Makes me wonder if what Coons has done for NCC, he would do for America
Jul 15th, 2010 by David Anderson
New Castle County Government Thwarts Taxpayers Once Again
Joe Oddo, Vice Chairman NCC Republicans
“Absurd!” That’s what today’s News Journal appropriately labels New Castle County’s requirement that duly elected members of council must submit Freedom of Information Act requests for public information. Can they be serious?
New Castle County Government has long struggled with ethical credibility. This latest news is just another in a series of examples where the administration and council leadership opted to refute the will of the people they serve. From multi-million dollar tax increases to embarrassing conflicts of interest to votes against making council proceedings more open to long-standing vacancies on the ethics commission, county officials have repeatedly demonstrated a stunning degree of arrogance and troubling lack of accountability.
Clearly, voters deserve so much better.
That’s why the New Castle County Republican Committee has offered a comprehensive plan for reforming and reorganizing our county government: New Solutions for New Castle County. And at the centerpiece of that plan are several common-sense reforms to ensure the public’s business is conducted in the most transparent and ethical way possible.
Our plan to re-fortify public trust calls for the following:
* All members of Council, and senior administration staff, should be required to publicly report and fully disclose any and all personal and family member business interests and dealings in relation to land-use and other areas of county business where conflicts of interest may arise. This information should be regularly updated and easily accessible on the County website.
* Council and other public meetings should be available via live webstream and archived on the county website.
* Ethics Commission vacancies should be filled immediately – it is unacceptable to have these critical positions vacant for any significant period.
* The County auditor must remain strong and independent. The auditor’s office must be more fully resourced; the office should be staffed at levels commensurate with other similarly populated municipalities.
* All official county proceedings should be available to the public on-line.
It is unconscionable that council members should be required to file FOIA requests to get basic information about the government they are elected to oversee. What, exactly, is county government hiding?
David,
New Castle County Government needs something much different.
I laid an option out below:
http://www.youtube.com/user/derepublicanblog#p/a/u/2/oYHUYg3AJ58
County Council Ethics even when manned and executed are weak and inconsequential to the point of being a waste of time.
I support the online aspect of every part of Council’s meetings and deliberations unless they affect personnel matters which deserve privacy. In fact, I have offered to open all of my potential meetings and dealings open to anyone at any time.
County Council needs an Inspector General to replace the Ethics Apparatus which exists today on paper only. The IG would have subpoena and investigative powers to work for the citizens and taxpayers.
Voters this year are mad at government but they are irate at bad and dishonest government. we can do a lot better.
http://www.protackforcouncil.com
Mike Protack
~~This post linked to at The Delaware Patriot~~