Here are the facts about Jay Purcell

By Gerald W. Jones

The people of Cape Girardeau should be outraged and highly insulted by the lack of work and representation of the District 2 Cape Girardeau County Commissioner Jay Purcell.

These are the facts:

Purcell is paid $67,661 plus benefits that include insurance, car, cell phone, laptop computer etc. He does not work at any other county-related business.

He does not attend any meetings in Cape Girardeau County, except commission meetings.

He does not attend important regional, state or national meetings representing Cape Girardeau County to learn and further educate himself about his job responsibilities. Thus, he does not fulfill his duties as commissioner.

He does not represent the county in any way.

He has never completed a project he started.

He does not pay county taxes or file an assessment form in a timely manner. He was two years late paying his last tax bill.

There is no evidence that he has been in his office at the Common Pleas Annex since March 2009. He bought over $1,000 of office equipment from a campaign contributor without a bid.

He uses his county car for personal use.

He has cost the county taxpayers $26,350 in legal fees when he frivolously sued the commission over something that he participated in.

He committed a misdemeanor when he tape recorded a closed session meeting of the commission and then released it to the media.

He is a regular attendee of union trades council meetings. He told union members that if he was elected as presiding commissioner that he would hire union members to help him "clean up the corrupt county government."

He violated the Sunshine Law numerous times while negotiating the sale of Kelley Transportation for a friend. He wanted his friend to be paid more than the business appraised for Kelley Transportation.

He has admitted to using multiple names on the Southeast Missourian website to make himself look good and to promote his own agenda.

Just when many thought the limits of hypocrisy had been reached, Purcell filed for presiding commissioner in the middle of his term as District 2 commissioner.

If elected he would give up a Republican seat and a Democrat would be appointed by the governor.

It is bad enough now with him as an associate commissioner, but it would be devastating to the county if Purcell was elected as presiding commissioner. Additionally, it would be crippling to county industrial recruitment and development.

As a member of the commission, he is extremely unprofessional and uncooperative. Every time he disagrees with the commission, instead of discussing his concerns he runs to any media that will listen. He was appropriately described by Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle as a narcissistic demagogue.

Surely, this is not the type of person the taxpayers of Cape Girardeau County want representing them as presiding commissioner. It is time the citizens hold Purcell accountable. Maybe if Purcell spent more time working toward the betterment of Cape Girardeau County he would at least uphold the oath he has taken.

Gerald W. Jones is the presiding commissioner of Cape Girardeau County.