Triplicate Editor Whine’s Again

By Samuel Strait – July 6, 2017 –
When I read the recent whine by our local editor, Robin Fornoff, of the Triplicate, “My View:  $38,000 Bill for petty grievances and political vendettas”, my first thought was “You can’t be serious!”  Seems like it wasn’t much more than a year ago when then candidate Lori Cowan was on the editor’s “Public Enemy Number One List” for being presumptuous enough to run against the editor’s golden girl, former Supervisor Martha McClure.  Following that, he was beyond blowing a gasket over her, at the time, joining to that evil cabal of Berkowitz and Gitlin.  What a year it has been.   Now newly elected Lori Cowan has, for the past six months, become associated with the “more moderate” Chris Howard and the Triplicate’s editor is writing cover pieces for Supervisor Cowan in his continuing vendetta “My Views” against Berkowitz and Gitlin.  Go figure!  I guess we shouldn’t expect to much to change from the editor’s closed mind, if there is indeed one in there.

I suppose the second thing someone might ask, is in the six months since Supervisor Cown has been in office, has any real solution to Del Norte’s many MAJOR problems been moved forward? By that I mean the editor’s laundry list of MINOR issues that the County faces nearly every day of the week that slim budgets do not allow for, are all well and good to be pointed out, but does mold on the side of the Veterans Building compare in any way to NO PROGRESS TOWARDS GETTING THE CONSTRUCTION OF A BYPASS TO LAST CHANCE GRADE DONE BEFORE THE EXISTING ROAD WAY FALLS OFF THE SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN?  Something Supervisor Cowan campaigned on during her run for office.

I know, I know, there is all kinds of progress being made, wait for it,  “behind the scenes”  and the recent “one day vacation” in Washington DC unearthed as reported by the Triplicate out of the mouth of our illustrious Mayor that there is some yet to be named “super secret” Federal program for funding of a bypass.  Of course this is the same kind of political parsing that we have heard from a long list of “Moderate” Supervisors for the last fifty years.  I am still waiting …..

Supervisor Cowen is quick to tell us how hard she works and how many “fruitful”  contacts that she has made.  She is also quick to put her name forward towards anything that might benefit her, pointless trips to Japan and Washington DC.  Unfortunately for the citizens of this County her zeal for “Moving things along” hasn’t lived up to expectations.  In spite of the blindness of the Triplicate and its editor, Supervisor Cowan was not elected to be “Moderate”, but to fix some of our most pressing problems.  Voters in this County have long endured representatives who sit on their hands and expect others to carry their water.   Supervisor Cowan was elected to produce not overwhelm us with inaction or meaningless and pointless activity.  Some are not willing to wait for yet another election cycle to see some progress which Supervisor Cowan’s election has not produced.  Being a County Supervisor is not supposed to be that of a popularity contest. Useful work towards improving our daily lot in life is the expected result.  Spending $38,000 towards the furtherance of that goal to avoid wasting another year of moderate indifference might be worth it.  I think we will find out when August 6th rolls around, whether there is enough interest in change or that Supervisor Cowan’s moderate path is the way the County will go.

Clearly to this point the “Moderate” Supervisor Lori Cowan does not seem to get it that when she comes to the Board with glowing reports of contacts with our State and Federal Representatives and how hard that they are working towards fixing our problems. They, our representatives, are behaving in the way that all staff and representatives cling to when they have no intent of doing anything for you.   Federal and State representatives and their staffs field thousands of calls for action every day and use what power they have for those that can help them in their future political aspirations.  Representatives like Supervisor Cowan, Howard, and Hemmingsen barely receive more than a hand shake and a smile before their problems are forgotten.  About all Supervisor Howard and Hemmingsen could hope for after their day in Washington DC, was entertaining other staffers with humorous stories at their expense at the nearest after work watering hole, if someone even remembered them at all.

I have to wonder if Virginia Bostwick’s letter to the editor, (Triplicate, LOE Making contacts a good first step for Last Chance Grade) yielded any success, something she does not share with us in her letter.  Having known a DC staffer who spent over fifteen years in the hallowed halls of Washington DC meeting with constituents from all over the Country, the only ones that get any serious consideration are those that have money or powerful connections, not three “Yahoos from fly over country” (his words).  Problems are compounded when you come from a County in California where your Federal Representatives are in the minority and your house representative is a junior representative of that minority.   Supervisor Cowan’s vote to allow the expenditure of the money to send two supervisors to DC was one of the many ill conceived votes that she has cast.  Six months of dysfunction on the board, of which she is a major contributor, is plenty of time to take her measure.  During the course of that time many more thousands of taxpayer dollars were spent on activities that did not serve the purpose of a better Del Norte County.  If it comes to pass, $38,000, is money well spent to move things along.  If this is considered a political vendetta or petty grievance then so be it.  I can’t imagine that our local editor of the Triplicate would lower himself to behave in such a similar fashion.  Then again……