I am incredibly saddened by the attacks on Allison Aichele, La Plata County Treasurer. I worked closely with Allison for her first three years as treasurer before I moved away last December and left my position in county administration.
Allison has done a great job bringing the Treasurer's office up to the standards that taxpayers deserve. Ed Murray, past treasurer, is a great guy. He held the job for 28 years but didn't want to do the tough work of modernizing the office in his last years before retirement. Change is hard for most of us.
Allison took on the challenge with intelligence and gusto. We did numerous facilitated meetings with her staff and she did a vast amount of research and review with treasurers around the state. She and I together did a lengthy research project utilizing the state treasurers association and many other resources to ensure that she was not missing a tiny detail of this complicated and important office. Allison is guilty of two things: being a change agent in an office that desperately needed to change and, most importantly, staying independent from the pressures of certain county leadership who want to control her office.
Allison spoke truth to power and made some people uncomfortable. Voters please don't succumb to the mis-information hurled at Allison by folks willing to bully and tell untruths. She is a highly qualified, smart, hardworking, overly honest and independent woman and it is to our benefit that she has been willing to serve.
Susan Hakanson
Albuquerque
