Reader says Allen is no outsider and should serve the city

Letter to the Editor,

Libby’s Mayor Roll is refusing to assign duly elected Councilman Allen Olsen to committees. He claims Allen’s residence at 703 Louisiana is a “sham.”

Allen’s rental of this home is a contrived effort to meet the legal requirements for residency so he could run for City Council.

It worked. It is legal. No one will contest that, the Council has admitted it.

Legal and ethical are different things.

While Allen’s residence meets the legal conditions for his taking office, is it ethical for him to do so?

This is where the Council’s shallow and superficial understanding of their oath of office harms this community.

Residency requirements are put in place to preclude some outsider coming in and buying an election in an effort to influence local politics for personal gain. The electors have a right to ensure that the people they elect have an interest in their small town issues. The electors have a right to have ready access to their elected official so they can exercise their right to participate in government. 

Allen is no outsider. He is the only person on the Council who was born and raised in Libby. He is a humble man who has a history of dedicated public service sitting amongst a bunch of self interested rulers who think themselves above the rest of us peons and refuse to be held accountable while they destroy this town. He is accessible while they are aloof.

Allen has nothing to gain personally from sitting in the middle of this bunch. They are attacking his character because he is disrupting their ability to rule for personal gain.

Allen’s integrity is intact and to be admired by any who know him.

The Mayor and his minions should be ashamed of the way they have treated their colleague. 

— D.C. Orr

Libby