Assessor isn’t up to job

Our new county assessor, Vicki Horton, complains about large public records requests (“Records requests bog down county,” Feb 2). She seems to imply I’m the requester, but I’m not.

Responding to records requests is an important part of the assessor’s job – customer service. The office is paperless, so I don’t understand why this is so difficult to manage.

Our citizenry elected a low-ranking union shop steward, who dealt very little with the public, has never been a manager and who’s only a high school graduate, and put her in charge of over $43 billion of property and millions of records.

Maybe that’s it. I got public records requests almost every day. Some asked for the entire assessor database. I didn’t go crying to the press, saying it would take me 40 years to answer requests.

I worked mostly 12-hour days six days a week for my first two years as assessor. She complains of one hour a day after one month in office.

I was committed to public service, openness and transparency. Sadly, our current assessor apparently is not. After one month, she’s already in over her head, seeking laws to enable withholding information from the public. Such a disappointment.

Ralph Baker

Spokane