The ordinance that Kathy Long intends to lay before the Board of Supervisors this winter could potentially have some pretty bizarre results. Her proposal is to adopt certain educational and professional criteria for candidates running for county treasurer-tax collector--criteria that may potentially disqualify Audra Strickland's candidacy. The law places a disproportionate emphasis on education over experience.
Basically, it calls for the candidate to either be a CPA, be a chartered financial analyst, work at a public agency in a financial capacity, or possess a degree in accounting, public policy, or a related field.
Strickland worked the last five years as a member of the State Assembly, and holds a bachelor's degree in political science.
You would think that her experience in the legislature of the world's eighth largest economy makes her infinitely more qualified to serve in that capacity than say, me. I'm merely a humble blogger.
But, if Supervisor Long had her way, I would fulfill more of the arbitrary requirements than Strickland, because I have a master's degree in Public Administration.
The current treasurer-tax collector is Larry Matheney, who will retire next year. By all accounts--including Supervisor Long's--he's done a solid job managing the county's finances. But he would have to look all the way back to his community college days in 1964, when he took a few classes in accounting, to meet Long's qualifications.
"So those classes 40 years ago would have to be my ticket in," Matheney stated in an e-mail.
What's even more nonsensical is that Long's criteria wouldn't even prevent the Orange-County-like meltdown to which she refers, for the treasurer at the time would have qualified under her ordinance.
Let the voters decide out who is or isn't qualified, Supervisor Long.
Eric Ingemunson's commentary has been featured on Hannity, CNN, NBC, Inside Edition, and KFI's The John and Ken Show.
Eric was born and raised in Ventura County and currently resides in Moorpark. He earned a master's degree in Public Policy and Administration from California Lutheran University. As a conservative, Eric supports smaller government, less taxation, more individual freedom, the rule of law, and a strict adherence to the Constitution.
Her "experience" as an assembly person in no way, shape or form makes her qualified to serve as the county tax collector/treasurer. She should never had thought about running and has put many people in very uncomfortable positions. Peter Foy would be nuts to not support what Kathy Long is proposing - protecting the citizens of Ventura County supercedes politics or personal agendas.
See my letter to the editor today.
Lon'gs proposal would have the perverse effect of making me more qualified than Strickland for the treasurer post by virtue of the fact that I have a master's degree in public policy. Had I taken a couple more accounting classes, I would qualify and Strickland would not under the new rules.
That's just insane.
What bothers me about the whole proposal is that if the treasurer is subject to these requirements, then why not have some sort of educational requirement for every single county position? Because in the end, only an elite group of bureaucrats would be eligible.
I'd much rather the voters get to select who is qualified and who is not qualified, not a handful of supervisors.
Eric, you are more qualified that Audra Strickland. It is insane that she is actually going for it. And I think many county positions to have educational requirements - or else we would have non attorney and LE types running the DA's office and sheriff's department. And I frankly think our County Board of Education has suffered in the past from having a majority of unqualfied people on it - thankfully that is changing. Let's see - is our accessor qualified? I know Bill Postmus in San Bernandino was booted out - he was also arrested for meth addiction and using his office for politicking. And evidently that happens locally as well.
Voters are being lied to right now. So what do they do - vote for the best liar?
I disagree, I don't think the voters would elect a non-attorney to a DA post and I don't think they'd elect a non-law-enforcement guy a Sheriff.
I have faith that the voters are smart enough to decide who is qualified and who isn't, and to sort lies out from the truth.
I completely disagree with you - in world of popularity contests and political lying, voters would indeed elected a non-attorney to the DA post.
re: Lies - republicans that tell the truth are invariably attacked and called names for doing so. There is one blogger calling everyone a "facist" who doesnn't agree with him on the Strickland issue and worse.
Isn't it a slippery slope to start demanding educational criteria for all public positions? The president of the United States is the most powerful man in the world, but the only qualification is that he has to be at least 35 years old.
And did Bush's MBA save him from mismanaging the economy? Nope.
The whole idea that we have to limit voter's choices so they don't make bad decisions is really a scary concept if you extrapolate it.