Let’s make this election about accountability.

At the county level there has been an unprecedented large-scale turnover of senior staff. Many have taken an early retirement. Others have simply left their posts.

Word on the street is that over-direction from the Board Of County Commissioners is the underlying cause. Plain and simple, too much micromanaging. As a result, our community has lost considerable experience and knowledge that allows county to run efficiently.

My understanding, is that the Summit County Sheriff’s Office is experiencing high turnover as well.

Moving up into higher levels of government, the results we are seeing from current state representatives include low test scores in our schools, slow response on managing water levels all the way to overinflation, including high energy costs.

State representatives may have been successful in securing lots of funding for various initiatives. Funding alone does not solve problems. Have those dollars been put to effective use?

How have our federal representatives spoken on our behalf about excessive money printing which has led to high inflation? They have encouraged draining over a million barrels a day from our strategic petroleum reserves, which are getting dangerously low. They continue to encourage another 15 million barrels before the end of the year. You can see the impacts of energy shortages in Britain and Europe. We can only hope the U.S. does not find itself in the same position soon.

Elections are the opportunity for citizens to hold those in office accountable. Each of us needs to ask ourselves if the candidates we are considering are simply saying the things we want to hear, or actually delivering effective results?