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 SUNDAY, MARCH 14, 2010 9:40 am |
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Local News 
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Aaron Reardon laments political sparring with council The county executive vows to improve dealings with the County Council. EVERETT — The “personal and destructive” tenor of local politics dominated much of Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon's annual speech that usually sums up the status of the local economy.Reardon used Thursday's State of the County speech to lament that too much is at stake to allow “petty bickering and politics of personal destruction” to continue between his office and the five county councilmen. The executive vowed to improve communication and said he took responsibility for creating some of the friction. “From this day forward, I am willing to bend over backwards to improve the communication and relationship between our two branches,” he said. “But communication and relationship-building is a two-way street. It happens between individuals, not on the front pages of local newspapers.” Council Chairman Dave Gossett, who was among about 100 people at the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce breakfast, agreed that better dialogue was in order. “I do find it ironic that the executive has consistently cancelled meetings where issues could be discussed privately, and chooses a major public speech to argue we shouldn't communicate through the newspaper,” Gossett said. In particular, Gossett said Reardon had cancelled the past two leadership meetings, which are scheduled every other week between the two branches of government. Another leadership meeting is scheduled this morning. The council has taken recent moves to check up on Reardon's oversight in two key areas. One is the department that handles the county's computer and printing needs. Another is how Reardon reviews worker complaints of harassment and discrimination. They also differ about the county budget. In his speech, Reardon predicted that county leaders would have to adjust the council's $202.7 million 2010 general-fund budget. Unions have not agreed to the five unpaid days off in the council's budget. Reardon's budget included 15 furlough days for county workers. Projections for the county's future are troubling, Gossett said. The county's $14 million in reserves is enough to keep assets liquid and pay bills. A recent five-year forecast, however, shows that reserves could dwindle to nothing by 2015. He cautioned that those numbers are only preliminary and could change. Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com. |
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COMMENTS
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GLBT??? What is THAT?
BTW, The point is not that the homosexuals in the military are good or bad, (i dont think they need to be there, but that's beside the point), the point "Click" was making was our society is not something that should necessarily be emulated and perhaps our military may do well enough NOT to follow our society's lead. I like pie.
Hugh Mongouse | Feb 7, 2010 1:25 am | 0 replies | Request removal
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Thanks for the manifesto Larry. But is you who needs the civic lesson. Our Executive is more than a manager. It's called seperation of power. Furthermore, the executive works for the people. Not the council. It's called balance of power. The executive lays out the vision. Council passes bills and doles out money. Executives can veto (which Reardons done).
The only problem with reardon is the envy he attracts. The council are hicks. Have you ever interacted with any if them? If you did you would know. Our county needs to be more engaged and elect better people to council and other offices.
Reardon accepted more than his Fair share of the blame. It takes a big man to do that. I hope he doesn't honestly expect them to meet him half way. They don't have it in them. They're too small and petty. Also, remember all the theatrics occurred after reardon vetoed the pay increase the council voted for themselves. Coincidence? Guess again. Our county needs to move into the 21st century. Reardon is the only one who is trying to make that happen. Wake up.
Dana White | Feb 5, 2010 3:25 pm | 1 replies | Request removal
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Larry, you talk similar to a man my girlfriends and I met at Gerry Andals a few months back. I couldn't help but notice. You're a deputy aren't you? A married but flirtatious deputy. Am I close? I think so. You are more convincing on line than you were in person. Small world :)
Dana White | Feb 05, 2010 10:14 pm | Request removal
Wake up Snohomish County. Reardon is a self serving politician that will say and/or do ANYTHING that he believes will further his political goals. The county council may its own issues, but we should all feel quite sorry for them having to deal with such an arrogant man.
