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I have posted just under 40 times since August about the fake death threat fiascoes wherein our current
Cowardman, Brian Baird, has shown a level of cowardice almost unfathomable in it's depth and breadth.
There is no doubt that Baird is a political dead man walking. The next general shapes up to be a bloodbath of 1994-
esque proportions. That, of course, begs the question: why would we want to replace one coward with another?
Washougal City Councilman Jon Russell set local speed records in tossing now former Mayor Stacee Sellers under the nearest bus in his haste to avoid any responsibility for the credit card/$100,000 debacle... all the while, neglecting to mention that HE, PERSONALLY, was among the three member committee with personal oversight over the use of the city's credit cards.
Now, it's bad enough that he lacked the ability or interest to actually EXERCISE that oversight. And now, people are actually starting to ask: why hasn't Russell been held accountable for HIS failure to do HIS job in the midst of all of this?
Instead of taking responsibility for his actions, Russell engages in
Obamaesque excuse making, shucking, jiving, ducking and running. And what's his explanation?
Why, it's this:
10/30/09
Dear Russell for Congress Supporters,
As I am sure many of you have read in the papers, the City of Washougal is undergoing a special investigation by the State Auditor to track down over hundred thousand taxpayer dollars and other mismanagement issues by the current Mayor. I take no delight in leading our council in an inquiry of our current Mayor’s troubles. Mayor Sellers appointed me to the Washougal Parks Board and eventually was the tie breaking vote to have me appointed to a seat on the City Council in 2006. However, after I won election in 2007, I began to see some things that raised big red flags. Here are some examples:
1.) While having a city finance committee, in title only, they did not meet to discuss expenditures in a coordinated fashion. Usually, whatever councilmember was available to quickly review the expenditures would sign off on the accounts payable. Even those not assigned to the committee signed off on accounts payable. In 2009, I asked to be appointed to the finance committee in hopes of moving the committee into a functioning body that would meet routinely to scrutinize every expenditure. I brought forward the idea on several occasions, but there was no desire on behalf of others to make such a commitment.
2.) Our Mayor created an internal rule that Council members could not ask anything of department heads. All correspondence had to go through the Mayor. Department heads were instructed to not to speak with Council members. This made the Council’s job very difficult when seeking to provide substantial oversight of the administration. Again, I was the only one to question this internal rule.
3.) For two years I have been asking for a profit-loss statement for the different city events that the administration had sponsored. Those profit-loss statements never came.
4.) Over the last year we have lost two substantial members of our city staff, our city administrator and finance director. These two individuals left abruptly to take jobs elsewhere. It is my opinion that these two departures some how factor into the bigger mystery that now confronts us.
Rightfully so, this is a very difficult time for our city as we endure public ridicule and scrutiny. I would appreciate your prayers as we work through the administration’s chaos and try to bring a clearer picture to the citizens of Washougal. I am convinced that with a newly elected, conservative Council, coming in January, we will provide a way out of the disaster created by this progressive administration.
For years I was unable to rally any alarm because of the extreme loyalty of the progressive majority on the Council, which followed the Mayor in lockstep. At that point I started to piece together a plan to bring about a conservative majority on the Council. In 2008 I was joined by one other conservative and by the summer of 2009 we gained another. On the eve of the 2009 election, we stand to take a conservative majority on the Council. In the meantime, we in the minority have had to endure policies and procedures that have made us very uncomfortable.
This experience has given me a deeper appreciation for what I am trying to do on a national level. We need sweeping government reform, which brings more accountability to government and places more scrutiny on government than on individuals. Too much control in the hands of the few will always result in disaster and corruption. As your next Congressman, I will fight for open and transparent government. The people deserve to know the truth.
Sincerely,
Jon D. Russell
Republican for U.S. Congress
(WA-3)
Good.
God.
I have never in my life read such a huge crock of self-serving cow manure in the entirety of the twenty-plus years I've been following politics.
Here, for the time-impaired, is the Cliff Notes version of why Russell thinks he bears no responsibility for his failure to act under these circumstances.
Never one to avoid contriving a political gain from something, even when he clearly shares fault; Russell is thrilled to find something he thinks he can twist to his advantage. He was placed on the city finance committee, and never saw anything worth mentioning until the Sellers stupidity. He comes up with a dozen different lies to support his failure to first, act, and second, do anything about a set of nonsensical, unenforceable and "unofficial" rules that precluded siting council members from exercising their First Amendment rights to talk to anyone they want, whenever they want, PARTICULARLY when Russell failed to DO anything about any of these so-called "internal rules."
I would ask you, gentle reader, this one very big question:
If our erstwhile Congressional wannabe lacked the testicles to take on a low-rent lowlife like Sellers....
.... what makes anyone believe for one second that he has what it takes to go up against
Pelosi, Reid, or that empty-suited anti-American racist bigot running the show?
In short, why would we replace one coward, Baird; with another coward, Russell?
Do you think for one minute that *I* would have settled for being put off, ignored, intimidated?
Is this clown so helpless that he couldn't have written the county or state auditor's office, asking for assistance and an investigation LONG ago if he saw (but as it turns out, failed to act on) so many "red flags" he allegedly observed?
He almost clownishly mentions that
"In 2009, I asked to be appointed to the finance committee in hopes of moving the committee into a functioning body that would meet routinely to scrutinize every expenditure."
So, tell us again, Jon... why is it that YOU couldn't have done this ON YOUR OWN???? Like it or hate it,
THAT WAS YOUR JOB, A JOB YOU ASKED FOR.
And then this laughable pap:
For years I was unable to rally any alarm because of the extreme loyalty of the progressive majority on the Council, which followed the Mayor in lockstep. At that point I started to piece together a plan to bring about a conservative majority on the Council.
"Unable to rally any alarm?"
What the hell does THAT mean?
I was "unable to write and provide facts causing an investigation to the State Auditor's office." I was "unable to call a reporter." I was "unable, for that matter, to even call Lars Larsen."
There is a major difference between "unable," and "unwilling."
So, here we have it. When allegedly confronted by incompetence and illegality, what did our young, crusading, city councilman do?
Why, he did absolutely nothing.
Well DONE, Mr. Russell. My confidence in your incompetence increases by the second. And the sure knowledge that you share the trait first mastered by Baird; specifically, that you won't take responsibility for any of the many things you do wrong reinforces to me my decision to do everything I can to keep you out of any elective office that includes me.
"Restore 'trust'," Mr. Russell? The only thing your lack of character and integrity does to me is restore nausea.
.
So.... this guy is running for one job, city council, that he hopes to be able to ditch by winning another job, a congressional seat.