I was planning on letting the election go by without saying anything else about it and letting people vote their consciences until I see that the Tribune has endorsed the mayor for re-election with so many nice things to say about him. He and the council members may be the nicest people in the world, but they allowed a simple problem to develop into a full-blown problem by refusing to answer a simple question this past year.

I asked the simple question why wasn’t Rhonda Moen charged with misuse of a city credit card as was Jim Norman. Nobody wanted to say anything except to skirt around the issue and gather the wagons in a circle. When I finally found out the reason, it was laid to rest, at least for me.

It’s a shame that the mayor and council members were not thinking about how other people see this community, because they allowed this thing to continue for close to a year with promises by the mayor to respond and then not doing it. All anyone had to say was that the former city manager had given Mrs. Moen permission to use the card on that one (I hope) occasion and, therefore, she hadn’t done anything illegal. Why was that so hard for the mayor and council members to say? Was there something else that we don’t know about?

If they think so much of the citizens and the way other communities see us, then they shouldn’t have let that whole thing continue. I think it became a joke to them and the longer they let it go, the harder it was for them just to step up and say what happened. Is this the kind of leadership we want? Do we want someone who will explain things to the citizens of this city when they ask questions about it? As I’ve said before, if they will hide the facts about something as simple to solve as this was, they what will they do when something major comes up? Think about that before you vote next Tuesday, but please go out and vote, no matter who you’re voting for. It’s your right, and it’s a privilege that we, as citizens, have.

 

Kathy Diaz

Albert Lea