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The INDEPENDENT, March 20, 2002
The
INDEPENDENT
Serving the upper Nehalem River valley. Published twice
monthly, on the first and third Wednesdays of each month,
by Public Opinion Laboratory Ltd., 725 Bridge Street, Ver
nonia, OR 97064, as a free newspaper. Editors and Pub
lishers, Dirk & Noni Andersen. Phone/Fax: 503-429-
9410, e-mail: noni@ vernonia.com
V/ ia /T ê ^
Easy to talk about
saving $$; hard to do
Commissioner Joe Corsiglia is frustrated with The
INDEPENDENT because we paraphrased his ideas
about saving money instead of printing them verbatim.
He’s not alone.
For someone who wants to save money, however,
his response was puzzling. The letter that you see in
the adjacent column (actually, we shortened that a lit
tle bit, too) was written on a Monday, then typed,
copied and collated with county labor and materials
(about 80 copies x 3 pages, which included his original
letter).
The commissioner then drove to Vernonia, where he
spent a day knocking on doors and going in stores to
hand out this three-page packet. That didn’t save tax
Corsiglia says views
money and didn’t promote taxpayers’ interests.
We have asked Commissioner Corsiglia how much misrepresented
is being spent on administration for the regional pro
grams and how much it has cost Columbia County. He To the Editor:
I find it interesting that you
says he can’t get the figures, then, when reminded that
would not print my letter as
they are public information, says he doesn’t have time. submitted to the Governor’s
Time could be a factor but, when he is tarring a hearing, then you restate and
statewide program for wasting money, he should pro reshape it in your own words.
vide something more substantial than feathers; verifi The press is very good at twist
ing things. I ask that you print
able numbers would be a good place to start.
my letter in full text along with
Commissioner Corsiglia should use his undeniable this letter to the editor.
energy and expressed desire to save money by apply
You may not agree with me
ing some oversight to problems within county govern on this issue but many do and
ment. For instance, the commissioners know that very deserve better reporting. First,
the Commissioners write letters
little is being done on county roads and that county on county letterhead on a con
parks are closed a lot of the time. These are areas that stant basis. Tony Hyde testifies
need both attention and creative administration.
in Salem, in front of committee
At one time, Commissioners had individual responsi quite often as well, yet you see
bility for specific county departments. Several years no need to seek further infor
mation on those testimonies or
ago, they turned that responsibility over to department other letters from this office.
heads...a method that could work with adequate over We tend to allow each other lat
sight. Over the years, however, the commissioners itude unless we state that we
have been less and less involved in administration, and are speaking on behalf of the
County Board. We also talk to
it shows.
citizen groups in the same
Perhaps it is time for the Board of Commissioners to
manner.
return to the old method of running county government.
I agree with you that all the
Under that method, when something goes wrong in a projects you listed have been
department, the commissioner in charge takes heat. helped by regional funding and
Now that’s a real incentive to operate in a responsible I have no intent to see that lev
el of funding discontinue. What
fashion.
I am sDeakina to involves the
total accumulation of overhead
that is involved in the Regional
Strategies program. This in
volves a statewide machine of
bureaucrats, administrators, of
fices,
meetings,
mileage,
lunches and lost time for ail
those who must travel, all
charged off to the taxpayer and
lottery funds before any money
ever hits Columbia County. The
decisions on who are awarded
grants and funding is done with
very little citizen input.
If all that money were prorat
ed to the counties involved,
and I don’t mean metropolitan
counties, there might well be
twice as much money available
to rural investment. That is the
type of fat that Oregon needs to
cut from its budget as I sug
gest.
The public is tired of seeing
tax money tunneled through
bureaucracy before half of it
comes back. I totally support
money com ing to C olum bia
County without all the bureau
cracy. The $470,000 you reflect
in your article is representative
of many years of allotment yet
you don’t say it that way or
show the cumulative cost in tax
and lottery dollars it takes to
deliver it. There is no reason
why counties would not be able
to deliver the same monies
without the state taking their
big cut to operate these pro
grams. This is not the only pro
gram that continues to create
bureaucracy in the State of
Oregon.
Perhaps the message in my
letter of testim ony could be
clearer.
I w ill continue to oppose
government bureaucracy and
inefficiency. I will also continue
to promote direct allocation to
counties to avoid that bureau
cracy. The State is broke and it
does need fixing.
Sincerely,
Joe Corsiglia
Columbia County
Commissioner
Ed. note: This is how Commis
sioner Corsiglia’s view was pre
sented in the Feb. 20, 2002, INDE
PENDENT. “Corsiglia based his
suggestion on what he feels is un
necessary overhead...” (page 1).
“...a recommendation by Columbia
County Commissioner Joe Cor
siglia that the Regional Strate-
gies/Rural Investment program be
eliminated and the money sent di
rectly to each county. Corsiglia
thinks this would save money by
eliminating administrative costs.”
(Opinion, page 2).