By Scott Unger • Of the News-Register • 

County board members spar as King challenges current limit on commissioners’ expense accounts

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Comments

ALLCAPS

WE NEED A CAP OR ABUSES WILL HAPPEN.
ABOUT THE SEPTIC ISSUE HOW ARE THEY NOT IN COMPLIANCE.

Ron

Better vote to cap it quick. Sounds like Bubba King in true Democrat form is planning on spending OPM just in case that means other people’s money. It also sounds like he may have made some travel plans at the expense of Yamhill County.We have several representatives in Washington DC Bubba King was elected to serve Yamhill County in the state of Oregon.At almost 80,000 a year and if he’s really into improving Yamhill County one would think he could spend a little of his own money like some of the other commissioners. I hope he doesn’t get a credit card..

fiddler

Starrett is again talking nonsense. It’s apparent she has no business acumen. Any corporation that requires its employees to travel has a cap on particular items, not on the grand total. For example, a cap on the $ amount for dinner, a cap on the $ of a hotel room. Please don’t vote for her next time.

Otis

fiddler....exactly. I've had caps for expenses for my previous employment. We got mileage if we used our own vehicles for biz travel and $30 per diam for food (not alcohol). All lodging, airfare, rental car, was paid for 100% by the company when traveling on biz trips. We turned in all receipts as well.

That was standard.

Can abuses happen in the most extreme cases? I guess it depends on weather you're Pete Hegseth or not. (limos, strip clubs, blackout drunk, sexual assault...etc).

Ron

That’s funny Otis, I thought the comments were about Yamhill County and the commissioners. At least you waited till the end of your comment to bring up a Trump appointee. So I guess it’s OK for Bubba King to do the same sort of things as Pete Hegseth. Why didn’t you say anything about Bubba? We all get it. You didn’t vote for Lindsay.
I’ve been on a multitude of these trips over the years. Free travel, free, lodging free food. All you have to do is attend a few seminars and enjoy your mini vacation paid for by others. And it also usually include your spouse. Bring home a few bullet points and some brochures. Mostly but not all of the time It’s a waste of money for your employer or the county, but it is all a tax write off correct ? Still don’t understand why in this conversation if you’re promoting Bubba for travel. Don’t the commissioners serving Yamhill County in Oregon need to stay in Oregon. And again we have representatives for Washington DC . you must approve these mini vacations that you yourself took part in.

Moe

Good to see today's BOC police itself.
But we can't foresee future election results.

I therefore suggest a CAP of $0.
Grandfathered in for posterity.
That would uphold the customary $0 charged.
And only a CAP of $0 would guarantee equity.

treefarmer


Doesn’t seem out of line to reimburse the cost of fuel if the duties of the commissioner require excessive in-county travel. (I watched the meeting on zoom, Bubba did say that his trip to D.C. last month was {appropriately} paid for from his own pocket.) If the other two commissioners have financial situations that allow for them to redirect an expense allowance elsewhere, that may be commendable, but it appears unfair as a requirement.

What DID alarm me about that last meeting was the suggestion from Starrett that maybe we should welcome the South African co-authoritarian Musk to bring his bloody chainsaw to Yamhill County. I hope I misunderstood her. We are all subject to the unconstitutional and illegal destruction of our Federal government, (the extent of the dire consequences are yet to be realized) but we certainly do NOT need such reckless chaos here. Near as I can tell, our elected representatives and county employees are very responsible with our tax dollars.

I continue to hope that the new autocrat and his wrecking crew will not disable the payment system for our social security savings account funds and decide our retirement money needs to be redirected elsewhere. (Those billionaires have THEIR needs too, after all.) Fact is, the new regime has the absolute power and immunity to make that decision - so – shall we all just cross our fingers?

Carltonian

What Starrett and Johnston (both who are wildly more wealthy than the average YC citizen) are advocating for is a continuation of rule by the rich. The ease with which she willingly slams the door to public service on working class people should alarm all of us. We as taxpayers should expect that the commissioners are smart enough to put guardrails in place to prevent abuses, and protect both transparency and accountability. But in Mary's world, if you can't pay your legitimate job expenses from your own fat bank account, you don't deserve the job.

Otis

Carltonian and Treefarmer,
spot on!...Totally agree. President Elon should stay away from OR.

Moe

Maybe DOGE should DOGE Musk.

