A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.
Updated at 1706 MST. Download the Mitchell-Holmquist letter (3MB PDF). Warning: reading it may make your mind boggle.
Phil Mitchell’s been a Flathead County Commissioner for less than a month, but he’s not waiting to make mistakes that a fellow commissioner thinks could be violations of ethics.
Lynnette Hintze has the juicy details in a wonderfully deadpan, must-read, story at the InterLake, so I’ll only mention a highlight or two here.
Yesterday, Mitchell and Commissioner Pam Holmquist voted to send a letter opposing the Flathead Water Compact to Governor Bullock, Attorney General Fox, and much of the rest of Creation in Montana. They did so even after Fox had called and sent a letter Wednesday asking for a delay on the letter. And they approved the letter without its first being reviewed by the Flathead County Attorney, official counsel to the county commission.
When Mitchell said he had several lawyers look at his proposed letter, Krueger said those lawyers should then be paid for their legal services.
Krueger further said his information indicated a local attorney named “Duncan” had made the most recent revisions to the letter, so it appeared the draft “is a product of Duncan [Scott].”
Mitchell said Scott was only one of about eight people who helped him draft the letter.
Krueger countered, saying the letter was “no longer anything Commissioner Mitchell is working on by his own [self].
“If Commissioner Mitchell has taken professional services” without the county paying for them, it’s a code of ethics violation, Krueger maintained.
One’s mind reels at moves this boneheaded. The substance of a letter under consideration by the commissioners can be debated, but surely the residents of Flathead County have the right to expect that their county commissioners will follow proper procedure when considering that letter’s substance.
And the substance of Mitchell’s letter? Let Krueger have the last word:
Alluding to the people who helped Mitchell draft the letter, Krueger said “a small group of radicals got our county commissioners to mass-mail a bunch of crazy propaganda.”