FJBC election cancelled
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Editor,
At the last FJBC meeting, the Commissioners were told by their attorney that the statutory requirements for the irrigation district elections were not adhered to by Lake County officials. Nearly 800 irrigators were not provided with ballots, (about one third of the irrigators) and the legal requirement to send all the ballots out to the owners of irrigated fee lands on the same date was not complied with. The FJBC’s legal counsel spent the previous day working with the Assistant County Attorney and the legal conclusion was that Board cancel the election. This recommendation was made because the statutes are specific and the due dates for the ballot are fixed so there is no “do over” or extension available under the law. In a 9-2 vote, the Board, under advice of counsel, voted to cancel the 2016 election.
Unbeknownst to the Board, the County Elections Office did not send ballots to out-of-state voters in last year’s election, also in violation of state law. So the 2015 FJBC election was also tainted by the County’s malfeasance.
In the course of the meeting, an outspoken compact proponent admitted she was working with the County on this issue. In what capacity does she work with the County on the FJBC elections? Could it be that this violation of the law was committed by the County and was instigated by the compact proponent in order to achieve her own narrow goal of destabilizing the FJBC? What does this say about compact proponents whose philosophy appears to be “the end justifies the means?”
What does this say about our County officials who allow themselves to be manipulated in this fashion? Why did the County allow this person access to an election process discussion? And why was the FJBC not officially notified by the County about their actions in this election and the election in 2015?
The citizens of Lake County in general and the project irrigators in particular need answers from County officials to these questions. The participating County officials who participated in the outrage need to be held accountable for this egregious malfeasance.
Jerry Laskody
St. Ignatius
