CCN Wants You Angry About Taxpayer-Funded Legal Bills. There’s Just One Problem.

 Cowlitz County News is pretty worked up because the Longview School Board voted to have taxpayers cover legal expenses connected to the recall effort. Their post makes a big deal about taxpayer money being used for legal bills and questions why the school board members don't simply resign. I have absolutely no problem with taxpayers questioning whether public money should be used this way. Taxpayers have every right to ask where their money is going. What I have a problem with is the selective outrage.

Let's talk about Spencer Boudreau, Erik Halvorson, Kalei LaFave and Keith Young. Those four Longview council members were sued over alleged violations of the Open Public Meetings Act in connection with allegations that they had communicated outside public meetings regarding the firing of City Manager Kris Swanson. They denied the allegations. When their insurance company refused to cover their defense, the City of Longview stepped in and paid for their attorneys. The four council members voted to have the city cover those expenses.

Let that sink in. Longview taxpayers paid their legal bills.

The lawsuit ultimately cost Longview taxpayers more than $250,000 between legal expenses and the settlement. Now here's the part I find interesting: where was CCN? Where was the outrage? Where were the posts demanding that Boudreau, Halvorson, LaFave and Young resign because taxpayers shouldn't have to pay their legal bills? Where was the outrage over elected officials voting to have taxpayers fund their own defense?

Crickets.

Yet here we are, with CCN acting like taxpayer-funded legal expenses are some outrageous new concept because this time it's the Longview School Board. I'm sorry, but you don't get to have it both ways. If you believe taxpayers shouldn't be paying the legal expenses of elected officials, then you should have been saying that when Spencer Boudreau and the others were getting their legal bills paid. If you believe taxpayer-funded legal defense is sometimes appropriate, then stop pretending the school board has committed some unprecedented offense simply because you don't like the people involved.

The circumstances aren't identical, and I'm not claiming they are. The point is that both situations involve elected officials, legal expenses and taxpayer money. Same taxpayers. Same money. The only thing that changed is who is getting the bill.

Then there's Darryl Waddle Jr. Darryl says he shouldn't have his tax dollars paying for this. Fine. He's entitled to that opinion, and taxpayers absolutely have the right to question how their money is being spent. Here's the question I have for Darryl: Did you say the same thing when Spencer Boudreau, Erik Halvorson, Kalei LaFave and Keith Young were having their legal defense paid for with your tax dollars?

If you did, show me. If you didn't, then why not? That's the part nobody seems to want to talk about. It's easy to scream about taxpayer money when it's being spent on people you don't support. It gets a little harder when it's your guy getting the taxpayer-funded attorney.

Then there's Scott Beck. Scott ran against Susan Donahue for the Longview School Board.

Now we're hearing Scott say his kids don't even attend public school. They're homeschooled. There's nothing wrong with homeschooling, and I'm not attacking anybody for making that choice. What I find interesting is that this is the same person who ran for a position on the public school board and is now heavily involved in criticizing the people sitting on that board.

If you're going to run for the school board, make public education a major part of your campaign, and tell everyone how concerned you are about the public school system, it's perfectly reasonable for people to ask about your own connection to that system. Homeschooling doesn't disqualify anyone from having an opinion about public schools. It does, however, make the whole “I have skin in the game” argument something worth examining.

Then we get to Spencer.

CCN was awfully quick to post Spencer Boudreau's comment saying he feels like he's “being punked.”

Seriously, Spencer? You aren't being punked.

You ARE the punk.

You were one of the people whose legal defense was paid for by Longview taxpayers after you were sued. Now you're complaining about taxpayers paying legal expenses for school board members. That's some impressive selective memory.

There have also been allegations for quite some time that Spencer Boudreau is behind the Cowlitz County News page. I am not saying that's a fact. It has been alleged. I have not seen enough evidence to establish who actually runs CCN. What I do find interesting is how quickly CCN jumped on Spencer's “being punked” comment and gave it a prominent place in the discussion.

If Spencer isn't behind CCN, then he isn't. If he is, then that's something the public deserves to know. Either way, the hypocrisy surrounding the taxpayer-funded legal bills doesn't magically disappear.

Spencer doesn't get to complain about taxpayers paying somebody else's legal bills when taxpayers already paid his. CCN doesn't get to spend all day screaming about taxpayer-funded attorneys while conveniently ignoring the fact that four Longview council members had their own legal defense paid for by those same taxpayers. Darryl doesn't get to say he doesn't want his tax dollars paying legal bills without answering whether he had the same objection when Boudreau and the others were getting theirs paid.

The issue isn't whether people are allowed to criticize the school board. They are. The issue isn't whether taxpayers should question how public money is spent. They absolutely should. The issue is whether the same standard is going to be applied to everybody.

If it's wrong when your political opponents do it, it should be wrong when your political allies do it.

That's what consistency looks like.

Taxpayer money doesn't magically change character depending on whose attorney is cashing the check. It was taxpayer money when it paid Spencer Boudreau's legal defense. It's taxpayer money when it pays the school board's legal expenses. The standard shouldn't change just because the names on the attorney's bill changed.

So no, Spencer.

You aren't being punked.

You ARE the punk.

The rest of us can see the hypocrisy just fine.