Judging by their column inches of campaign text in the Prairie Times this week, Lark, Jill, Robert, and Larry want to be commissioner real bad. They all have an ability to interpret random public events in a light most favorable to their candidacy. They all appear to need power. They all appear greatly disturbed that democratic processes have allocated power to people other than themselves.
I’m still working on figuring out why those qualifications that spring from deep reservoirs of naked ambition would make them better commissioners than the ones we currently have.
If these 4 challengers had been brought forward by some other process than their own lust for power, I would be more impressed. If any of them had actually introduced new constructive ideas into the public discourse of the county, I would be more impressed. If any of them had built a campaign on some other foundation than merely turning every pre-existing public precept into a negative hammer for bludgeoning the commissioners, I would be more impressed.
The Democrats among them have promised to collect more tax money. There they go again. And the newly minted Republicans just want to govern, especially Rowland. He wants so badly to govern that he made his own political party, though it’s not an official political party. It’s just a pretend party that can’t legally endorse candidates or issues. And there’s no internal voting or representation mechanism. He’s the king of his club, which is ironic when you think about all the lip service he pays to the Constitution. As for Ross, he kind of reminds me of WC Fields, which would be great if his purpose was to entertain. Maybe he should reconsider his purpose.
I hope Jerry Bishop makes good money off this bunch for all the newsprint he’s giving them. As a newly minted Republican Committee Person, Jerry’s taken a strange tack here in turning his fishwrap into a quasi-official organ for local liberal candidates. It’s a free country and more power to him, but it’s definitely a weird turn.
I’ve been away for a while and am still getting un-jet-lagged. I have no desire to chase these contenders around the block, as if any of them had brought meritorious arguments to the table worth a rebuttal, only to end up exactly where we started, them still beating their sets of empty drums. It’s, apparently, what they do.
B_Imperial