County Treasurer Prussing Resigns

Over lunch on Friday I got saw an interesting email alert from WCIA: "Resigning county treasurer: 'Politics have changed.'" As noted in previous Cheat Sheet posts and local news, the Treasurer has been under pressure to explain delays, backlogs, and staffing problems acknowledged even by her own Democratic Party colleagues. The WCIA article had some basic logistical information such as the resignation being set for the end of January and the Chairman (with board approval) expected to fill the vacancy within 60 days of that date. What initially stood out were the excuses and rationale given:

Prussing cited a changing political climate — and a need for a “vacation” — as the prompt for the move.

“I’ve been in county government a long time,” Prussing, a Democrat, told WCIA Friday. “Politics has changed since when I started. The Republican leader starts every meeting with an attack on me. It’s a very different atmosphere. Of course we’ll have differences, but if you’re going to get anything done you’re going to look for common ground.”
...

Prussing said she knew it was possible she would only spend one year in the four-year position: the run, she said, was mostly prompted by a desire to see a Democrat on the ballot.

“I signed up because we (the Democrats) didn’t have a candidate,” she said. “I thought it was really going to be a good year for Democrats.”
...

“I want to retire,” she said. “I think the daily grind is just something that people would like to get away from.”

Full WCIA article here. Just as with her last appearance at the County Board, Republicans appear to be seizing on her own words as damning and Democrats are overwhelmingly silent or acknowledging problems exist as opposed to offering any kind of public defense of the Treasurer or her actions. The News-Gazette had more on some of the technical issues that arise from the resignation:

Still up in the air as of Friday was who will appoint Prussing’s replacement — county board Chairman Giraldo Rosales or county Executive Darlene Kloeppel.

Prussing said Rosales will appoint her successor, but Kloeppel said she was researching who makes that appointment in a county with an elected executive...

Both parties will be eligible to slate a candidate to run in the Nov. 3 general election to fill out Prussing’s term, and those candidates would be slated after the March 17 primaries, Patton said.

According to Rosales, the county board will officially declare the county treasurer vacancy at its next committee-of-the-whole meeting Jan. 14, and that will start the process for finding a new treasurer.

That full News-Gazette article is available here. That article explained that County Executive is at odds with other county officials on whether language designating the "presiding officer" to make the appointment would indicate her as the Executive, as opposed to board Chairman. The article also has some of the Republican response and details about the backlog.

That News-Gazette article also included more quotes from the County Treasurer making excuses for the situation, including directly arguing her abilities weren't suited for a detailed accounting job. She once again blamed the political climate in spite of her own Democratic Party having majority control of the board and most County-wide offices.

It's difficult to avoid sounding a bit harsh while simply describing the facts and statements here. I encourage readers to read the news articles available and see the reaction (or lack thereof) from local political figures to see the full context and come to their own objective conclusions. Perhaps I missed something about her only planning to serve a partial term in a candidate forum or questionnaire in 2018, but I think that would have stood out. Democrats and Republicans I've talked to in local government seem genuinely surprised by the statement she made to the News-Gazette in earlier coverage:

“I haven’t had a vacation for a year and I’m getting pretty tired,” she said Friday morning...

While she was elected to a four-year term, Prussing said she ran for the treasurer’s office in 2018 because she thought there should be a Democrat on the ticket in an election year expected to be a strong one for Democrats.

“I didn’t want to do it for four years,” she said. “But we didn’t have anybody else to run. I thought I’d do it for a year.”

That full article here. If the old adage about all politics being local is true, this County office's troubles being moved up from the 2022 election to the upcoming 2020 election could have an effect across the ballot. From a potential U.S. Congressional re-match that was close in 2018 up ballot to previously gloomy prospects down-ballot for Republicans: Tom Kacich | How did county's GOP go MIA?