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The Sound of Tap-Dancing - Audio Recording from October 13 Q & A

10/23/2011

2 Comments

 
Here's the third bit of media that's garnered attention around town,  recorded at a candidate question & answer session in Birch Bay, October 13th:
Picture
MP3 Audio File (click icon above)
Question (VanWerven):   "Mr. Oliver, yesterday I attended a forum in Bellingham where ah, Whatcom County Executive Pete Kremen was asked if he was aware of a personnel situation in the ah, Treasurer’s office.  The County Executive confirmed that there was a very serious matter, very serious situation.  Now it is appropriate to ask you directly, did you or did you not in your term as county treasurer, engage in a relationship with a female employee at the County Treasurer’s office that involved any form of affection, physical contact, sexual contact, of, or any other inappropriate conduct, yes or no?   Furthermore, please explain to this audience how you as an elected official, how this kind of behavior would affect your job, the ability to conduct the duties of the Treasurer’s office."

Answer (Oliver):   "Well, I wasn’t at the, uh... y'know the forum the other day, but, you know what uh.. y'know what I would... say is, uh that, you know, there, there has been no complaint, there’s no grievance, there no lawsuit, there’s no threat of a lawsuit, there's been no liability, and there's, you know, there was due diligence performed to substantiate that... issue completely.   Well I, all I can say is y'know I love my wife, I love my kids and I’m not going to do anything that’s, y'know, going to hurt them. And, and so--"

Moderator: "Okay, next question."
2 Comments
Luanne Van Werven
10/24/2011 11:49:09 pm

No one really cares about Mr. Oliver's sex life, but we care very much about his judgement and competency as an administrator of a department that handles $240-million dollars a year, much of it in continual direct transfer of huge sums of taxpayer money. No law was broken, but certainly the Treasurer exercised poor ethics and judgment. If he was employed in the private sector his egregious action would be cause for termination.

Reply
Karl Uppiano link
10/30/2011 08:30:50 am

Morality isn't some pious goal that we strive for, just for morality's sake. Morality is necessary to protect the public trust from unprincipled attacks by blackmail, and from conflicts of interest.

If a candidate doesn't understand that simple principle, then they should not be elected. If a politician's morality becomes compromised, then that person should recuse themselves from public office. Nobody is perfect, but actions do have consequences.

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