Before Monday (December 28) there was one vacant seat on County Council.
Then County Executive Kremen changed all that.
He appointed Ward Nelson to the vacant county seat. Now there is...
...one vacant seat on County Council.
That's right.
On Monday morning, there were six people serving on County Council.
And Monday afternoon, after Pete Kremen made his appointment, there were...
...six people serving on County Council.
The same six people.
On January 11, 2010, there will be seven people serving on the County Council.
But today, there is still a vacancy in County Council.
The Council and the Executive left the composition of the County Council unchanged, appointed the vacancy to a different piece of furniture, and issued a press release.
And the best part is... everyone seems to be fine with this.
Well, almost everyone.
I respectfully disagree that everyone seems to be fine with this decision.
ReplyDeleteThere is significant anger smoldering in our community regarding Pete Kremen's decision to put the Republicans in control of the the county council. Don't mistake silence for acceptance.
The voters were clear about their preferences regarding representation. In fact, they put two conservatives and two progressives on the council during the last election cycle, creating an ideological balance between competing view points.
Now, thanks to Pete's appointment, the conservatives are in control and the progressives will have to fight like hell to get reasonable legislation passed.
And, as a fifth generation Whatcom County resident, I want to provide future generations with open space, healthy shellfish, and amble supplies of clean drinking water.
Pete unraveled the voter's will by appointing a life long Republican to fill a seat vacated by a progressive. The voters chose a progressive, not a Republican to represent them in District 1.
Now, I understand that Pete does not like Carl Weimer. And he went through a great deal of trouble to unseat Carl. But the voters sent Carl back to the council, despite Pete's efforts to unseat him.
It's not Pete's job to eliminate political poliarization in Whatcom County. That's the job we elect our council members to do. And, its something they will do, if any of them care about the future of our community.
I guess we need a new County Executive and two new council members in District 2 and District 3 who are not obstructionists and game players.
It's time to retire the deadwood. Getting rid of Sam Crawford and Barbara Brenner will assist us in our efforts to reduce polarization in this community.