City-County Council Minority Leader Joanne Sanders pens an opinion column in today's Star calling on Councilors Lincoln Plowman and Benjamin Hunter, both police officers, to abstain on a vote at tonight's council which would transfer control of IMPD from the Sheriff's Department to the mayor's office. "Our newly elected City-County Council majority came into office riding the wave of such cynicism to victory," she writes. "They pledged a different approach and certainly promised they would lead by example by never voting on issues that had even the appearance of a conflict of interest." "Did our Republican friends really mean what they said, or were they simply uttering words they assumed people wanted to hear?" "And did they then hope that no one would pay attention to promises when it came time for votes to be cast?"
Sanders raises a valid point, although I would hasten to add that she didn't stand up and insist that members of her own party facing a similar conflict of interest abstain from voting up to this point. Mary Moriarty Adams' husband, for example, is an IMPD police officer. Sanders has given her a proxy to vote on her behalf on the Criminal Justice Planning Council. Adams also chaired the Public Safety Committee when Democrats were in control of the council. I can understand why Plowman and Hunter would want to decide who their boss is. In their case, they can go from working for a Democrat to working for a Republican with this single vote. The best answer to this problem is to enforce Indiana's constitution and pass a recommendation of the Kernan-Shepard Commission barring law enforcement officers from serving on legislative bodies which oversee them. At the rate the Indiana legislature is going this year in implementing those recommendations, though, I wouldn't hold my breath on that happening.
6 comments:
Sanders is an idiot! She and her Bart Peterson lead CCC Members not only voted on issues where they had a clear conflict of interest, they also cut a deal after the first vote on consolidation failed, to exchange votes to insure a victory on the second consolidation vote. They turned all law enforcement over to an extrmely unqualified fool named Frank "Children are our flowers" Anderson, or Bling, Bling to his friends! The Bart Peterson lead CCC and Frank Anderson have almost made our city the most dangerous city in America. They should be so proud! Politics almost destroyed our city under Bart Peterson! Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Greg Ballard is any better. He is a liar and a crook just like Bart! Maybe that is why he hired so many of Bart Peterson's flunkies!
She didn't seem to mind when Brown, Gray, Randolph, and Langsford voted on the city budget, which would allow them to get a pay raise. Or when the CONsolidation vote was up for approval.
Uh, 435, I think Randolph ABSTAINED and idiot Gray wanted him to leave the room. How CRAZY was that, but then look at the source on that one....
Poor Monroe, he must feel so lonely. After all, he is the one that should have gone home.
Seems to me the wicked witch of the CCC is being just a tad bit hypocritical.
Please, blogfriends, let's not elevate Ike Randolph again to some mythical Ethical Genius platform.
He abstained from one city budget, his last, out of four. Becaise he was still toyign with running for mayor or re-election to the council. Which was and is hilarious.
There are plenty of neighborhood activists who wish he'd abstained on a controversial zoning case last year. A case which was decided, I think, by one council vote, and involved a development firm who had given him $5,000 for his 2003 campaign.
Which was the single-largest contribution of anyone to any city council campaign that year, in either party.
Joanne may be late to the train, but she got on before it left the station. The gasbags who thwarted sensible Democrats on this issue before are mostly gone (Conley, Gibson) or neutered (Gray).
Joanne is right on this issue. There ought to be a state law. In the absence of a state law, the Council should have firm rules that prohibit votes on anything related to the employee's budget or performance. Anything.
And if that district's residents still want a councillor who has to abstain a lot, well, that's their loss.
Say, did Monroe retire in December? Wilson oughta know...
Monroe retired at the end of 2007. His fire department pay check was being garnished to the tune of 700.00 per month. I believe that now he is receiving a pension check that they can not garnish it.
Maybe now the bank will go after his CCC pay.
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