Of the three candidates for the coveted title of Mayor of Merced, we find some similarities and differences.

First, the differences.

• One filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy less than four months ago.
• A lien has been collecting interest on one candidate’s house since 2005
• One is running with a campaign slogan of “fiscal responsibility”

Now, the similarities.

• All held City Council seats during the height of the boom years, 2005-2007.
• All are involved in the finance, insurance and real estate industries.

At first, the private financial ruin of these public figures gave us pause. Maybe it’s just not your year if you’re trying to manage our city’s finances a few months after plotting out a court-ordered plan to row your money boat back to solvency.

On the other hand, personal bankruptcy is up 34% nationwide this year, and the numbers are doubtlessly higher locally. Maybe an elected representative who has been through the stress and pain of debt and financial peril is more representative of the people he or she governs.

Maybe. But really, what’s the difference? A Council candidate was caught with a bag of weed in his car. It’s disgraceful, but so is governing a city where home values depreciated the fastest in the entire U.S. and one in 66 homes were in foreclosure. Which hurt more people?

It’s not so bad now – realtors are busy once again flipping homes for outside speculators to make a profit on the backs of hardworking Mercedians. Except there is no more normal to go back to, and there won’t be another boom.

And the people who misled us through a disaster of national proportions now ask us to allow them to represent us.

We refuse.

Got an axe to grind?

Care about government accountability in Merced County?

It’s time to open the dusty curtains and let some sunlight in. Send in a blind item and we’ll publish it! It’s up to you to determine how descriptive you want to be about the subject of your blind item. And of course we encourage readers to comment on the item to your hearts’ content. If you happen to have documentary evidence of your blind item, we’ll publish that too.

To submit an item, simply e-mail it to mercedcountyblinditem@yahoo.com, and we’ll publish it (unless it’s insane, unAmerican or racist/sexist/homophobic).