Today’s Hour previews the looming battle over appointments to the new ethics committee. In short, Bill Krummel says he can’t seem to locate any non-political people, presumably Democrats;
“Anybody who is interested in serving has served on the council or been active in party politics,” Krummel said. Barring past political activity “I don’t think it’s a realistic position and that’s one of the holdups. ”
Kelly Straniti says, “I think that, for both sides, it’s very important that we have people who are nonpolitical. We don’t plan to put up anybody who’s on the Republican Town Committee. We won’t put up any former candidates, campaign managers, etc., of course, either.”
Laurel Lindstrom says, “The whole idea of an ethics board was to take it away from someone who might have a vested interest, and (fill) it with people who are educators, judges, attorneys, faith-based … people who aren’t tied into the political parties.”
Now, it seems that Kelly and Laurel have the right idea about who should be going on the ethics committee. Political flunkies should not be the default choice here, and instead of as Krummel suggests, wait around for resumes to trickle in, the council members should be actively searching out the types of individuals who would make good judges on an ethics panel.
You’d think these guys never heard of the Office of Government Ethics.
source: The Hour, Battle lines drawn in revamped Ethics Committee, By ROBERT KOCH, February 8, 2008