How about DOGE DOGEing itself!!

Meanwhile boys, back on-point to YC ...

BOC is doing a good job policing itself.

Carltonian

For all of accusations towards Democrats with no facts about misappropriation of local tax dollars, and the ham handed pre-accusations against Commissioner King for daring to talk about this, @ron has neglected to inform readers where the real, documented problems of misuse of taxpayer dollars for personal gain has come from locally: anyone remember Trampus Bergstrom, disgraced former fire chief, and endorser of the Lindsay Berschauer campaign?

Terminated for cause, "Bergstrom has since been indicted on nine felony counts of theft in the first degree, three felony counts of fraudulent use of a credit card and a misdemeanor charge of official misconduct from his time at the fire district."

I wonder when the gaslighting from the likes of the "Rons" of the world will stop....

Let's put some punctuation on these dumb arguments and focus on policy that allows for public service regardless of wealth, and use our power to put some accountability in place instead of gatekeeping. Seems like rich people sometimes want to expand their own wealth at our expense. Imagine that! In Bergstrom's case, we see that guardrails worked - he'll rightfully never be in a position of power again.

Moe

Are state & local officials being asked to be de facto ICE officers?
I don't think so.
But they are being asked not to interfere with ICE.

That raises two questions.

1. Could state & local officials be prosecuted under Oregon law for cooperating with ICE as de facto ICE officers?

2. Could state & local officials be prosecuted under Oregon law for merely not interfering with ICE?

Obviously, many grey areas.

What is supreme is the Constitution. Therefore, neither federal laws nor state laws are supposed to be contrary to the Constitution. And according to Article I, only the legislative branch is allowed to make laws. Neither executive orders nor even supreme court decisions are laws.

Moe

Ooops.

Posted last comment under wrong article.

Sanitysez

I was interested to read that some commissioners just gave $ back and didn’t use the discretionary funds.
This flies in the face of democratic republic. If a person has a position of power they must do everything to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. Not being paid for essential parts of their job, can lead to corruption large and small. For example, a commissioner could make a decision that costs taxpayers millions bc they cancel a project that is beneficial to the majority. To most it can appear they are doing something great by not taking $ for their gas etc, but what if certain contracts are thrown their way? Off the books of course!
It’s down right un-American to not take the discretionary funds offered but rather to take kickbacks.
Because of the $$ in politics now (since Citizens United in 2010) we are being ruled by the richest man in the
world. Our offices are being bought.
We must restore integrity in our politics and actively reject that only the rich can be in office! If we don’t get $$ out of all politics, then we’ll never have the America I love dearly. I know you feel that love for our country too. Please help us to get back on the right track and rid our politics of the nasty scourge of corruption!
For those of you tempted to jump on some bandwagon or other, take a break, read the constitution and devote time to just thinking and not reacting.

“Equality feels like oppression to the privileged”.

Ron

AGAIN Carltonian as I stated to Otis the other day. I thought we were commenting on the Yamhill County BOC. But as usual, it became a Democratic platform. It’s laughable that it turns to this,I wonder where in an article there was anything about Trump or president Elon or Lindsay? So back to being accused by the accuser. Carltonian stated I accused Bubba King of something when I said it sounds like which is not necessarily a direct accusation and I did not explicitly state and accusation. And back to your gaslighting nonsense we’ve just lived through four years of it with your previous administration. So hopefully you’ll keep your Kamala signs all shined up in the corner of your garage. And I truly hope for your mental health this nonsense doesn’t consume your life. Signed one of the Rons in the world. :-)

Moe

Commissioner King is right, the $1,500 CAP IS peanuts.
Amounts to a tank of gasoline every 2 - 3 weeks.
Very small compared to salary + benefits - never mind outside income.

He wants to raise the CAP based on a hypothetical future need.
In the meantime ...
Might that not create an inducement to abuse the account?
It's a use it or lose it situation.
Year after year.

Well, that one in the same $1,500 can't be both peanuts & necessary.
Therefore, I propose a CAP of $0.
Precise equity among the Commissioners.
One can't spend more than another.
Avoids counsel wasting time approving spending.
And puts the issue to rest.

treefarmer


Always so interesting to read smug delusions. Perhaps some will ride their masochism to the grave, but others may come around as consequences continue to be revealed. (The worst is yet to come.)

Happy Valentine's Day.

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