From B. Pilgrim 6/1/07
Dear Shoe Shine Boy.
I am not sure how tuned in you are to State Politics, but I recently read a Willamette Week where they printed some critical things about our Senator.
Why are people getting so upset about this?   Has she done something wrong? 
Do you think that it is just politics, or do they have something real against her?

Dear B. Pilgrim,
One doesn't need to be tuned into State Politics to pick up on the constant rumors swirling around our area about the good State Senator. I for one have never been enamored by anyone who buys their way into elected office and in this case picked little old Columbia County and Scappoose as a springboard to higher goals and profit. A very big fish in a very small pond. It was a simple and strategic place for someone with more money than God to buy off everyone of any importance. It has also been obvious that anyone who didn't get on the Senators band wagon became a target for abuse. A quick look to the Port of St. Helens recently and it doesn't take a rocket scientist (Don Fell) to see that several of the board members cleared Williamson out of the Senators way so she could manipulate all the property around the airport for her own good or to help out her best buddy and former legislator Gamblin Bruce. Despite the recent articles which may have ruined the Senators bid to run for Governor. Expect her to pull out the magic foundation wallet and buy off any and all obstacles in her way. This will blow over and she will get away with murder similar to what happens in our Justice system every day.
In this world if you have more money than ethics you can buy your way out of anything. What eludes the Shoeshine Boy is what part of her DNA would make her want to seek power and dominance when she could be sitting on the beach. Or better yet own the beach at Waikiki....The Shoeshine Boy


From  J. Wondering   5/21/07
I was just wondering if Teeven Brothers was getting charged the rock tax like some other surface miners in this County? Seems like when you fallow the trail of campaign contributions to some of the County Commissioners in our County there is a direct correlation between enforcement and collections.

Dear J. Wondering,

That's more of a statement than a question. Since you are pointing at some verifiable information. I will let our readers go find out for themselves at the County Clerks elections desk where that information is obtainable.

Campaign contributions are generally of two types.
One is a donation by someone who really believes the particular candidate will help straighten out the political mess we are in at whatever level.
The other is insurance that the candidate will think about a particular special interest before they cast their votes on any related matter.

Contributions from special interests have ruined not only Oregon but our Nations entire political process. In our area elected officials are for the most part operated by special interests. While your assessment is a shotgun approach it is for the most part accurate. There are as always exceptions to any rule......... The Shoeshineboy

From Hoping to keep my job  5/19/07   
Shoeshine Boy,
What do you think the county will do if they do not receive Timber
money? I heard that they will be cutting several employees I wonder
if the commissioners will take a pay reduction also or will the
brunt of the budget shortfall, be placed on the rank and file of the
employees. I have always read that when there is trouble the
GENERALS take the heat for their men; will the commissioners take
responsibility and share the burden of budget cuts?

Dear;  Hoping to keep my job.
Most of the info I have read on the issue is in the Oregonian since there isn't much actual believable news in the local fishwraps. In fact I listen to Portland Radio more than Columbia County Coverage these days. With that in mind, There are several counties in Oregon that will suffer in different amounts and in different ways. Columbia reads to be the fourth or fifth worst out of thirty six counties.

Judging from the fact that they have little to work with as it is, it means laying off lots of bodies, probably the ones who really do the work while the old timers who are used to relying on the young uns will stay on. This is bad bad news for you and I and our Roads and Sheriff Patrol or whats left of them. I don't have much against the salary levels at the County when I look at the stuff the Port and City of St. Helens Administrators were making. Probably the Schools and Fire Districts as well. If you want a shock look at their budgets the pay is twice what the county folks do. I used to say what you are then a smart friend of mine pointed out the truth...

What it bears down to is how much their tax rate was set at several years back. The Fire Districts were big winners and the County was a big big loser. Since then the county has been in a slide and waiting for D-Day. It seems to be approaching soon. What that means is that no matter who you put into County seats or how much they are paid they are still doomed. Now on the other end the Fire Districts can't possibly spend their way into bankruptcy.