Mr. Magoo | Feb 5, 2010 6:31 pm | 1 replies | Request removal
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Wake up Snohomish County is correct. We are being robbed by the lazy, entightlement attitude that runs through the ranks of county employees such as yourself. Take some responsibility for your own life and look in the mirror. you have it good yet you condemn the public and our representative. Get off your soap box. You get paid because me and 600,000+ other people give you a portion of what we work our bottoms off to earn. Shame on you. You believe you are better and you are not. You are unable to get hired where qualifications and performance matter yet you despise the one county official who truly represents people outside your offices. You bite the hand that feeds you. Not for long.
Dana White | Feb 05, 2010 10:08 pm | Request removal
Larry, how soon we forget. These same people criticized drewel for doing nothing in 12 years. Ribbon cutter, auctioneer? Ring a bell? It just that Drewel did nothing with a great smile. He was everybodys hail fellow well met. I liked drewel very much. Big hugs but little substance. Reardon is quite different, l give you that. He is a former legislator. He had more experience than either of his predacessors and the council for that matter coming in. And he pushed for change. Real change. Change that makes a difference. I like people who care about me more than themselves or their cronies. Frankly, you and Mr. or should I say Miss Magoo sound like whining county employees who believe your entitled to drive my business and employees into the ground so you can live like the welfare recipients of the 80's: a check every week for doing nothing. Oops! Did I offend your liberal core? I'm a democrat also, I just have to work for the money I need to pay my bills.
my bills.
Dana White | Feb 5, 2010 8:40 pm | 0 replies | Request removal
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Okay, Dana, if it is called "separation of power," where is the power? What, really, does Aaron have the power to do?
The lowliest rookie deputies working for the sheriff have more power. At least they can give me a ticket or bust me if I am breaking the law. Aaron can't. He has no army, no police force, nothing.
Seriously, what legal power does the County Exec have except to cooperate with Council and be an ambassador for Snohomish County? If he wants a bill passed, he has to get Council's permission. If he submits a budget, Council can throw it in the trash can. If he vetoes a bill, well, whoops, Council overrides it. Some power. Read the Charter sometime.
As for the veto of the pay increase, some soundbite. Whoopee. That is all Aaron does is troll for soundbites. He doesn't really believe in what he does. It is so obvious he has no political philosophy, no core. He seems more like a Republican than a Democrat. He is like Lucy Van Pelt holding the football for Charlie Brown. He gets a thrill out of yanking it away at the last minute, time after time after time. He thinks that will get him some ink in the Herald. Maybe it does, but the voters lose more respect for him every day.
You want to know how a County Executive should govern? Look at the record of Bob Drewel. Now there was a man who was respected by everyone. He governed by the force of his persuasion, by his maturity and good will. Bob cared more about getting things done for the citizens of the County than making himself famous for 15 minutes.
About the only thing Aaron Reardon really has the authority to do is hire and fire department heads. Speaking of that, how is that Craig Ladiser thing working out?
Larry Darrell | Feb 5, 2010 6:49 pm | 0 replies | Request removal
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Aaron Reardon . . . there he goes again. He said in his recent, thin diatribe, referring to his relationship with the Snohomish County Council, "From this day forward, I am willing to bend over backwards to improve the communication and relationship between our two branches . . ."
Communication? Relationship? Branches? Reardon needs to get something straight. Just because he is the County Executive doesn't mean he is the President of Snohomish County. He is not the Northwest's caudillo. Maybe Aaron should attend a class or something. A civics class might help him.
The United States' Chief Executive and the Snohomish County Executive are two differently defined jobs, but Reardon doesn't seem to comprehend that the word "Executive" can mean two different things. He actually thinks he is the Prez. That can be the only explanation for his strange and self-destructive behaviors. He thinks he is El Jefe.
The President of the United States is the boss of federal law enforcement--Snohomish County has an elected sheriff. The President appoints the Attorney General--Snohomish County elects its own Prosecutor. The President hires the Treasurer--Our Treasurer is independently elected. The President picks federal judges--ours are elected.
Branches? Shall I go on?
