If I wrote the newspaper article, that’s what my headline would’ve said. I’m talking about Commissioner Fillios not disclosing his sketchy appointment to the Optional Forms of Government Study Commission (Study Commission).
On January 19 I made public the fact that Commissioner Fillios appointed his own Political Treasurer, David Botting (now Chairman), to be on the Study Commission. Isn’t this supposed to be an unbiased Commission...so why did Commissioner Fillios appoint a political operative onto his Study Commission?
A Commission Member has pointedly said that Mr. Botting has been steering the Study Commission to an apparent desired conclusion. I would agree with that person's assessment. And I would also say that both Commissioner Fillios and Chairman Botting seemed perfectly happy to keep their cozy friendship a secret from the public.
To support my point, my private conversations with existing Commission Members suggest that they would NOT have voted for David Botting to be the Chairman, had this information been disclosed beforehand. Further, the Chairman’s lack of interest in possible solutions for problems with the existing form of government -- along with him being the deciding fifth vote for change -- makes this entire situation sketchy and questionable, especially when Commissioner Fillios is backing such change.
At some point I hope that the people who are supposed to hold government officials accountable -- that is the press -- start to investigate this appointment, its lack of disclosure and how it has affected other Commission Members. They should also ask Commissioner Fillios how many other political cronies he's appointed onto other county boards that have not been disclosed?
Sadly, you don't have to dig deep to find a swamp here.
This is true and should be the reason to scrub the whole commission for change. The root cause of the commission is the fact that Fillios and Brooks are not doing the work they were elected to do. They are paid for full time work, at $90,000 more, a rate that is excessive for part time in North Idaho...and they are the ones who gave themselves that rate. There is far too much evidence that this is a Fillios and Botting attempt to keep Fillios and Brooks in an overpaid and underperforming taxpayers ripoff. Borttings performance has been abismal and his bias been blatant.
I will be glad to discuss my credentials and evaluation with the powers that can rectify…