11/19/2023
https://wvstatewide.com/2023/11/19/gregorys-web-november-19-2023/
[W]hen one first glances at Jefferson County Commission infighting, the conclusion is likely wrong.
We have to hand it to Jefferson County Prosecutor Matthew Harvey, though. He’s done a terrific job of painting a brown horse green for the world to see.
In this case, the Prosecuting Attorney has portrayed two principled County Commissioners as scofflaws with absolutely no respect for the offices they hold.
If a judge and/or jury heard only Harvey’s rendition of the Jefferson dispute, they would surely side against Commissioners Jennifer Krouse and Tricia Jackson.
Those ignorant of all the facts would buy Harvey’s assertion that these are two public officials refusing to do their duty yet eagerly cashing their paychecks.
Those accepting that would be wrong.
First of all, anyone who’s been a County Commissioner or is really familiar with one knows regular meetings are but a small part of their responsibilities.
Harvey cannot possibly know what Krouse and Jackson are doing for their pay unless he has them followed, night and day.
I’m confident he hasn’t done that – yet anyway.
From dealing with citizen disputes to neighborhood meetings, acts of God, infrastructure projects and much more, a Commissioner’s public service rarely gets a lengthy timeout.
Just as Richard Cory’s fellow townspeople learned, things are not really as they appear from a casual glance.
Not even close.
On one hand, the dispute in Jefferson pits two very different sides against each other. On the other hand, it really isn’t that simple either.
In a superficial analysis, the disagreement pits two Commissioners (Jackson and Krouse) against two others (President Steve Stolipher and member Jane Tabb).
The issue, on the surface at least, is naming a fifth Commissioner to an existing Charles Town District vacancy.
If choosing a replacement was the only issue, it might not require the wisdom of Solomon to solve this impasse.
The combatants here know what picking a new Commissioner really means, however. It means the Commission balance of power will go one way or the other.
If the fifth Commissioner is an ally of Jackson and Krouse, all decisions for the immediate future will likely go their way. If Stolipher and Tabb get their choice, the opposite is predictable.
It could well be that future development of Jefferson County hinges on which side prevails in naming Commissioner Number Five.
Regardless, if this Prosecutor is as skilled at narrating evidence to pin villains in criminal cases as he is in his 38-page attack on Jackson and Krouse, there surely are no crooks running loose in Jefferson County.
After reading Harvey’s masterpiece with no other knowledge of the facts, a reasonable judge would take no more than half a second to toss Krouse and Jackson from office.
Harvey ingeniously explains that Jackson and Krouse, who refuse to attend Commission meetings with selection of the replacement on the agenda, are not doing their jobs.
For all the world, the two are portrayed as obstinate brats unwilling for the other children to play with any of their toys.
Frankly, the Prosecutor is hardly in a position to render a verdict on whether or not Krouse and Jackson are doing their jobs.
Harvey makes it sound as if Krouse and Jackson are simply obstructionists hell-bent on shutting down their own government.
The Prosecutor asks the court to turn the same chronically deaf ear to Jackson and Krouse that he has.
Somewhere, in all the efforts to force the two to go through with a dog-and-pony show to select someone they don’t believe is qualified, neither the Prosecutor nor Stolipher nor Tabb can actually hear a word Jackson and Krouse are saying.
Jackson and Krouse have said and written repeatedly that they will attend Commission meetings if the replacement issue is not on the agenda.
They have serious questions and objections to the replacement process. A lawsuit concerning the replacement process is pending.
In this case, the two are doing the only thing available to them to stop what they feel would be improper.
An unqualified or otherwise problematic new member cannot be seated if these two refuse to provide a quorum.
Many in Jefferson County, the Eastern Panhandle and the state see the very future of this region at stake.
Decisions made by this County Commission will have an enormous impact on such things as solar energy, infrastructure projects, green space and dozens more issues.
I have no reason, at this point, to question the Prosecuting Attorney’s fairness and motives. I hope he’s being honest when he says he feels the two absent members are “forcing” him to take the action he has taken. I trust he hasn’t chosen political sides in what should be a strictly legal dispute.
I further hope that he’d be taking the same action if the other two members stopped attending meetings, with or without a valid reason.
All of this raises yet another point. Could he just as easily have petitioned for Stolipher’s removal? After all, if the President would simply remove the replacement issue from the agenda, Jackson and Krouse insist they would attend. County business would be addressed then.
It seems to me that if the President was not being stubborn here, a meeting agenda without the replacement matter could be issued.
Perhaps even an agenda with the replacement position placed last would work. That way all other county business that the Prosecutor is so concerned about could be conducted before Jackson and Krouse walk out, removing the required quorum.
Here’s my personal view of the bottom line: if the new Commissioner is aligned with Krouse and Jackson, transparency and conservative principles will prevail. If not, the opposite will rule the day.
With Stolipher and Tabb in charge, business will be conducted in darkness. Photos of solar panels everywhere will accurately portray the county.
There’s got to be a better way of selecting someone to fill a County Commission vacancy.
Aside from requiring the expense of special elections, where the public decides the replacement, no system would be ideal.
Still, the Legislature should look at the cumbersome method now required and try to somehow streamline it.
I have referred to the current method as “bass ackward.” Using it, each Commissioner strikes the name of who he or she does not want rather than choosing who they prefer.
It’s an outdated, antiquated method producing horrendous results. Jefferson is not an exception. It is just the latest example of a disastrous set of procedures that disrupt any kind of harmony.
I’m obviously biased in the Jefferson case but I certainly hope Krouse and Jackson prevail. I believe they will.
In case you wondered, my favorite poem of all time is “Richard Cory” by Edwin Arlington Robinson. Thanks for asking. Oh, you didn’t ask, did you? For those not familiar, “Richard Cory” […]
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