There seems to be a pattern occurring all too often with our so-called fair and balanced Island County commissioners. It appears that they have a habit of writing big checks to their friends with our tax money, without allowing competition from other sources. The blindness of Republican supporters is beyond belief on this one.

When our commissioners were pulling every shenanigan they could pull to delay the implementation of the GMA for their developer good old boys, the state came after them and took the county to court, and we paid for it with our tax money. What did our upstanding commissioners do? They hired McDowell’s trial lawyer friend to protect them at a cost of $230,000. There is a nice relationship between these two. Too bad it isn’t beneficial to taxpayers and the GMA they are supposed to be working within. Of course, all of this is coming from tax money they have bled out of us, and are squandering to weaken the GMA. That tax money could be used for something more beneficial to the residents of this county, instead of Shelton and McDowell’s developer friends.

We have attorneys working for the county now, that are trained in this sort of work. Why do we have to hire some over-priced, out-of-town lawyer to do their work? Makes me wonder what future gains the commissioners are getting from this; the weakening of the GMA perhaps, and also greater profits from their development endeavors? More business partnering with developers? Possibly kickbacks from an out-of-town lawyer? What else can be said, except we the taxpayers and this beauty of our island are, as usual, the losers as long as they are allowed to stay in office and continue in the course they are on.

Don’t expect integrity to be a hallmark of these two. They just don’t bring this trait to the office.

Donald Bettner

Oak Harbor