In Iowa: The trials of Job

Clayton County Auditor Dennis Freitag said he can relate to the Old Testament Book of Job, which famously illuminates the still-unresolved paradox of misery inflicted upon the righteous.

Though he has yet to be smitten with 'sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown,” Freitag, the county's auditor for almost 39 years, said he has trouble enough caring for his dying wife and defending himself from the county supervisors' effort to remove him from office.

You can't blame Freitag for wondering what's next after the car he was driving collided with another vehicle on Oct. 29, killing its driver, 76-year-old Carolyn Berns of St. Olaf.

Freitag was not at fault - according to the State Patrol, Berns pulled out from a stop sign into the path of his vehicle as it traveled south on Highway 13 east of St. Olaf.

But having a hand in the death of a fellow human is one more burden on the auditor's troubled mind.

'It bothers the hell out of me,” he said, to the point that it's harder than ever to sleep at night, which further aggravates the mental fatigue that fogs most of his waking hours.

The stress and grief of attending a dying loved one has been building since June when doctors said Pam Freitag, who is under hospice care in the closing days of her 42-year struggle with lupus, had but days or weeks to live.

While Freitag manages his wife's respirator and accompanies her on frequent hospital visits for kidney dialysis, the supervisors say that round-the-clock attention has kept him from fulfilling the duties of his office, which threatens the county government's ability to function.

After a 90-minute under-oath interrogation of Freitag on Oct. 26, the supervisors elected to ask the Iowa Attorney General's Office to remove him from office under Iowa Code Chapter 66, which lists, among reasons for doing so, 'willful or habitual neglect or refusal to perform the duties of the office.”

Though the supervisors approved hiring a temporary chief deputy auditor to take up some of the slack, they fault Freitag for not completing required budgetary tasks, for missing or ignoring deadlines, for not responding to more than 1,600 emails and for not providing staff with critical documents and information.

County Attorney Alan Heavens said the record of the Oct. 26 interrogation, along with other documents, has been turned over to the Iowa Attorney General's Office, which is investigating whether Freitag's official shortcomings meet standards required for removal from office.

If the Attorney General's Office finds sufficient cause, it will file a petition with the District Court seeking Freitag's removal from office, according to Heavens.

In that case, a District Court judge would decide Freitag's fate, Heavens said.

Freitag likened the supervisors' tactics to a game of chicken: 'It's like they're saying, ‘When are you going to flinch and resign?'”

Freitag said his attorney, Peter Riley of Cedar Rapids, has told him that the standards for a Chapter 66 removal from office are high.

'I'd be surprised if it goes anywhere, but I've got to keep going with what I'm doing.” said Freitag, who remains confident that his wedding vow to care for his wife in sickness and in health takes precedence over his oath of office.