Will Tim Bubb survive in the Political Game of Chicken?

Lest voters failed to pick up on it in yesterday's print edition of the Advocate, two candidates for county commissioner said they would work to remove the 1/2% sales tax imposed without voter approval by Commissioners Bubb and Smith.

Bubb and Smith were playing Political Game of Chicken, in which elected officials bet their careers that voters won't remember instances of insolence. I think they will remember, but we'll see.

Mark Van Buren, running against Brad Feightner, and Doug Moreland, running against Tim Bubb, have pledged to roll back that tax. You can go to the Advocate's on-line voter guide and compare candidates' positions on this tax thanks to the editors, whose first question to all commissioner candidates was: "Do you agree with the decision to increase the sales tax two years ago without voter input? Would you consider eliminating it?."

If voters are smart enough to replace Bubb with Moreland, that will leave only Doug Smith as the commissioner who voted to stuff citizens by giving them an end-run on taxes. (Last commissioner election, Smith did win the Game when voters re-elected him.) And Mark Van Buren over Feightner is a good bet, even if it weren't for the tax issue.

My previous rants on abuse of power by Bubb and Smith are linked here.

Go make waves, new county commissioner

When local Democrats appointed Mark Van Buren as county commissioner to replace Marcia Phelps, they seem to have made an excellent choice.

That he already has 10 years' experience as a township trustee is a good thing but it is secondary to his attitudes toward good government that he mentioned in an acceptance speech to the Democratic Central Committee.

Among them was that he would do everything he could to lower the high sales taxes (imposed by commissioners Tim Bubb and Doug Smith without a vote by citizens) because working people are being penalized by them.

"When dollars are coming out of our pockets, we should be able to vote on it," he said according to the Advocate report.

Van Buren said he would attempt to open better lines of communication between the county board of commissioners and the citizens, promising to make it a full-time job.

Attaboy, Mark. Go make waves.