5,000.
If you wanted to know the price of making a complete jackass out of yourself in front of the entire Nye County officialdom, now you have it. That and attorney’s fees.
This is how much the state ethics commission decided to fine county Assessor Shirley Matson, who was found guilty yesterday of two out of four ethics charges filed against her.
She faced much harsher punishment had commissioners agreed on all the charges she faced. They could have asked a judge to sweep her from office.
That was probably too optimistic even if she were found guilty on all charges — after all, voters of Nye County elected Matson, and when given the chance to remove her after she bumbled into controversy, most just yawned.
Why should these five ethics commissioners do what voters refused to do?
Of course, the ethics commission had a very narrow set of violations and legal issues to work through. Complaints ranged from using county property improperly — which she was found guilty of — to essentially retaliating against her underlings when she found out they supported the recall effort against her — she was not so guilty of this since the accusations amounted to a human resources problem more than an ethics violation.
Whatever the case may be, our feelings all along are that Ms. Matson is an unstable individual with extreme right-wing prejudices and is likely over her head at the assessor’s office. When given the chance to remove a crazy person from office, our feeling is that it should be done post haste.
That’s our opinion.
Another viewpoint might be that more than half the voters in Nye County happen to not disagree with Ms. Matson’s virulent right-wing prejudices and don’t mind a bit of “wacky” representation in their life, no matter how important the office, no matter the real impact should the job be done improperly.
One looks around at some of the other elected officials in this county, past and present — we won’t name names — and really, is Matson all that bad? Ummm. Yes.
Example: When our teary-eyed elected official described going to Carson City by way of California because local wingnut “attorney” Nancy Lord told her someone might run her off the road, it made our collective temples throb, our cheeks blush with embarrassment. We already have big heaping bowls of incompetence stew around here. Is crazy an ingredient we really need?
We’ll pass on the “cracked” pepper, thanks.
Even some of the ethics commissioners wondered aloud what type of government dysfunction must be taking place in Nye County to allow this kind of three ring circus to burp forth from the body politic. How did it get this far? Where were the county commissioners? County manager?
Golly gee, that’s a grand question. County commissioners, to their credit, reprimanded Matson when they figured out that they had to do something. Other than that, we have no earthly idea what they do, or did, or could have done or are even allowed to do.
As much as we’d really like to agree with the ethics commissioners on this one, we can’t.
The true fall guys for Matson, if there are any, are the people you passed on the road to work. The people in the grocery store shopping alongside you. Your neighbors. The people sitting with you at church and in the bleachers at the ball game. It’s both the residents over age 18 who can vote but don’t and the people who do vote, but who enjoy the taste of crazy.
Fortunately for us, and for Matson, there are other newsworthy items sure to keep us occupied for the time being. So long as Matson pays her fine on time, keeps her opinions out of her office and does the best job she is capable of doing, our best hope is that this sordid chapter in Nye County history fades into the ether.
Until, of course, voters get a chance to elect a new assessor, in which case we will dredge all this back up again and urge you to vote for the least crazy person at the polls.
“Whatever the case may be, our feelings all along are that Ms. Matson is an unstable individual………….”
You have your right to your opinion but I would have preferred that a Doctor Of Psychiatry make that decison for me. In my two times with her at the assessors office I found her courteous and very competant answering my questions.
I agree 100 per cent!! When did an editor of a small county newspaper become a licensed Therapist? Those are very slandering words… maybe more thought should have been put into your “choosing of YOUR views”.
This Commission… stated very clearly they were extremely concerned about Nye County as a whole.
Clean house… completely….
Yep, we already know that the editorial position of the PVT is to the far left, so We’re not surprised by the editorial comments. Far right equals “crazy” in your mind. but your views are the minority views here, and viewed by most as being insane. So does that make you the real crazy ones in this conversation?
I do agree however, that the level of overall competency of our elected officials is low, and we do have a problem with elected officials abusing their positions of power, and yes, getting caught with their hands in the cookie jar. A complete house cleaning is in order, but not for the reasons the crazy left would have us believe.
“I do agree however, that the level of overall competency of our elected officials is low,…………”
And might that be because the overall Nye County voting public is not too intelligent when in the voting booth???????????
Take a hard look at the 5 county Commissioners and ask yourself who would you like to have running your business?
Better still……….look at the town board members.
Dwight…You are correct. The far is indeed crazy.
Funny, all these dems who call Shirley crazy have nothing to say when Registered Democrat, Harley Kulkin, trashes offices, punches people out, reverses his positions, proposes an idiots folly of a theme park.
Didn’t we have a ranting raving crazy democrat that got booted off internet radio out here because of her rants?
Please, lets not pretend that the right has a lock on crazy in this town.
The far right is indeed crazy.
The lesson here is to not listen or vote for Liberals who are hellbent on turning Pahrump into another over taxed and over regulated California town.
True “servants of the people” are gone. Any person today who seeks a political office seems to have an agenda that is not in the bvst interest of those being “served”. You have to be “crazy” to want this. Regardles of the political affiliation, we, the people, lose.
Sometime I wish we had a railroad throug town so that slugs like this, matson,could be run out of town, right along with fely, on a rail.
If you haven’t got a rail , there’s always TAR and FEATHERS .
Speaking of completely duped voters……
How is that “Hope and Change” working for you ObamaZombies?
Whats that up to now? $5 Trillion in debt spending? But thats the tax”PAYERS” worry right? Not an Obama voters care.
Obamas latest budget SOOOOO pathetic that not even the 49% Democrat controlled congress would give it ONE vote last week (No story here in the “News”).
414-0 = Obamas “Budget”!
I’d feel WAY more disappointment and embarrassment over THAT …..Than what or what not happens in the “Drama Soap Opera” of Pearl Bodeen and Seniorita Valdez here in Pohdunk, Nevada.
But…..I guess that is why Churchill once said something along the lines of:
“If you are a naive kid and NOT a liberal, then you have no heart. If you are a mature grownup and STILL a liberal, then you have no BRAIN”.
If you work for a living and you vote Republican, you need your head examined. You’re like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders. Do you know what is the cause of 82% of our national debt? Two unfunded wars, the Bush tax cuts and the big giveaway to big pharma in medicare part D. Take a guess at who did these things. Not to mention the worst terrorist attack on our soil since Pearl Harbor. “Quite frankly, I don’t spend much time thinking about Osama Bin Laden” -George Bush
The Republican ideal was lost somewhere along the path. I use to be a Republican because I believe in social conservatism – building our own businesses, gun ownership, anti-abortion, etc. but above all, respect for the family unit . Pahrump has lost this ideal – we don’t live by it. Look around, Pahrump socially is in shampbles. Look at our schools.
Unfortunately, we have a group who is superficial and it can not accept the truth. We regurgitate fecal matter but don’t have the balls to look at our own tails and make true down to earth proactive change.
I’m not a liberal either. I call it the way I see it.