Continual proof that Commissars Ridgeway and Owen don’t give two craps about the people of Clay County. This is indicative of people that have spent much of their life in public service and don’t grasp the result of their actions on the people they represent.
They spent $765,571 of your money on legal fees in 2018, and it is highly possible that there is more.
Yes it’s a lot of money, heck two other first class counties testified to that fact in the Fox 4 article above.
I love these quotes:
FOX4: Clay County spent $765,571.25 in 2018 to pay outside attorneys and two lobbyists. What is your reaction?
Jasper County Commissioner Bartosh: Wow, that seems like an awful lot of money.
FOX4: Clay County spent $765,571.25 in 2018 to pay outside attorneys and two lobbyists. What is your reaction?
Franklin County Commissioner Tim Brinker: That is absolutely absurd. It’s unbelievable.
In 2018 we paid $2,840.21 in property tax on our home. The total amount that went to County services (general revenue) was $77.68.
I would say our property is comparable to many of the single family homes built in the last two decades in Clay County.
This legal bill amounts to the equivalent of the county services portion of 9,851 homes.
Seriously, think about that for a minute. Let’s just assume that four people live in these 9,851 homes. That’s 39,404 people.
The population of Clay County in 2017 was 242,874.
Assuming these numbers, you could say the county spent roughly 16% of the property tax money that it collected for the general fund on legal bills in 2018.
The absurdity is they’re spending our money to fight those of us who just want questions answered and an audit of the County. I’ve said this multiple times to people, if you’ve DONE NOTHING WRONG you DON’T FIGHT SOMETHING THIS HARD, when it’s just as easy to say, hey, bring on the audit, we don’t like the cost, but we welcome it because AS STEWARDS OF THE PEOPLE’S MONEY, we want to prove to them we’ve done nothing wrong.
It’s simple math:
At this point, you’ve spent way more on fighting the audit than the audit would have ever cost. At this point, the audit was a bargain.
It’s not a logical stretcht that you only do this for one reason:
You know they’re going to find something that demonstrates clear incompetence (highly plausible), unethical (plausible), or criminal (I’d like to think not, but it’s certainly possible).
It was recently announced that both Missouri State Representatives Ken Wilson and Jon Carpenter are going to primary the Commissars in 2020.
If you’re outraged by this, if you’re frustrated by the behavior of these two, and you sit idly by and do nothing while these two people have the courage to oust incumbents in their own party primary, then you’re part of the problem.
Elections don’t win themselves. You have neighbors, friends, and families that live in this county. Get involved, donate money if you can, help these candidates.
There is a lot of division these days between Team Red and Team Blue on the national scene, I’m proud of what I’ve seen in Clay County. It’s been a great reminder that our national politics isn’t representative of who we really are as people. We’ve seen people of both tribes respond on principle and out of concern for good governance. It’s a small group of people that have done a lot of the heavy lifting the last couple of years on this. That group of people needs your help.
Musings from Clay County Missouri 
I hope they end up in jail.
John,
I get the frustration, but my only hope that is that the rule of law is respected. If they’ve done something wrong, they suffer consequences. If they’ve done things right, that we’ve learned we were wrong. I’m comfortable with whatever direction this goes. It’s just a shame that the Ridgeway and Owen do not have the courage to just say that, too.