Help me understand this: County commissioner candidate Kelly Emerson is suing County Commissioner John Dean for defamation because he told the truth about her?

She’s suing County Planning Director Bob Pederson for sending Inspector Ron Slechta to investigate a complaint by a neighbor who noticed that Emerson was building a sunroom without a county permit. Emerson is suing Inspector Slechta, too, for discovering that she was building a sunroom without a permit.

Emerson doesn’t deny building the sunroom without the permit, but she thinks she should be able to collect money from Pederson and Slechta for discovering the violation, and from Dean for letting the voters know about it so they could decide whether they wanted to elect a fox to guard the henhouse.

This is not only Dean’s and Pederson’s and Slechta’s problem. It’s your problem too if you pay county taxes, since whether Emerson wins or loses, the county will be required to defend the lawsuit, at enormous cost, with money that would otherwise be used to pay for county services.

Now that Emerson is the elected commissioner, can we recall her?

Ann Adams

Oak Harbor