05/16/2008: "Council Action Turns Off Candidate For The Council"

Chuck Rust announced his candidacy for Kevin Ranker’s position on the County Council in April, but now he said he has seen and heard enough to convince him he wants nothing to do with a Council that -among other things- "wastes time."

“I thought the whole thing with the letter (related story) was absurd; they spent time on Monday drafting the letter, and then they redo it on Tuesday.”

Rust has been a frequent observer of the County Council, and was a witness to the Council’s behavior on Tuesday, that was not one of their most shining moments, when they spent an inordinate amount of time drafting a letter, then voting it down, and then in the afternoon session redrafting it by passing it back-and-forth between them while -as far as the public was concerned- working on unrelated agenda items.

Rust said he was aware that the other council members not only did not advise the public they were still working on a draft letter that they had called “dead” in the morning session, but they were also keeping Councilman Rich Peterson in the dark as to what they were doing; which he characterized as “just crazy.”

Rust also was outraged by the actions and comments of Councilman Kevin Ranker, and said had he been a member of the council, he would have been tempted to leave his chair in response to Ranker’s rudeness.

Another San Juan Island citizen who has show some interest in running for Ranker’s seat is Lovel Pratt. Pratt has been showing up at some council meetings, but said while she is giving it some serious consideration, she has yet to make a decision.