Boss Hogg Needs to Go

Last evening, a post on my facebook feed caught my attention. It was from the sheriff on his personal facebook page. He has his professional one too and didn't post this particular item there so he probably thinks it's ok. I don't. But, maybe it's just me.

Quick review: Sheriff Pat Kelly has a 'Sheriff Pat Kelly' facebook page and a 'Pat Kelly' facebook page. He posts a lot of the same stuff on both. Awhile back, some people were complaining that he shouldn't be posting official sheriff stuff on his personal page so he made the sheriff page so he could do that. I have an issue with some of the stuff he posts on that page because it comes off sounding like the arrested persons are already determined to be guilty when we STILL have innocent until proven guilty in this country. I think. If I were a defense attorney, I'd be all over that for my client. A whole nuther issue.

Anyway, last night I saw this:

Pat Kelly

Thanks so much to my family, friends and supporters that came to walk with my campaign group and to my staff, employees and reserves that came out and participated in the parade with my office. Thanks to Pearl Graham for driving the SALT float and all the members of SALT that participated. To Becky and Suzie for preparing a wonderful cookout. To Smith Concrete for your support. To everyone and especially Jim Childs for your support and the job you do. Thanks to all!

Sweet that he's thanking his supporters and all but some of those supporters are "staff, employees and reserves" and "especially Jim Childs".

Stuff like this kinda bothers me. Even if there is no coercion from 'boss' to 'employee', or employee sucking up to boss, it looks wrong.

And that's why we have laws. We have the Federal Hatch Act and the Ohio “Little” Hatch Act. These are not obscure laws that no one has ever heard of. If you've ever been a public employee, you probably know what they mean, generally speaking.

Basically, if you are a public employee, stay out of partisan politics. You can vote, you can have an opinion, and you can be involved in nonpartisan campaigns and run for nonpartisan offices (school board and such), but to be on the safe side, stay out of the fun part of politics.

Christina L. Corl wrote a pretty good overview.

There is good rationale for this going in both directions. An employee can't be forced to campaign for their boss, which used to happen frequently, and employees can't curry favor with their boss by campaigning for him.

What adds flavor is we went through this before. Back when the race was between the current sheriff and the previous sheriff, one of the deputies was fired for campaigning against his boss. Termination of employment is the penalty that is to be paid but since an arbitrator over-ruled the initial finding, the deputy got his job back and 75K besides. And now that deputy is Sheriff Kelly's "friend and sounding board" according to Pat Kelly's facebook posting of this afternoon. Nope, no impropriety here.

Having employees and other underlings (rumor has it Explorer Scouts too) campaigning may seem rather frivolous to some. I find it quite important because if the sheriff chooses to ignore some laws, how does he enforce any laws? The sheriff is not above the law nor are the deputies.

If this particular issue isn't quite enough to cause alarm, try adding a couple of issues that reveal a pattern of behavior. A county commissioner who beat his wife and had pot in his house was treated much differently than someone else under similar circumstances. The hiring of a convicted felon as a deputy - the son of a friend who campaigned for him. And we'll not get into the money issues from that office - yet.

And I'm going to pay attention when the sheriff says I can't drive my truck in the snow. Hold your breath.

And I'm suppose to follow his orders if marshal law is ever declared. Hold your breath.

If Sheriff Kelly loses the election this fall, is he going to delete his personal facebook profile or turn it over to Mr. Kane? After all, the url is facebook.com/athenssheriff.

Just Because You Can, Doesn't Mean You Should

Athens County Auditor, Jill Thompson, is in the midst of a battle with the sheriff, Pat Kelly, and the prosecutor, Keller Blackburn, over where some of the funds for their offices should be kept. It seems the sheriff and the prosecutor want to move money to outside accounts and the auditor is questioning the appropriateness of their requests, as well she should.

According to The Athens Messenger:

Blackburn and Sheriff Patrick Kelly sent Auditor Jill Thompson letters instructing her to move money from their Drug Law Enforcement and Law Enforcement Trust Fund accounts into outside bank accounts they would control.

Maybe it's just me but it sounds a bit shady.

Blackburn seems to think it's ok since it's not tax money but money from criminal cases. Ummmm, I disagree. Regardless of how the money is generated, it still belongs to the citizens of the county to be used on their behalf to catch criminals and prosecute them. There must be a system of checks and balances, so to speak, for the citizenry to have some semblance of faith in the government that the officials aren't lining their own pockets.

And that's where the auditor comes in to the picture. We have a great auditor in Athens County. I'm convinced the reason she lost her bid for state representative had more to do with voters not wanting to share her with the rest of the district. I heard those sentiments expressed by R's and D's both. Keep in mind, she is one of two elected R's in this superD county.

If the auditor doesn't have oversight on the various accounts that are set up for each of the county departments, how can we, as citizens and taxpayers, know that the money is being spent appropriately? As a citizen, I don't need to know every microscopic detail of the budgets in the county. I'm sure it would make my head explode. That's why we have an auditor. But if something doesn't sit right with me, I need to be able to have a look at the books. If each department gets to utilize outside accounts for this, that, or the other, I can never be sure that the money isn't being used nefariously and the auditor loses the ability to do what she was elected to do.

