McClure's Meet 'n Greet Leads to GOP Complaint

Ben does have a halo going for him. 

The Express Times has failed to cover a NorCo Council committee meeting for years. A freelancer covers county government only when something being promoted by the urban growth regime, like the DaVinci Center in Easton, is on the agenda. Even its high school sports coverage, which used to be its strength, has all but disappeared. So I was a bit surprised to see a rare letter to the editor criticizing NorCo government and Executive Lamont McClure on Saturday. It's of course accompanied by the lousiest picture editors could find of the Exec.

I'm happy to see it. Even though the information is flawed and I disagree with the political part of it, this is very necessary in a democracy. A newspaper that fails to inform the citizenry has no reason to exist.

But the information is flawed. The newspaper, largely because it no longer follows county politics or government, was played.

Ben Hedrick, a very nice gentleman who attends nearly every Council meeting, sees McClure all the time. He is also a GOP Commiteeman. He did not go to the meet and greet to talk to McClure, which he already knows he can do anytime he wants. He went there precisely so he could write the letter that got published.

The newspaper should have told you that Ben is a GOP Commiteeman, but no longer has knowledge of county government or politics.

I contacted McClure about this matter. He tells me this was a Chamber of Commerce event, and neither he nor his campaign benefited in any way.  I agree that Chambers of Commerce need to stop charging for "meets and greets" when they involve elected officials, but they sometimes do.

McClure saw Ben was on his way out as the Exec was on his way in. He also saw Ben get into a parked car that was waiting for him. This leads me to wonder whether Ben went there, hoping to be chucked, so he could make points with county Republicans. And he did. Links to his letter are making the rounds among my GOP friends on Facebook.

The reality here is that McClure, who prides himself on transparency, is on his way to becoming the County's most transparent Exec. I actually receive this thing now called a "press release," that tells me about what's going on. Since his election, department heads are far more willing to speak. They had been muzzled by former Executive John Brown, especially in Human Services. In fact, Brown's penchant for secrecy is 90% of the reason why there is such suspicion about the General Purpose Authority and his P3 bridge project.

Under Brown's tenure, past online election results disappeared, along with prior Council minutes. McClure has been able to restore election results back to 2008

I agree with Ben that these events should be free. But instead of attacking the source of the problem - the Chamber of Commerce - Ben attacked "this new administration."

Funny how he never had a word to say about Brown's complete lack of transparency.

Naughty, naughty, Ben. I commend you on playing the Express Times, but that no longer means anything.