Linn recorder candidate wants to do away with office

Paul Pelletier wants to be the next Linn County Recorder, and then he wants to fire himself.

The Republican challenger to Recorder Joan McCalmant plans to file nomination papers this week, and is running on a platform of doing away with the office.

He said the functions of the Recorder's Office can be rolled into the Auditor's Office. If he wins the election in November, he said, he will trim the department, start ceding responsibility to Auditor Joel Miller, and then put on the ballot the question of whether to strike the office from Linn County government. That would be up to a vote of the people.

“It should hinge on whether the people of this county want to eliminate the office and put me out of work, or continue with bureaucracy,” he said. “It's about the nature of government.”

Pelletier, 44, is a member of the Cedar Rapids Public Library board, and works as an independent fundraiser for non-profits. He joined the Navy after Sept. 11, 2001, and worked in civil affairs in Iraq.

His desire to run for Recorder with the goal of removing the position is a function of his fiscal conservatism, he said. “People are so ticked off at big government and money being spent,” he said. “Let's save a little bit of money at the local level.”

Two counties have already decided to drop the Recorder's Office, which in Linn County has 14 full-time employees. Woodbury County did so in 1994. Marshall County will do the same at the end of 2010.

Pelletier earned his bachelor's degree from Columbus College in New Orleans and a master's degree from Regent University in Virginia. He and his wife Karen live at 515 Augusta Dr. SE, Cedar Rapids. They have a son.

His likely opponent will be Joan McCalmant, Linn County Recorder since 1997. She ran unopposed in 2002 and 2006.

The Recorder earns $87,622 per year. Anyone who wants to run for the office should file nomination papers with the Linn County Auditor's Office by March 31. The primary is June 8.