It was good to see that the record has finally been set straight by Ed Robey regarding the county”s involvement (or lack of) in the Lucerne water rate increase, but I believe there is still some unfinished business on the matter.
First, it should be made clear that when former County Counsel Cameron Reeves was asked publicly by Supervisor Gary Lewis if the county could help the ratepayers out, the question was phrased in the financial context, to which Mr. Reeves responded that “No public funds could be expended.” This clear, correct and obvious statement was somehow misinterpreted by Supervisor Lewis to mean that nothing at all could be done, in spite of Mr. Reeves having just as clearly told Lewis privately what other options the county had available to help.
Supervisor Lewis needs to publicly apologize to Mr. Reeves for repeatedly stating that Mr. Reeves had given the board bad advice. It”s one thing to claim the county”s citizens had been harmed by a government employee”s incompetence when they have, it”s quite another thing to be the only person who didn”t know what was going on and then to unfairly blame someone else for your mistake, which is what did happen.
While Supervisor Lewis is making amends for smearing Mr. Reeves” reputation, maybe he could also apologize for having to be asked by the Grand Jury to pay for the hundreds of personal phone calls he made on his county cell phone.
As to Melissa Fulton”s letter explaining the Chamber of Commerce”s endorsement of Supervisor Lewis (“Overstepping bounds,” Readers” Views, Oct. 26), she left out some important details.
Fulton neglected to mention that she and one of the chamber directors are actively supporting the Lewis campaign and the board had made their decision without even interviewing Lewis”s challenger.
Fulton didn”t tell you the chamber is totally dependent on local government dollars, meaning the taxpayers are, in effect, funding the chamber”s effort to influence this supervisors election. The chamber couldn”t even be bothered to give one specific reason for their decision, so much for their impartiality and logic.
Philip Murphy
Lakepo
