Johnson County Supervisors to Get Bigger Raises

Why do Johnson County supervisors deserve bigger raises than they got last year? Why do they get bigger raises than most working stiffs? Why do they deserve to make 75% of what the county auditor makes?

The only supervisor to express doubt about the proposed raise is Rod Sullivan, and he’s right to be worried. Not only am I determined not to vote for him, but a very good friend of mine isn’t going to vote for him either. Sullivan is not popular with a lot of people he’s run over. It’s not his views that I oppose, it’s the way he goes about governing. If he thinks he’s right, he doesn’t think he needs to be ethical in governing.

When Kingsley Botchway left the Johnson County Auditor’s office to accept a position as the equity director for the Iowa City Community School District at a much higher salary, he became way too busy to serve as chair of the Disproportionate Minority Contact Subcommittee of the Criminal Justice Committee. Rather than say so, he just stopped showing up. Sensing a vacuum, committee member Rod Sullivan tried to take over the group without a committee vote.

Since I strongly objected, Andy Johnson, the administrative assistant for the Board of Supervisors, is now chair of the committee, and if the Disproportionate Minority Contact Subcommittee has met since some time last fall, I haven’t heard about it. Last I knew, I was still a member of the subcommittee, but it doesn’t seem as though the subcommittee is meeting. It didn’t even come up with a mission statement until I proposed that we draw one up.

An attorney friend of mine related a similar incident where Rod Sullivan took over the Bernie Sanders Committee. The attorney said a friend of his had been chair, and suddenly Rod Sullivan was chair. Funny how that happens.

Maybe some people think that the means justify the ends. But that isn’t true and it’s not democratic.

In fact, the Johnson County Democratic Party is a lot like a private club. You don’t get to decide whether you’re a Johnson County Democrat. The club does.

I got on the Johnson County Central Committee once because I was the only person in my precinct (6) to show up for a Jan. 23rd caucus at Southeast Junior High. I think it was in 2010. As the only Democrat in attendance other than the Democrats running the show, who were shocked that no one else showed up, I was officially given my choice of committee assignments. I chose the central committee. When I arrived at a central committee meeting, Democrats on the committee were aghast. I think it was John Deeth who called me “a Republican,” a traitor in their midst.

Since when have I been a Republican? I’ve never been a Republican in my life. My parents were/are Democrats. My sisters are Democrats. I’ve donated to many a Democratic campaign.

I asked to be on the committee to recruit new candidates. Oh no, I couldn’t do that, I was told in firm, insulting words. There was additional outrage that I wasn’t pro-Palestinian. Apparently, you can’t be a Johnson County Democrat if you’re pro-Israeli. That’s heresy. I’ve been shouted at by several male Democrats in both Iowa City and Des Moines for not being pro-Palestinian. Maybe they’re anti-semitic?

“I thought the Democratic Party was supposed to be a big tent,” I said.

Not in Johnson County it isn’t.

If you work for the party, agree down the line with the party, and never criticize anything they do, no matter how egregious one of their actions is, you’re likely to be a member of the club. But the Johnson County Democrats aren’t supposed to be a private club with patronage jobs to give out and a policy of enriching themselves at public expense. They’re supposed to be a political party that encourages people to join them and work together in comity on political causes. The private club is hardly welcoming unless you agree with them and follow them lock-step in their sometimes absurd opinions.