So, you may say to yourself, "Well, what is Reardon's job anyway?" Well, his job is to faithfully execute the will of the people as expressed through the voice of the Snohomish County Council, and he is damn lousy at it. He is rebellious and petulant, a pain in the neck to work with.
Look, because he is the County Exec, he has been put in charge of the County's bookkeeping. Aaron is responsible for the maintenance of the buildings and landscaping and cleanliness of the grounds. The restrooms need to be cleaned. He is supposed to oversee the general, day-to-day running of the airport and the road department. He is supposed to make sure that we have sensible and controlled run-off of rainwater and that our wetlands stay healthy. He has the job of trying to guess how much all of this is going to cost the Council, and he submits a budget that outlines his predictions. Reardon has been tasked by the Council to head up the hauling of garbage.
Have I missed anything? Oh, and by the way, even though Reardon is ostensibly in charge of all these tasks, there are individual department heads and supervisors who oversee the real running of all these jobs. Can you believe it? And on top of that, there is a Deputy Executive on hand just in case things get too tough. If Reardon didn't come to work for year, no one would know the difference, except the place would be a lot more peaceful. When you get an Exec like Reardon, you begin to ask yourself, "Why do we need an Exec anyway?"
Okay, so, even though Reardon was elected, in a real-world business he could just as easily have been hired. Just about anybody could do his job, because when you really think about it, he doesn't have anything to actually do. And if he gets bored with that, he has a Deputy who can do nada in his behalf. The County would be way better off if the Executive was hired, because then he could be fired, and this
one we have now needs firing in a big way. He wastes everybody's time and tax money, complaining and grousing about his job. It is hard it is for him that when he barks, the Council won't jump.
You would think that a guy like him would be thankful for such a cushy job where he is in charge of everything but doesn't have to do anything. But, no, he hates his job; hates his boss. Why does he grumble so much? I think it is because he thought that being Snohomish County Exec was going to be his stepping stone to higher public office. He might even have had the hubris to think he could be Governor someday. But to be Governor, people like to vote for men and women who have had jobs with real responsibility. They don't like complainers. If Reardon had real responsibility, like maybe if he had been elected to County Council, he could have been a contender; he could have been somebody, let's face it.
Larry Darrell | Feb 5, 2010 12:59 pm | 0 replies | Request removal
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The county's $14 million in reserves is enough to keep assets liquid and pay bills. A recent five-year forecast, however, shows that reserves could dwindle to nothing by 2015.
That is good. The government is a service not a bank. They should always balance to zero at the end of the fiscal year. That means they are not scimming money off the top while the public is not looking. It means they are spending it on services they said they would support. Not some project of one politician or another. Good!
Grumpa | Feb 5, 2010 11:15 am | 0 replies | Request removal
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If there is not a new airport director.
We are tired of corrupt county employees setting policy that contradicts written public policy.
Clean house Aaron! Or your career politcal career is over. Enough of the excuses!
Henry Stephanson | Feb 5, 2010 9:12 am | 0 replies | Request removal
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Once again the king has cried. He needs to look in the mirror to find the problem.
I am not blasting his position on issues, just his management of the county. He needs to realize that he has a job promoting things other than himself, and that he needs to work with others, because he is not the king he thinks he is.
George Schlosser | Feb 5, 2010 8:29 am | 0 replies | Request removal
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Agian Our elected officals dont come to the rescue. DUH!! WOW!! what a surprize. Voters had a chance to get some in there that really cared but chose to go blindly ahead and vote for him agian. I dont see any of our elected giveing up any wages to help our state or county problems. All I have seem is all of them and the Queen bee at the top takeing wage increses and asking everyone else to buck up and take a cut.
In todays day and age why are they not trying to help this state buy taking a wage freeze like the rest of the state and county workers??? How many are taking the same cuts as everyone else??? Hummmm lets see OH yeah none of them. How can they ask the people they work for to take less when they are not willing to do the same??
Rich Wynn | Feb 5, 2010 8:03 am | 0 replies | Request removal
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