Both the sheriff and the prosecutor are claiming that it is because of the 'sensitive nature' these particular funds are used for as the reason they need to do this. It seems to me that a big part of both departments deal with things of a sensitive nature.

Also, in the Messenger:

Blackburn said that if Thompson issues the checks so the money can be moved, she would not face any future state audit liability because she has documented her concerns.

That isn't the point, Keller. Jill is doing her job. Just because she has documented her concerns, doesn't mean you are entitled to get your way. Maybe if you concentrated more on doing your job, there would be fewer criminals getting away with murder.

And, there is a track record already that these funds are misused. The sheriff's Furtherance of Justice account (which is allowed by Ohio Revised Code) audit showed expenditures without supporting documentation as well as money spent on carpet, which is not a valid expense for this account. Pat says he thought that was an okay purchase. Wrong.

So if you don't even know what is and is not approved purchases, why should the auditor give you another account to manipulate? That's like doubling a kid's lunch money this week because he spent last weeks' lunch money on video games. So now he can get a video game AND lunch. Or maybe two video games.


And your argument that other counties do it is so lame. When I tried to make that argument as a kid to my mother, she said: If the rest of your friends jump off a bridge, are you going to do it too?

Of course not. And that is what I gather Jill is trying to say too. You, Pat and Keller, have your jobs to do. Let Jill do hers. It goes a long way with the citizens who follow such things to know that the money is being watched closely and that the system of checks and balances we have within our government is working. If you're given too much financial latitude, there will always be a sector of the public who is suspicious that some shenanigans are going on with their money. And they should be suspicious. Because even if it isn't happening, the possibility that it could happen is enough for your credibility to be questioned. That makes getting reelected that much more difficult. Doesn't it?

Just as I was about to post this, this showed up on my facebook feed:

WSAZ NewsChannel 3

Mason County Sheriff David Anthony files for re-election after being indicted earlier this month for misuse of gov't funds and wanton endangerment. Even though it's innocent until proven guilty, can he overcome the court of public opinion? Details at 5:30 and 6!

Recycling Recycling

It seems the Athens-Hocking Solid Waste District is out of compliance with Ohio EPA. Still. And the district says they need more money in order to fix this. There's a shocker. But there's something smelly about this whole thing and it isn't the trash.

It all started over two decades ago with HB 592...

1988 - HB 592 was passed that created solid waste districts in the state because we weren't recycling enough and the landfills were filling up. The Ohio EPA gets to oversee the districts and tell them how to do things. Problem #1. Since it is a government entity, tax dollars pay for it. Problem #2.

In 2009, the Athens-Hocking Solid Waste District said they needed more money. To generate this money, they proposed a 'fee' of $3/ton of waste. A tax by any other name is still a tax. Call it a fee if it makes you feel better but it's still a tax. This tax would be levied on the trash haulers and will of course be passed on to their customers with rate increases.

But the tax must be approved by the county commissioners for each county, city council of the largest city in each county, and legislative authorities representing a combined population of at least 60 percent of the total population in each county. Athens loves paying taxes but the great people of Hocking County evidently do not. Logan City Council wouldn't pass it and neither would the county commissioners. It seems they had questions that were either not answered or were answered inadequately. Thank you to the elected officials in Hocking County for not playing the part of ostrich.

After a few months, the district recycled their plan to implement the $3 fee. Well, that is their business. Sort of. Hocking County again to the rescue. Questions gone unanswered concerning the finances of the district kept the Hocking County elected officials from approving the added tax.

Now Athens wants to take their ball and go home. The landfill used by the two counties is in Athens County. It's really close to the Athens/Hocking line though and wouldn't surprise me if some of it were located in Hocking County. Athens wants to break up with Hocking. The problem is that in order for a solid waste district to be a single county, that county must have a population of 100,000. Neither county meets that requirement and the Ohio EPA would have to approve the split. Hocking County would be left high and dry according to the threats made by the Athens County Commissioners. There's other stuff to it within the original bill that I am having a difficult time making heads or tails out of because it involves government speak and I'm not fluent in idiot.

The Ohio EPA says the Athens-Hocking District is not in compliance. I'm not sure exactly what that means but based on various newspaper articles dating back to February of 2010, we need to recycle more or maybe we need to generate more trash. I'm not sure. They want people to recycle but the county gets more money if we generate more trash. Since it's more money the county wants, do they want us to generate more trash? But the EPA says recycle.... makes my head spin....

The state says there is a partnership between public and private entities but at least a few of the private trash haulers don't exactly see it that way. They see it as the public side is pushing the private side out of business by causing the private haulers to raise rates. I can tell you that we pay almost twice as much out here in the county as what the people in the city pay using the county trash haulers. I'm pretty sure subsidies are involved. When the private trash haulers go to the landfill, they pay a fee to dump the trash. The county gets this fee. That's a subsidy, right?

