The 2012 Auditor's Race* (Revised 2013)

Linn County supervisors appear determined to hang an asterisk on the results of the 2012 race for county auditor.

In November, Auditor Joel Miller won re-election by 25 points. Now, in March, the board is poised to hand a chunk of his duties over to the guy Miller defeated, County Construction Services Manager Garth Fagerbakke.

Miller got 69,000 voters in November. But five supervisor votes is more than enough in March.

On Monday, the board held a long discussion on the issue. On Wednesday, it will likely vote to take facilities management duties away from Miller. They'll, eventually, put them in Fagerbakke's hands.

Supervisor Brent Oleson, at least, is calling for a formal application and hiring process, rather than simply anointing Fagerbakke by acclamation.

Miller has been, too often, unreasonable and abrasive. He's refused to answer basic questions from the board about facilities budget issues. Accusations that he's tried to intimidate or punish his county critics are troubling.

But the Board of Supervisors has been talking since before the ink was dry on November's ballots about yanking facilities away from Miller. And that pretty much killed any hopes of a postelection reconciliation between the audacious auditor and the board he's battled. If the board was seeking “harmonious relations,” as Supervisor Linda Langston said, it's a curious strategy.

To me, this smells. Fagerbakke's campaign against Miller was based largely on sharp criticism of the auditor's handling of facilities management. And yet, Miller walloped his challenger. That has to mean something, unless you think county voters just don't get it.

Surely, the board doesn't believe that, but it's sort of tough to tell. During Monday's discussion, Oleson was the only supervisor to even mention the electoral elephant in the room.

One county worker who spoke during public comments said it feels like the board is “stealing my vote.”

This is a situation that screams for an impartial outsider, a mediator, analyst, numbers-cruncher, marriage counselor, elementary school playground supervisor, whoever, to deliver some independent advice on the best way forward.

Nobody inside county government, at this point, is objective on these issues. We could use a voice of reason.

But it's hard for any voice to carry above the din of so many axes grinding, even the voices of thousands of voters.