Day: March 22, 2011

I might need to have my hearing checked.  While watching the BOCS meeting today I thought I heard Mrs. Caddigan say that she was given $89,000 for her office account out of general funds for the year.  I then thought I heard her say she didn’t need it so she donated it to the Montclair library. 

Then I thought I heard the CXO say that this was the first of 5 such payments?  My ears are ringing.  This is a hell of a lot of money multiplied by 8.  In fact, I expect it would have provided senior day care or perhaps even a resource officer or 2 for the middle schools. 

If this expenditure is $712,000 per year times 5 is $3,560,000.  How many supervisors don’t need these funds?  Can’t we put them to use that will serve the entire county? 

County employees haven’t had a raise in 3 years.   We are short uniformed officers and promises made to fire and rescue have never been kept.  These discretionary funds are growing by leaps and bounds and nothing else is.

Please tell me to have my hearing checked or that I misheard.

Also, while speaking of the county, let’s look at the new redistrict map keeping 7 magisterial districts.  Am I having visual hallucinations or is the old Gainesville district being carved up in Sudley and Westgate?  It seems to me that these are communities of interest and should not be split.  I am willing to be in Coles District but I am just not sure how this community is to be carved up.  The maps do not show street names.  Do I smell a rat?

Press Release From Gary Friedman

 Democratic Nomination Contest

Public focus is starting to turn to the upcoming local elections this November. Those of us who have been paying attention to these races for quite some time, now have one important piece of information we have been missing: The election calendar. The Board of Elections recently published the calendar for the 2011 campaign cycle. A quick look at the calendar makes it clear that it puts challengers to incumbents at an even greater disadvantage than normal. The usual five months the calendar allows for the general election, post-nomination for the parties, has been truncated to just over two months this year. That fact alone places a heavy burden on challengers, especia!ly so for those new to the political arena.

With regard to the race for the at-large seat to the Board of County Supervisors, which serves to chair the county board, and for which I announced my intention to seek the Democratic nomination in July of last year, the last thing any Democratic nominee needs is to engage in a long and expensive nomination battle followed immediately by a short calendar general election.

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