Expect the unexpected with Barek

Happy Monday! Let’s talk a bit today about Janet Barek.

We had a pleasant Cattle Dog chat a week or so after Janet’s stunning Primary win over Ruthie Davis Schlabach.

Not only was she elected commissioner, but Republicans in the same primary elected her State Committeewoman, the liaison between the county party and state. It’s kind of a big deal among the party faithful.

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Janet ran an under-the-radar campaign. So much so that I never even met with her for a Cattle Dog chat. I, and many others, totally dismissed her chances of winning, and I told her as much.

So, what we have here is your basic County Commission wildcard. When she takes office in November, Janet will have no alliances, which means anything can happen.

I see four areas where we’re really going to know Commissioner Janet Barek is on the clock:

— Citrus Springs will get the best County Commission representation in its history. Janet is past president of the Citrus Springs Civic Association and the only person from Citrus Springs who has regularly attended county meetings for years.

Same for Pine Ridge and Beverly Hills. No knock on Ruthie or her predecessors, but Janet will be a bulldog for her district. An absolute bulldog.

— Growth and development. Anyone want to say STOP? Or, WHOA? Expect it. Expect a hard no vote on nearly all new development.

I got a kick after hearing a few months back that some developers were pulling their projects off the table temporarily so that the incumbent commissioners didn’t have those votes to deal with during the campaign. Well, oops, here’s the deal. Ruthie wasn’t necessarily a yes vote on all new development, but she’s way more yes than Janet Barek.

Sitting in the audience these last two years, Janet sees what many see: County commissioners wanting to bend over backwards to help developers with little thought about how the public views it. Well, here’s how the public views it: Commissioner-Elect Janet Barek, that’s how.

Talk about a message. Voters didn’t just boot an incumbent from office, they replaced her with someone with no track record other than to complain. Someone who says no. Voters wanted one of the five commissioners to think “no” more than “yes” on development projects.

I write a lot about the pendulum shift. Janet’s election is a pretty big one. Voters chose an unknown over a known. They did that for a reason.

— Taxes. Janet is critical of the County Commission and its spending. Expect her to analyze every dime. She’s going to be a nightmare to the administrator. Question everything. You may say, that’s great! We need that. OK…do we?

For all the anti-tax rhetoric I hear, few show up at County Commission budget hearings to squawk in person. What are we to glean from that? 

Despite her criticism of spending, Janet has long pushed for a sale tax referendum for residential road resurfacing. This is a loser idea on delivery, and I told her that. Voters will never approve a penny sales tax to resurface roads they don’t drive on.

I sincerely hope Janet will use her position as commissioner to find solutions to taxes, spending, and roads. Griping only goes so far. Eventually, we need answers.

— Library stuff. This is where the crazy potential is off the charts. Wildcard politicians tend to listen to the loudest. Why? Because their campaign had no foundation, so they come in with no specific mandate.

John “Library Guy” Labriola and his new faithful sidekick, Paul Grogan (blog for another day), see Janet as naive and easy to control. Indeed, she has already said some alarming things that seem to line up with the Library Guy wacko philosophy.

Fortunately, citizens caught wind of the Barek-Library Guy connection and have already put her on notice not to try any funny stuff with the libraries. If Janet truly has no allegiances, as she says, we shouldn’t be concerned with this.

I haven’t a clue whether Janet Barek will be effective as a commissioner. One thing I’m fairly certain, though.

We’re going to know she’s there.

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