Jackson County Ethical Shell Game
Somebody at the Jackson County legislature must have read Catch-22, and taken it to heart.
Here. buried on page 48 of noble-sounding ethics legislation, is the key to the whole thing:
Given that the County Legislature and the County Executive are the elected officials ultimately responsible for approving the budget for, promulgating rules to govern, and entering into contracts for the Jackson County Ethics Commission, it is necessary to avoid even the appearance of influence over Commission actions and decisions. Therefore, [[any]] the Jackson County Ethics Commission shall be without jurisdiction to hear complaints [[filed with the Jackson County Ethics Commission]] concerning the compliance with any provision of this chapter of any actions or conduct of any County elected officials, and any such complaint shall be forwarded to the Missouri Ethics Commission.
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
The kicker is that the Missouri Ethics Commission will not enforce the Jackson County Ethics Code! Not their job! Sorry! Might as well forward it to the Board of Cosmetology and Barber Examiners!
As for the nonsense about overseeing the Ethics Commission, I suppose the County Legislators believes that State Reps don't have to answer to the State Courts or the Highway Patrol, and Senators are exempt from the FBI. How stupid do they think we are?
Never before in the history of Jackson County fraud has the legislature ever so brazenly sought to mislead the public.
Will we let them get away with it?
Labels: Ethics, jackson county, Unethical Enablers
posted by Dan at 1/13/2009 07:34:00 AM
8 Comments:
This is what happens you you go off half-cocked, Dan.
The legislators were simply following the county charter. Right, wrong or indifferent -- when you accused them of violating it.
The Charter may need to be revised, but it should be followed until that time.
But nooooooo, you didn't talk with any of the legislators before you went off, uninformed, screaming for them to be replaced.
This City and county would be a better place if you and Funk (and a few others) would simply take my advice.
Dan, I have one thing left to say:
"I wave my testicles in your general direction."
No, the Charter says that the commission should handle ethics complaints against elected officials, and this legislation says they shouldn't.
They weren't following the charter, they are violating it.
Seems pretty clear to me.
Huh? It says county elected officials are not subject to the Jackson County Ethics Commission:
"the Jackson County Ethics Commission shall be without jurisdiction to hear complaints [[filed with the Jackson County Ethics Commission]] concerning the compliance with any provision of this chapter of any actions or conduct of any County elected officials, and any such complaint shall be forwarded to the Missouri Ethics Commission."
That's pretty clear.
Huh indeed. That's the legislation they not passed, not the Charter! The Charter says the ethics commission IS empowered to deal with elected officials. The law you just quoted is what the legislators passed IN VIOLATION OF THE CHARTER.
(talk about half-cocked)
I mean, that's the legislation they did pass, not the Charter. Lot of half cocks around here today.
Burnett and Rizzo should be cellmates.
Keep stoking that fire Dan.
Mainstream, while I agree with you that Garza-Ruiz is a fine legislature, along with Grounds, they should give their reasons for voting for this turd publicly, not to you over the phone. They may do that, I would hope so, and to be honest, I will probably still vote for both of them, but if you could promise me that you could get rid of the other 7, then I would give these 2 up.
Mainstream - it amuses me that you make the assumption I haven't talked to any of the legislators about this - I have. In person and through the email.
But that's not nearly as amusing as you accusing me of going off half-cocked because of your mistaken belief that the language in my post came from the Charter.
I hope you find a better use for your testicles than waving them.
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