Our next meeting of the San Juan County Democrats is Saturday, November 13 at 10am via Zoom. The link is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84299470361. Please contact me if you need phone access.

We’ll be talking about local candidates for next year.

From Dave Zeretzke:

Milene Henley is retiring in 2 yrs. Her position as SJC Auditor is a critical one. Time for the local Demos to consider who would be a capable person to run and who can work with folks of all stripes to accurately account for the dollars and to communicate with the public and elected officials.

Historically, the Prosc. Attorney and Auditor are more important by far than any one Council Member. So the same goes for the job Gaylord does. Nick Power will probably run again, but time to identify a capable attorney who can refrain from trying to control political issues regularly – it will always happen but a good PA works will try to let the process work.

So now is the time for capable candidates to know they can have help and support since early campaigning is the most powerful. That to me is the critical thing for a local Demo party to do: find good candidates who can take the heat and still smile and support them. There’s nothing like help to get started meeting people on all the islands and listening to their concerns-that’s what early campaigning is about.

Re Auditor: #1 – CPA preferable and demonstrated skill with public entity accounting. (Private CPA’s usually grossly underestimate the complexity of county bookkeeping, software and reporting requirements. Some have even suggested Quickbooks as the chosen software–impossibly naive and unseasoned by true experience with complex clients who suffer state audits annually, public audits. #2 – Political sensibility and good commo skills re the press, the public and the other elected officials and key appointed officials. Lots of stakeholders. SJC has 11 elected officials, all of whom want influence with the Auditor and control over their own expenses. Then there’s the County Mgr and critical Dept Hds. #3 – Strength of character and integrity. The Auditor has to take the heat for many honest evaluations/opinions/trends/problems. As the overseer of Elections and supervisor or the Elections Clerk, it is critical that role can make sound and legal decisions but still face constant criticism for them, think of Tim White and Tom and think of the many Republican and Demo election folks who did not buckle a bit under the Trump big lie attacks.

We’ll also address our Endorsements process and what might be limited information available on state employment history.

We’re also looking for a new Secretary!

See you Saturday,

David Turnoy
davidgeri@rockisland.com