Sandra LaCelle for County Commissioner, Position 1

It was bad enough for Hansville citizens when the county's Democratic party leaders (I use the term loosely) decided to saddle us with Steve Bauer as an unelected commissioner to take the place of Chris Endresen. Endresen was responsible for the speed bumps that were installed in Hansville without broad community support and without meaningful notice and input from the community as a whole. Bauer, of course, was a pro-bumper and has been a key figure in the hostile takeover of Hansville by the GHAAC in 2007, when the County agreed to let a small, self-appointed group of people be the official "voice of all Hansville" (and Eglon, etc. as well) in all dealings with the County, and officially committed to helping that group achieve their "mandated GHA goals."

Bauer has proven to be completely unresponsive to people who do not agree with his pre-set agenda for Hansville (speed bumps included), and has revealed a remarkable lack of candor and openness when it comes to hard questions about his background, biases, and decision making processes regarding the speed bumps. While he is surely a golden boy appointee for the small group of people who are getting what they want from his new position, he has been a disaster for those who want to see transparency, accountability, and responsibility in County government, and for everyone in Hansville who thinks that they are quite capable of communicating with the County on their own and do not need the GHAAC to think and act for them.

As the deadline to file for candidacy in this fall's election approached, it looked bad for Hansville - nobody was filing to run against Bauer, and it appeared that he was going to get a free ride in the fall elections, Hansville being the Democratic Party country that it is. But shortly before the deadline, Sandra LaCelle, a Poulsbo attorney, filed to run against Bauer. She is running as a Republican.

Now, after two terms of Dubyah and his criminal enterprise, I had sworn I would never vote for a Republican candidate, no matter what the office. But one should never say never - and when given the choice between Steve Bauer and Sandra LaCelle, this is an easy call: VOTE LACELLE! My initial investigation of LaCelle and her approach to the commissioner's job has led me to conclude that a vote for her is a vote for someone who will bring the transparency, accountability, financial discipline, and responsiveness to all Hansville citizens that Bauer has failed to deliver. Yes, she is a Republican (and for those in Hansville who tend to vote GOP, that is fine), but I do not see the commissioner's job as being a particularly partisan seat. And it is hard for me to see how she could possibly be worse for Hansville than the divisive, polarizing, ultra-biased Steve Bauer. So, I will be just one of many Hansville Democrats voting for Sandra LaCelle.

For more information on Sandra LaCelle, check out both www.sandraclacelle.googlepages.com and www.lacellelaw.com.