In this campaign, voters have learned several things about Lyle McKnight: He is a hometown boy and he is a businessman. To the former, he has lived here his whole life; not many residents can say that. But he has never seen it as being in his best interest to participate on any local government boards or committees, service clubs, or nonprofit organizations; and not many citizens can say that either.
There is ample opportunity to volunteer in our community, but he has not once exercised that option. La Plata County itself, the organization he wants to lead, has 37 citizen boards and commissions, none of which he has seen fit to serve on in a lifetime of living here.
It is clear that until McKnight said he was running against Gwen Lachelt for county commissioner, he had no interest in civic involvement, and had no interest in or understanding of public service. So in McKnight and his demonstrated lack of interest, you see someone who has had more chances than most of us to give something back to our community and has not.
I also wonder why it is that the Republican Party continues to trot out the hackneyed idea that because someone is a businessman, that imbues him with some magical power to understand and run a government.
La Plata County has had some good county commissioners who had business backgrounds; and some with business backgrounds who were not so good. But those who did the job well had also been involved in the public sector before they were elected. They had some understanding of the public sector’s “accountability to citizenry, not self” creed.
If your world view is “government bad; private sector good,” your ability to govern well is automatically compromised. Unfortunately, with this perspective, McKnight brings no constructive thoughts to the table because that is beyond his training and capacity. We don’t need that.
Please join me in voting for Gwen Lachelt, whose life in La Plata County has been committed to working for us; she has done it well. Now she deserves our support.
Josh Joswick
Bayfield
