My wife and I were open to giving both Colene Martin and Chris Barnett a fair chance to earn our vote for Position #2 as County Commissioner. I attended every candidate forum during the primaries and observed how each responded to questions from the community. Colene’s answers tended to be grounded in facts and statistics about the county, while Chris’s came across more like a sales pitch.
As a U.S. Marine veteran, I felt a connection with Barnett given our shared military experience. However, several aspects of his comments about his time in the military gave me pause. Most notably, he claimed to have “run” the Air Force base where he was stationed, implying an executive role that would help him manage the county.
Any veteran, including myself and Barnett, knows that enlisted personnel do not run military bases – that responsibility lies with commissioned officers. Enlisted members follow orders, so his statement was a gross exaggeration of his actual service experience.
Another red flag was the court case in which Barnett was found guilty of defrauding and causing $500,000 in damages to 71 elderly people. This fact is publicly documented, and the appellate court affirmed the original jury’s decision. Based on the court records, it appears Barnett used misleading language to get these seniors to trust him, only to pull the rug out from beneath them after the deal was done.
Barnett has also denied any relationship with John West, even though West has contributed heavily to Barnett’s campaign and they have a long-standing business partnership. West has even expressed willingness to provide more funding to help Barnett get elected in the general election so they can serve together as commissioners.
In my view, honesty and transparency are essential qualities for any county commissioner. I have called for background investigations into all candidates to ensure full disclosure of any issues that could affect their performance in office. Barnett’s history of apparent deceptions is a significant red flag.
My wife and I have decided to vote for Colene Martin. While she is not perfect (and neither are we), she strikes us as more honest, unifying, and principled than her opponent. We believe she will stand up to West’s bullying of county employees and his unethical actions rather than aligning with him as Barnett is likely to do.
Rabbi Russell McAlmond
