Canyon County Commishes have once again demonstrated their willingness to emphasize to taxpayers they are the deciders. The Commishes have come to another "fork in the road" and have decided to take wrong direction again. THE GUARDIAN learned from a page 2 article in the IPT today our Commishes have hired Joe Decker to be the new Public Info. Guy, his starting pay will be $40,000/year with full benefits package costs added to the base pay.
A public information officer has been a political minefield for as long as anyone has held this position. Most taxpayers feel like it is just another layer of government limiting access to elected officials. Those in office and in support of this position think this is a much needed person to interface with the media.
It's no secret THE GUARDIAN'S stand is we elected these people to stand up, look us in the eye and tells what needs to be said. They don't have to be perfect speakers, we can figure out what the purpose and intent is without a PIO. To that end County Clerk Chris Yamamoto and Commissioner Candidate Craig Hanson (running against incumbent David Ferdinand) have stated county officials need to speak for themselves. Most voters and taxpayers agree with Yamamoto and Hanson.
This is just another example of not listening to folks paying the bills for county government. Another poke in the eyes of taxpayers by our county deciders. Contact with constituents and the media will not be enhanced via this latest move by commissioners.
So far the only thing these clowns have got right is appointing Brian Taylor to replace the thief in chief Bujak as the prosecuting attorney.
ReplyDeleteThey hired the first one when I was there, nice lady but I don't know what she did all day. Not enough need for that size of community. Why don't ya just elect some new commishes?
ReplyDeleteWhy can't these clods speak for themselves? At least two are experienced bankrupts. What these duds need to be are ex politicians! I saw Ferd on TV the day after getting elected and was amazed at his incredulous attitude that he had actually been elected!
ReplyDeleteI think I will go see if I can find a Paulsen molder to buy.
Like the guy in the IPT commented the other day. It is time to get the broom out and clean up all the dirt that is in our city halls and county buildings.
ReplyDeletePaul:
ReplyDeleteAnother misguided deed by the commissioners against the people's will.
They didn't even have the guts to put the fact the hired a PIO on the County website. I am certain this will be an issue in the election of new commissioners.
ReplyDeleteHansons got my vote. Oust all three of those jokers.
ReplyDeleteWhen you can't break your pet of bad habits and the smell in their favorite corner gets ripe beyond tolerance, then they gotta go.
ReplyDeleteMr. Decker looks like a BARGAIN when compared to Nampa's PIO Sharla Arlege.
ReplyDeleteMs. Arlege earns just about 10K less than the Mayor or roughly 76K a year PLUS a $12,360 per year insurance package. Not bad work if you can get it!
The problem with PIO's as I see it, is that they tend to take on "pseudo-power". Information and access to information makes the PIO position amazingly powerful. All persons represented by the PIO eventually become dependent on the PIO to protect their secrets and smooth over the blemishes. This engenders a constant and ongoing emotional mortgage from which the only pay back is to increase their salary commensurate with the value of the dirt they sweep under the rug.
Eventually the CIO can become more powerful and influential that almost anyone else within the "henhouse". All too late elected officials find that their "watchdog mouthpiece" morphs into the "fox guarding the henhouse". This eventually leads to VERY nervous hens.
The old adage which says: "Never meddle in the affairs of dragons if you are crunchy and taste good with catsup" is never true for PIO's. PIO's often become dragon eaters by virtue of their ability to become "most trusted repository for all relevant knowledge".
FBI director Herbert Hoover has been described as the most powerful man in America during his time. Why? He had ALL the dirt and basically scared the hell out of everyone by virtue of his intimate knowledge of just about everyone who mattered at the time.
PIO's are basically hired "tigers" which officials get to ride for protection. Unfortunately, they can never get OFF the Tiger or they could be eaten. This why it is so difficult to ever eliminate the CIO position.
To put it in a nutshell, PIO's are spin-meisters of disinformation. The elected crooks and criminals in our city halls and county buildings
ReplyDeleteare discussing the real agenda behind pulled shades, and closed doors.