EDITOR:
Yesterday our prosecuting attorney Eric Zahnd, was on 98.1 and gave some very misleading statements about Presiding Commissioner Scott Fricker and how he voted “himself” a 30% pay raise. That is not accurate at all. In fact, Presiding Commissioner Fricker as well as the entire commission and myself as your county recorder, voted against the pay raise. (EDITOR’S NOTE: After this letter had gone to press, letter writer Christopher Wright sent the following retraction/clarification of his comment: “I unintentionally misquoted Eric Zahnd. As I was listening and talking at the same time, I misquoted Mr. Zahnd and that was not my intention in my release. I would like to make a retraction of the sentence “about Presiding Commissioner Fricker and how he voted ‘himself’ a 30% pay raise. This is not accurate at all. Mr. Zahnd stated ‘and remember this–the commission just got a 30% pay raise,” Wright said in his retraction.)
Zahnd, who claims to be a Reagan Republican and accuses Fricker of being a politician using political tactics, is in fact, himself using Soviet Era propaganda techniques by manipulating facts and exploiting anxieties about the perceived increased crime that is going to happen because he didn’t get $600,000. Which was not cut from his budget, it was an arbitrary number that was recommended by the auditor, who by the way is not a crime expert.
The 30% pay raise should be concerning to Platte County residents. And here is why. The clerk, collector, public administrator, auditor, assessor, and treasurer met in a coordinated effort and methodically calculated and plotted to make this move to raise their salaries. They met to ensure they had the votes for the raise and were convinced that it would be swept under the rug by the time of the election and you would forget about it. In fact, yesterday afternoon the comment was made against me that “I am going to be voted out of office, if Chris doesn’t shut up and keeps bringing this up.” And that goes into my second point on why this is concerning. They felt entitled to your money because very few people run for office and some of these establishment politicians who have been in office haven’t met a primary challenger in decades.
They were so secure in their decision that you would forget and no one was going to run against them anyway. That sense of entitlement is dangerous and benefits only the out of touch politicians. Case in point, two people who voted for the raise, Treasurer Chris Kendall and Assessor Marcus Farr, have been on the job for less than three months when they voted for 30%. Barely on the job three months and they felt entitled to scam you, the taxpayer.
The incompetence and entitlement in this building is mind blowing, folks. Elected officials encumbering $22,000 for pens and pencils, the clerk’s office closing on a regular consistent basis at 4 p.m. even after she more than doubled her staff. $58,000 for office furniture, false allegations against the county administrator, which by the way he was exonerated of no wrongdoing. HSA payments not being made correctly or on time because of the incompetence of the treasurer. Which caused many employees to miss medical payments and were unable to purchase medications. Inaccurate calculations for the state tax commission which the clerk made, blaming the assessor. The assessor blamed the clerk. I could go on and on and on but space does not permit me.
And then the circus we saw this past Monday. These 30%ers are not for the people. They are not working for you. They are working for themselves and their entitlement needs to be met with opposition at the polls.
One of the things that was said in the salary commission meeting last November is that the 30% raise is to garner interest for the future, to entice others to run for office. That I agree with. The time is now. It is time for new leaders to step up and the old guard with their sense of entitlement and privilege to go. That is why I stand and advocate for a new class of elected officials to stand up, place their names on the ballot and run for office. The entitlement stops now and the incompetence must go. You deserve better in your elected leaders.
--Christopher Wright
Platte County
Recorder of Deeds
