To say that this Ketchum election is one of the most important in many years understates the case. The shenanigans down at City Hall have to stop; the Bigwood affordable housing debacle clearly showed the depths some officials will sink to in order to circumvent their constituency.
Playing fast and loose with our money and our credit has got to end before we are so far behind that recovery will be a distant option. Shuck and jive is not a substitute for sound economic and legal practices. Ignoring plans and laws; eschewing input from local constituents while bringing in "experts" from Boise and beyond; recklessly endangering our good name and credit all the while claiming to have "The Vision." Can we afford another four years of this circus sideshow?
Those at the Church of the Big Wood hearing 15 months ago who witnessed Gourlay's nasty threat to put a fire station adjacent to the Ketchum Cemetery if he didn't get his affordable housing there, realized that the man is temperamentally unfit for public office. And now we get his "SLC Bullet Train to Ketchum." The government is going to put up $3 billion or so to bring skiers here? What is the man thinking? The short answer is that he's not—Baird will say anything to get re-elected, a classic case of a politician putting his own interests ahead of the town's.
As for Hall, his appalling past record of personal financial mismanagement disqualifies him from high public office in the best of times. These are not the best of times. It can no longer be ignored; pie-in-the-sky promises are no substitute for careful budgetary approaches and good judgment.
I'm supporting Shafran, Simon and Chubb for the best of reasons: truth, integrity and fiscal responsibility in government with realistic approaches to transportation, development, budgeting, and affordable housing. It's not a cliché to say that experience and judgment count.
Voters: Take back your government and share it with those officials who are truly open to all Ketchum residents, not just a privileged few.
Gary Hoffman
Ketchum
