The Dangerous Precedent of the 'Lowest Bidder'
The local paper critiques a political candidate for promising to run a public office on a budget that defies fiscal reality.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
It is not usual in county politics to have two candidates for the same office who possess such equal qualifications as do M. C. Delle and W. S. Jenkins, who are seeking the republican nomination for the office of county clerk. Mr. Jenkins is making his campaign flat-footedly upon a dollars-and-cents platform. He pledges himself, if elected, to run the office for the stated sum of $1450 a year. The salary of the clerk as fixed by law is $1350 a year. This leaves just $100 a year to meet all other expenses of the office. We do not for one minute believe that the county clerk’s office can be run as it should be run at an annual cost of $100 over and above the salary. A county office is not a thing to be put up every two years to the lowest bidder nor should its affairs be mixed with those of a private business.
“A county office is not a thing to be put up every two years to the lowest bidder.”
This editorial highlights the tension between fiscal austerity and the actual cost of providing public services—a debate that remains central to municipal budgeting in Washington today.
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