Press Talk: These guys are comedy gold!

Those of us who live here are the ones paying the price, but if you think the shenanigans have gone unnoticed in our great state, you’d be wrong.

It just so happened we had Secretary of State Kim Wyman in for an editorial board visit.

Wyman is a bright, articulate, well-reasoned official who happens to be the only Republican elected to a statewide office in Washington.

Pretty impressive.

We had a great conversation about a number of issues, but then I asked a question about how we’re perceived in the state.

Me: What are people in Olympia saying about our wonderful county?

Wyman: (Laughs) It’s fun to watch because you’re not in the middle of it. Being in Olympia, it’s kind of that — wow — I’m really glad I’m up here in Olympia so I don’t have to be in the middle of that.

Remember, the M&M boys are also Republicans. And even though Wyman’s answer was politically correct, there’s no getting around the idea that folks around the state are watching Clark County … mostly for entertainment reasons.

We have become the carnival side show in Washington.

And part of our side show includes state Sen. Don Benton.

Boss Hogg Benton was hired by the M&M boys to be the $100,000-a-year environmental services director at the county. Nevermind that he can’t tell the difference between habitat and his halibut sandwich (extra mayo, please). Benton was a crony of Madore and Mielke, and the two of them simply hired him.

As bad as this blatant, unqualified hire was, it became worse for us taxpayers when another county employee — one who actually was qualified — hired an attorney to seek justice.

You see, she was never given a chance to apply.

And before you could say, “Let’s waste more taxpayers’ money,” we had to shell out $250,000 to make her and her complaint go away.

Oh, the beauty of having just two guys able to run us into the ground.

o o o

Of course, the stupid stuff keeps piling up. Now we’re learning that something is smelling about a boatload of money Madore just gave to the state Republican Party.

You see, Madore badly wants Jeanne Stewart — a Republican — to win a seat on the county commission. He had already maxed out his personal contribution to her for the race.

So, he gives a ton of money to the state party, which, in turn, gives a ton of money to Stewart. If Madore was attempting to skirt the election laws to give more money to Stewart, this would be bad, bad, bad.

So, I’m pretty sure this was pure coincidence! Honest! Pay no attention that the state Republican Party almost never does this kind of huge money-giving to a local race.

o o o

So, does all of this have any bearing on how we should be voting on the proposed charter for the county? I think it does.

As I’ve said before, we shouldn’t be changing the structure of our government because we’ve elected two wild and crazy guys like the M&M boys. But we should be changing the structure of our government because of what the M&M boys have exposed. Having only three commissioners means just two commissioners can wreak havoc on us. Just two commissioners can also embarrass us statewide.

So, the community guy in me hopes the charter passes. It’s that important. But the news guy in me? Oh my! A journalist couldn’t dream up characters like this to report on. They’re comedy gold!

In other words, watching the carnival sideshow is a dream. But it’s just a nightmare when you have to live it.