From the Styx by Peggy Tibbetts

I really find it inappropriate that you are running for the board position. It may be permissable under the statutes but that doesn’t make it right! Just as it was unethical for Rick and Janet to both continue working at the town once they got married. They kept it hidden as long as possible! I would never vote for someone who didn’t have the common sense to either ask his wife to quit or quit himself! His ethics are very questionable. I’ve never met him and he may be a nice man but regardless, I find his ethics highly questionable. I find yours to be so too since you see no problem with running for the board when your husband is already on it. I know that more than likely you’ll be elected since most people can’t be bothered to even vote much less read about current events but know that at least a few people in this town care who’s on the board and I’m one of them!

Audrey,

It was neither unethical or inappropriate for Rick and Janet to work for the Town of Silt. Their job responsibilities were not interconnected. Rick was not Janet’s supervisor and she was not his. And you are mistaken. No, they DID NOT ever keep their relationship hidden. Be that as it may, they no longer work for the town. So it’s a moot point. You may not have approved of Rick and Janet working for the town, but I assure you, it was NOT unethical.

The Town of Silt was lucky to have the professional expertise and dedication of Rick and Janet Aluise for as long as we did. Rick’s leadership is sorely missed. He will make a great Mayor.

As for me, the simple answer is, if you don’t approve of my candidacy, then why didn’t you run? I have been interested and involved in town government since we moved to Silt 12 years ago. I believe citizen involvement promotes open government. If I believe in that, I must be willing to act on that. Besides the 2 incumbents, only 2 other people decided to run for Trustee. We have 4 seats open. I’m sorry that you prefer government officials by appointment rather than election. I don’t. I wanted to see us have a real election and by God we are.

I would LOVE to see more people run for local office. We need people to pay attention and get involved.

If you think it’s inappropriate for me to serve on the Board with Tod, then don’t vote for me. That is your right.

May the best candidates win!
Peggy

I feel it is important to respond to the misinformation that seems rampant. First, Janet and I never hid anything from the Board. In fact, we went to the Board in 2003 to ask if they would like one of us to resign. They unanimously said no. Subesequent Boards, including the current Mayor and Trustees, agreed. As you may or may not be aware, it is contrary to the discrimination statutes of the State of Colorado to fire or refuse to hire someone based on the fact that they are married to or intend to marry another employee (C.R.S. 24-24-401). In spite of this law, we still asked the Board what they would prefer, and we followed their direction. Our Personnel Policy simply requires that in such a situation, there be no direct supervisory responsibility. We resolved that issue. So much for the “ethics” of the issue. It is ironic that a recent letter to the editor seemed to indicate how it was wrong for us to work together, and yet the letter was written by a woman who works with her husband in a local business. Ironic doesn’t quite hit the mark - ridiculous would be a better adjective. Vote however you wish, but the ethics of someone who makes up accusations of misappropriation of town funds, as our current Mayor recently did, is far more questionable than two qualified people working together.

I made a typo error in the last post - the exact statute is 24-34-402 (1) (h)(I).

Whether it is permissable or not isn’t the question. You shouldn’t have asked, one of you should have just quit. Peggy, the reason I don’t run is because I am already over-committed as it is. I wouldn’t be able to give 100% of my time and attention because of all my other obligations, so don’t go feeling all self-righteous on yourself. I wouldn’t have done the Town justice by running and we have enough people at the Town who only give 50% of their time and they’re on the payroll! Besides, not all of us are willing to roll in the mud of politics!

Oh wow. It’s hard to know where to begin. You don’t have the time or inclination to run for office, yet you have plenty of time to attack me for running. And that’s ok. Go ahead. Knock me off my self-righteous pedestal. That’s what the mud of politics is all about. But hey, leave the hard-working staff out of it. They don’t deserve to be kicked around.
Peggy

Ms. Thornton:

For your information (rather than the misinformation you so proudly tout), Rick and I were married on December 4 and I took his last name officially on January 1 of the next year. So much for hiding it from the Board. Frankly, I don’t think that is so much your beef, as the fact that we were together at all. However, we were both hired as qualified people, and we both resigned as qualified people. Doesn’t seem so bad, when you think about it rationally.