government more than the Emerson’s.
Maybe you should be asking yourself just what has the county done to ensure this type of issue does not occur again? The planning department head and the employees involved in the politicalization of this issue are still in the employment of the county with no apparent corrective action taken against them.
What has Island County done to prevent politics from entering into the decision making process by employees?
What have commissioners Angie Homola and Helen Price Johnson done to stop the politicalization of Island County employees?
The answer is nothing…we deserve this lawsuit…
It seems that in a county a small as ours we need to have a dedicated staff of employees that do not allow politics get in the way of running our county. All citizens of this county need to be treated fairly using the same rules and those rules need to apply evenly to everyone whether you are a clerk at Wal Mart or a candidate for political office.
In the case of the Emersons it is clear that county rules were not followed by county employees and this lawsuit is a result of that.
If you are undecided as to who is responsible for the lawsuit against the county ask yourself the following questions:
Were normal county procedures followed in the complaint against the Emerson’s?
Are non politically affiliated landowners charged with violations using the same rules and procedures as the Emerson’s were?
Why was the complaint fast tracked by county personnel so a sitting county commissioner would have a campaign issue against an opponent?
It appears we have 2 sets of rules in this county and that is what troubles me with the whole Emerson issue. We have one set of rules for those that play party politics and one set of rules for citizens.
Which set of rules do you fall under?
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