But there's still the compliance problem. I'm not sure how the $3 tax will fix that unless it will be used to pay the EPA to look the other way. According to one of the private haulers, one way for the district to come into compliance is to add a handful of drop locations for recyclables in each county. Evidently there isn't enough participation and that's suppose to encourage it. In the same article from The Athens News:

He (the private hauler) said that officials often say that they are in the trash business because recycling doesn't pay for itself and they need the funds to pay for recycling.

Which is backed up on collegegreenmag.com:

“There’s not big money in recycling… so the government does it,” said Roger Bail, operations coordinator for the Athens-Hocking Waste District. “There’s money in trash.”

So they're trying to get more people to recycle more. We used to recycle stuff all the time. Pop and milk came in glass bottles. We took empty bottles to the store and got a deposit back. Now they come in throw away plastic. I like glass. And we drank water that came from the tap. You would fill a glass with water and wash the glass afterward to reuse it. Now we insist on carrying around plastic water bottles that end up in the landfill. But I'm sure the government had a hand in the glass bottles going away - probably some concern about hygiene. So the answer to that is now creating problems. Maybe if the government would stop trying to regulate everything, thus tying our hands, we wouldn't have either problem. We wouldn't be producing as much trash and would be recycling. Our trash haulers could make a living without raising rates to the point that many lower income families do not purchase the service to have their trash hauled away creating a bigger illegal dumping problem that the county also complains about.

Where and when will the madness stop?

Athens is No 1 on Issues 2 and 3

Athens County has the distinction of placing first in the state on Issue 2 AND Issue 3. It's not something I'm proud of but I'm sure there are a fair number of liberals who would be if they knew how to get this information. But the reality is they don't really care once the election is over and things mostly went their way.

I have tried to explain to people who are not from Athens County just how liberal it is here. They think they know and they say they know but they really don't know the extent of it. We have Ohio University and I think for most people it stops there when they try to calculate the liberalness of the area. But they fail to include the non-student population and the non-OU affiliated people.

Now, however, I have something concrete to use to point out the level of liberalness.

Issue 3 was the healthcare amendment to nix Obamacare. It passed in all 88 counties and statewide it was 65.63% to 34.37%. If you list the counties according to percentages with the lowest percentage in the first position, Athens County is right there in the big number one spot. It passed 52.76% to 47.24%. The next county had issue 3 passing with almost 56% of the votes. So, we're number one with the lowest percentage of yes votes on Issue 3.

Issue 2 was the big repeal SB5 thing. Again, all 88 counties voted in unison against issue 2 and again Athens County places first. Statewide, the percentages were 38.67% to 61.33%. Now, put the highest percentage of  'no' votes in the first position and again you'll find......

.....YES!!! Athens County with a.... get this....

.....19.65% to 80.35%!!!!! Now that's a big gap.

I bet I can identify every single one of the 3070 people who voted yes on Issue 2.

So, when someone wants to talk to me about trying to convince the people of Athens to vote for the more conservative candidate or vote more conservatively on an issue, and I tell them I'll do what I can and they think I'm giving them the brush-off, which I usually am, I have these facts to use to help illustrate the liberalness of the county.

Tax Payers Have a Friend in Athens County

A great big thank you to the Athens County Auditor, Jill Thompson, and the rest of the budget commission for cutting the millage on two county agencies thus saving the taxpayers some cash - over a million dollars worth.

For 2012, there will be a levy reduction of .5 mill for The Athens County Board of Developmental Disabilities and Athens County Children Services will be reduced by one mill.

Why? Because they're hording money at a time when everyone else is tightening their belts and making due.

The Athens County Board of Developmental Disabilities had 5.26 million dollars in extra cash at the end of 2010. Carryover for each of the previous 5 years was also in excess of 5 million dollars. Plus, there were generous pay raises every year including 5% for each of the past 2 years and as high as 6.65% in 2007. All the while having 300 people on waiting lists needing their services. What the heck is going on here?

Athens County Children Services had 5.1 million dollars in extra cash at the end of 2010 increasing their carryover gradually over the past 5 years. They have now reached almost 76% of their annual expenditures in carryover.

I understand having some carryover but I think over 5 million dollars worth for each agency is a weeeee bit excessive.

But wait, there's more. Last November, both of these agencies had tax levies on the ballot that were approved by the voters. How dumb are we? Well, I'm not but I was in the minority on those issues as both levies passed easily. One thing that is pretty certain in this county is that county-wide levies usually pass no matter what. No one questioned if either agency needed more money. No one ever questions any of them why they need more money. They just vote for the levy because..... well, there are several reasons that will have to wait for another post but one of them is because the various agencies just had the nerve to ask.

And now that they've had their budgets challenged, I suppose these two agencies will go on a major spending spree so they can ask the voters for more money or at least get the millage back they just lost. And I'd bet the other county tax-funded agencies will make sure they don't have very much carry over lest they face the same fate. And that's a sad state of affairs but unfortunately how things work in government. To translate: Spend it or you loose it. Spend it so you can get more.

At least in 2012 I get to keep a couple of extra bucks of my money. It won't be a lot, enough for maybe a nice dinner for two. But it's something. And I can't do much about voters being so willing to raise my taxes, but at least I know that someone in this county is watching and has the nerve to ask the recipients why they need so much spare change at the end of each year.