As reported earlier, at a previous public meeting of the Elections Committee, committee member Ken Petrini said the Elections Committee under the previous chair, Tom Piatti, was a "sham." Incredibly not one committee member responded to such a personal attack on Piatti and the committee he chaired.

To his credit, Ransdell in later newspaper interviews said, "Piatti acted with integrity as chair and the committee that was in place after he resigned executed the plan for this year's election that Piatti had developed with the old committee. In no way was this a sham." In fact, Petrini's comment was a disgraceful public attack on a good man who served OPA with honor in a number of positions, including a short stint as a board member.