To the Editor:

Why is it that elected officials invariably stray from the task at hand?

Is governing so hard? Or is it just boring and they long for more exciting ventures in which to involve themselves?

I’ve been following the events of the Turner farm industrial site and the wetland mitigation to accompany it.

In the past six years, my small company has taken on nearly $10 million in wetland mitigation contracts. I’ve become intimately familiar with the process and the market for credits.

I’m convinced that Southampton County was sold a bill of goods by an out-of-state firm. It’s a direct result of politicians involving themselves where they don’t belong.

We have a similar situation in Isle of Wight County, where our Board of Supervisors has decided to become a real estate investment group under the pretense of preserving pristine forest land.

They, too, are involved far past their level of knowledge and expertise and using taxpayer money to fund these ill-conceived ventures.

Why is it that we’ve never heard of a politician who went down in history as “the one who didn’t spend all our money”?

Ashby Brown

Carrsville