Thoughts on the CuyCo BOE’s new director
I’ve been silent about this story, because to some extent it’s been in the works since Jennifer Brunner officially took over the Cuyahoga County’s Elections Board, but then I got some emails and I haven’t had any time to respond to them until now.
This one pretty well sums up the majority of angrier notes I’ve received on this issue:
What do you think of Jane Platten’s appointment as the new head of the elections board? Are you happy now that a Democrat’s running things. Maybe if you kept your mouth shut, a Republican would be in charge! Nice going…
As always, thanks for your email. I left out the balance of the message so as not to offend any of the writer’s fellow Christofacist-type GOPers who only use racy language when referring to people they don’t like. Unfortunately for the genius who wrote the email, he must not have a very good grasp on how the board’s director is chosen nor does he understand that by hiring a Democrat as a Director, the Board’s chair must be a Republican.
In any case, I like Jane Platten. The feedback that I’ve gotten from most staff folks at the BOE is that she’s good with people and they’re essentially pleased that she was chosen. I certainly hope that she does well. After all of the turmoil at the Board, it sure would be nice if things were quiet for a while.
Having said that though, it is ironic that the group of potential candidates for the vacancy was significantly less qualified than the batch that went through the process when the previous director (and now San Diego resident) Michael Vu was hired. I guess nobody was interested in having to go through the pressure cooker of a presidential election in 2008 where many eyes will be focused on Cuyahoga County.
I hope the Board seeks to hire an experienced elections professional for the Deputy Director’s slot to balance Ms. Platten’s HR background. I’ve always maintained that the best approach to the Director/Deputy Director pairing is to have one person be skilled in Human Resources while the other has a background in elections management. Here’s hoping that they get it right.
Jane Platten is only the Director because that is what the County Commissioners wanted. She is Tim McCormick’s girl. A dyed in the wool Democrat.But the comment about her being good with people? I can only tell you that staff at the board affectionately refer to Ms. Platten as THE DRAGON LADY. This is not good. She ran a successful election? Well sure, 11 million dollars plus to run a primary election? A trained seal could perform such a feat. It only costed what? 3 million for the Presidential Election. Jane Platten just continued to throw money at the problem BIG money. That is the Cuyahoga County Democratic way….