"It Makes No Difference To Me One Way Or The Other" Is This Julie Olson's New Campaign Slogan?

This week Julie Olson was censured by the Republican PCO's because of her further abandonment of the CCRP (Clark County Republican Party) by refusing to support any of the solid Republican candidates put forth and ultimately sending the choice to Inslee.

The Columbian wrote a blog story (possibly a way to bury the story but still) where Olson's response is clear that she doesn't give a lick about what voters, especially Republicans, think about her.

"Olson said she wasn’t aware of the vote until someone mentioned it to her on Wednesday, adding it won’t change how she votes or how she approaches her role as an elected official.

“It makes no difference to me one way or the other,” Olson said Thursday.

She said even though she is a Republican, the CCRP did not support her when she last ran for office and doesn’t expect them to do so in the future.

Although the county council positions are now nonpartisan offices, a change approved by voters in last November’s election, party affiliation has remained a key element in appointing a District 5 councilor."

Read the whole story here... BTW, I might have had a hand in getting censured:-) but it cracks me up that The Columbian hung it on poor Earl and Karen Bowerman.

MINI-INITIATIVE ETHICS COMPLIANT IS DEADLOCKED AT THE COUNCIL: Medvigy Thought I Was "Unkind" To Him So He Didn't Read The Compliant

As many of you know, On February 19th I filed an ethics complaint against Temple Lentz for taking to Facebook a couple weeks before the Petition Hearing and misleading the public that the petition was all about making mask and vaccine mandates illegal. That's not what the petition was about and she knew it. The petition was carefully worded to address how mandates were coming from Olympia, in the name of Covid public safety, that were causing discriminating outcomes. The wording on the petition was clear, AN ORDINANCE prohibiting all mandates within Clark County that discriminate against citizens regarding their health status and or that violates existing rights to health information privacy.

Read the compliant here

Apparently, Councilor Medvigy didn't even read the compliant because he thinks I was "unkind" to him during the petition process. As all of you know, I strongly encouraged everyone to engage the Councilors with respect, no name calling and give them room to succeed. Yet, here we are.

So, if a Councilor doesn't agree with you or thinks you've been "unkind" to them then they won't even listen to you or read what you send them.

The Council is missing the point. They should only determine if the basics of my complaint happened. Temple Lentz did take to Facebook and did post a video that failed to mention the discrimination aspect that was a primary component of the petition. From there, going by the rules set when the compliant was submitted, should go to a review panel to determine if she violated the ethics compliant. By the way, the Council is trying to eliminate, weaken the ethics standards, the section that my compliant is based on. Pretty cool, huh? Someone charges you on something just change the rules. Why didn't I think of that??

By the way, when I submitted the compliant I asked the County Manager to keep me posted. They waited over a month to take up the compliant (probably waiting until Chair Eileen left so it would be deadlocked) and I haven't gotten an email update from what happened this week but had to read The Columbian to get more info.

Here's The Columbian write up...

"An ethics complaint filed against Clark County Councilor Temple Lentz could be the first complaint given to the county’s soon-to-be-formed ethics review commission to consider.

The complaint was filed in February by Rob Anderson, the man behind the mini-initiative effort to create a county ordinance banning mask and vaccine mandates that “discriminate against citizens regarding their health status.” The ordinance was the subject of a two-hour-long public hearing on Feb. 1 that drew dozens of comments. Ultimately, the ordinance was rejected in a 4-1 vote.

In his complaint, Anderson called out Lentz for posting videos on Facebook on Jan. 20 “that intentionally mislead (sic) the public” in violation of county ordinance and code of ethical conduct.

“During that video she intentionally mischaracterized the petition ordinance that it would make ‘mask and vaccine mandates in Clark County illegal.’ Her intent to mislead the public is made clear by the fact that her remarks were prepared in advance, and then published after she had time to review or make changes to the video if she desired,” Anderson wrote.

Anderson also said, as a county councilor, Lentz has an ethical duty to give residents the “full truth” about the ordinance.

The council had the option of investigating the complaint, dismissing it or delaying until the ethics review commission is formed to review.

“I would normally do with this complaint as we have with others and have the council decide here and now whether it does meet with the (state law) or not. However, in this case, since we have an ethics review commission that is going to be coming up soon, it would seem proper for them to have this in their purview to make a determination,” Chair Karen Bowerman said.

Councilor Julie Olson argued the complaint did not meet the standard for an ethics violations and should be dismissed, as has been done with other complaints it has previously received.

“On the face of this particular complaint, I just don’t think it meets the criteria. Whether we decide or the ethics commission in the future decides, I think it’s pretty clear it doesn’t meet an ethics violation. I would like to put this to rest and move on,” Olson said.

Councilor Gary Medvigy admitted he had not read the complaint in its entirety, adding Anderson had been “very unkind” to him during the mini-initiative process, and wasn’t sure if the behavior in the complaint met the standard for an ethics violation.

However, he called out the “extracurricular activities as a councilor” that criticize other council members or how they voted.

“The substance of whether this mini-initiative banned or didn’t ban, or created law contrary to the governor’s mandate, I think some of that is hard to understand. From that perspective, I certainly would agree with Councilor Olson the complaint doesn’t comply with the definitions we’re in the process of adopting,” Medvigy said.

Lentz is not the only council member to use social media and other sites to communicate with county residents. Bowerman posts regular “Karen’s Communiques” on YouTube.

However, Medvigy said he was uncomfortable dismissing it when the county is so close to having an ethics review commission and in light of complaints about dismissing prior ethics complaints.

“Politics is a funny business. We say things as electeds that the public and each other sometimes don’t like. That doesn’t mean it’s an ethical violation,” Olson countered. “It’s incumbent upon us to try to behave as well as we can and as collegially as we can. If we don’t put this rest now, it looks inconsistent.”

While Lentz said she thought it was proper to abstain from voting on whether to dismiss the complaint or send to the review commission, she did address the complaint.

“Freedom of speech does not go away when one assumes elected office. With regard to this complaint and others that came in about another councilor some months ago, I also agreed with the majority opinion that those complaints had no merit,” Lentz said. “Not liking what someone has to say doesn’t make it unethical for them to say it. Not liking how one chooses to communicate doesn’t make that method of communication unethical or even inappropriate.”

Olson motioned to dismiss the complaint, but it failed to get a second. Bowerman and Medvigy voted to send the complaint to the ethics review commission, but Olson voted against. Without a three-vote majority, the council was unable to take action but could reconsider the issue at a later date."

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