by Matt Marquardt –
There might be fewer impromptu bull sessions at 9:56 AM Tuesday mornings in the supervisor’s office at the Cerro Gordo courthouse after Globe Gazette wage-earner John Skipper punished his former coffee mate Jay Urdahl this week in a blistering column uncharacteristically fresh with truth.
A few weeks ago, I suggested Skipper join his less-forunate co-workers and deliver newspapers in -50 degree wind chills. Â Maybe he took my advice and the exercise and brisk winter air improved his ability to write facts instead of total, unadulterated garbage.
In his weekly column published January 20, 2014, the Globe-Gazette’s Skipper turned on his pal, 25-year Cerro Gordo county Supervisor Urdahl, like he has never done before.
Skipper referred to Urdahl as “the Father Time on the Board”, who, “some say” has one of “the best-paying part-time jobs in the county, and maybe the world.”  For reasons unknown to NIT, John Skipper has now joined the chorus of those who have been on to Urdahl’s game of feasting from the public trough for years.
As a journalist, I respect Mr. Skipper’s knowledge of county politics in this case.  As a publisher of a successful and burgeoning online news website, I would like to figuratively extend my hand to Mr. Skipper, and tell him that it’s nice to see that this latest Monday column shows remarkable objectivity on his part. Give credit where credit is due here, because Skipper deserves kudos for publicly flogging Urdahl, an elected official who has oversaw the steady decline of Cerro Gordo County for a quarter of a century.
The blog comments on the online edition of the Globe relating to this column picked up where Mr. Skipper left off. Several posts pointed out that Urdahl has been unusually brazen in abusing the power of his office to protect his job, and his handsome and ever-increaing paycheck, at taxpayer expense. Among the many examples of this sordid tale are Jay Urdahl’s appointing his campaign counsel, Tim LaPointe, to the Cerro Gordo county Compensation Board. Other Urdahl cronies that Jay has stacked this Board with are Tom Jolas, and John Stone. Stone, who is the chairman of the Cerro Gordo county Democratic Party Central Committee, is a longtime Urdahl lackey who regularly dispenses county party funds needed by other, less funded candidates to his buddy Jay’s campaigns.
All in all, NorthIowaToday.com was mighty pleased to see that the Globe-Gazette has finally seen the light, at least as it relates to Jay Urdahl. But only time will tell if John Skipper, after all these years, will continue to expose his remaining readers to the ugly political realities of the opportunistic political hack that he calls “Father Time”.
