At least that's what this next story is about.
The other day a woman approached me and took it upon herself to lecture me about an issue. I had no idea who she was or ever seen her before.
Next, she posts on Facebook about me about the same issue. I was later notified that she is a democrat running for office and she supports my opponent. Consequently, I disclosed that fact and then shared my stance on the issue.
Strangely, it has caught the attention of a CDA Press reporter (which the link to this blog was provided to her). I say, "it's about time."
It's Our Local Swamp Protecting Itself
It's time we have a conversation about disclosure in our community and government. My opponent has a legion of fanatical online trolls who initiate all kinds of attacks toward me. One happens to be an elected official, which in and of itself seems a little out of bounds given that he's never approached me or had a conversation with me about my stance on the issues and my temperament toward others.
But, nonetheless, this elected official sees himself as qualified to characterize me without any direct knowledge of how I operate. All of these people, including him, are operating in concert to protect their established and entrenched interests with my opponent. (You'll notice how one troll pitches this elected official's video in one of her posts further down.)
Some of these online trolls have "thin" profiles with zero information about themselves, similar to a synthetic or fake profile. It's alarming at times.
This Community Deserves Legitimate Transparency
My stance has been transparency and openness. I am happy to discuss any issue and will not block these people, no matter how aggressive they are toward me. However, I expect these people to have the courtesy of disclosing their background and intentions. You, the community, deserve that.
That's why every time they attack me I point out who they are and who they support. Here's the initial post exchange:
(The picture was forwarded to me by her neighbor. The blue is the originally redacted yard sign, so nobody could tell what it was. The black is the redacted area around the sign that I added for this post. There is no picture of a house, no license plates, no picture of a street sign and no identifiable marks to tell where that location is. Fortunately, the husband of the poster acknowledged that I did not take the picture. He asked that I remove it and I promptly did. This is a redacted version of that photo.)
One of the problems in our community and county government is the lack of disclosure. I was shocked to discover that my opponent appointed his treasurer onto the Optional Forms of Government Study Commission only to never disclose this.
Further, his treasurer never disclosed his cozy relationship to Members of the Study Commission, who later told me they never would've voted for him to be the Chairman had they known this.
My Opponent and His Acolytes Believe It's Okay to Keep
Out-of-State Residents On Our Local Commissions
The Chairman later allowed a Member living in South Dakota to vote in her interest to remain on the Study Commission here. Neither he or my opponent sees anything wrong with having non-residents remain on Commissions and make decisions about how the rest of us will live here.
The same thing is true with my biggest online troll, Deborah Rose. Not only is she the possible common-law wife of the Chairman of the Study Commission, but she's also on the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Is it any wonder why she's so aggressive toward me online? But it doesn't end there.
When you dig a little deeper, my Republican opponent appointed two other close friends to the Study Commission who are active on the Kootenai County Democrat Central Committee. (One of them is now running as a Republican for state office and the other has supported my opponent in the Republican Primary [see here].)
Okay, so I do agree that Commissioners should have the right to appoint who they see fit to Commissions and Boards. But these appointments should include some disclosure of any friendly relationships, so the public has an idea of who's being appointed and whether there is a conflicting fiduciary to the community or a fiduciary to the Commissioner. I say the fiduciary should always be for the community.
This was the issue with the democrat candidate who approached me and wrote her online posts. She actively sought me out to lecture me and then post comments about me for a Republican Primary job interview, of which she's neither qualified to vote in and happens to be running for office as a democrat.
I say, if you want to attack me or disagree with me online, that's your prerogative. However, if you're operating with an agenda or have a background that might affect how others think, then it should be exposed as such. Like I said before, you know it's election season when the trolls awake from their slumber (see here).
UPDATE: The Husband Actually Called Me
And it was a great conversation! That's right, the husband of the woman who wrote the above post called me.
First off, he is a delightful, intelligent and thoughtful person. He shared with me that he sometimes registers as a fellow Republican.
We talked about this online post issue among others. He pointed out the fact that my stance on the water issue was a very good start. I believe his background is in environmental engineering.
My stance on many of our local issues is simple: The more density we have the more issues we are likely to experience, including with the waterways and water table. I also suggested that he would be a great resource when addressing this issue, and I meant that. We do have a lot of issues facing this community and we need serious people to help address them. As your Commissioner, I plan on including every serious person who wants to participate.
He politely asked that I remove the post, which I gladly agreed. The CDA Press reporter asked if I could do it again would I put up the same post. In hindsight, I would not because of how polite and considerate the husband was.
All's well that ends well.
Here are the subsequent posts made by myself and the trolls who are mischaracterizing what happened.
NOTE: The coordinated effort by the trolls in mischaracterizing me and my stances on issues. They all posted at similar times to each other.
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