To the Editor:

In an election year, the civic minded thoroughly assess their government and, as per recommendations of old, replace it if it’s rotten. Numerous commentaries lately in this section of the Eagle speak to that. While a crisis should bring out the best in local government, this pandemic brought out the worst: selfishness over altruism, power grab over collaboration, exclusiveness over representation, secrecy over education.

Elsewhere, such has been described as government by “cronyism, nepotism and rascalism.” Our county government freewheeled on taxpayer funds (rascalism), got friends (cronyism) and relatives (nepotism) into this green pipeline and got away with it (rascalism again).

The recent flurry of “good cop” reporting in the Eagle tries to balance out this well-deserved criticism, even though the heroics are based entirely on an accident of geography and involve out-of-state agencies (Smith murders), or are portents of a neglected, impoverished economy (drugs, domestic abuse), not an accident: The latter correlate positively. Even the myth of satanic cult cow mutilations found itself resurrected.

Of the three government undesirables, nepotism is surely the most despicable. Paying a county employee a living wage, a nice retirement, is good, and customary practice. Doubling that for one family when the job market is poor or non-existent takes that living wage, that nice retirement, away from a main provider, along with fostering elitism and a definite sense of entitlement which are self-propagating, non-transparent and tend to be permanent. On taxpayer funds.

Someone told me, “Nepotism is not illegal for counties.” That does not make it right. It is not a democratic or, as I understand it, Christian, thing to do, and with 12 different denominations in a town of 1,700, the latter at least should be a factor.

Vega Nunez

Ritter

Editor’s note: The Eagle does not try to “balance out” positive and negative stories. We report facts. Nepotism is illegal for counties in Oregon, but the restrictions do not apply to unpaid volunteers. Oregon law states public officials may not appoint, employ or promote a relative or member of the household to, or discharge, fire or demote a relative or member of the household from, a position with the public body that the public official serves or over which the public official exercises jurisdiction or control, unless the public official complies with conflict of interest requirements.