A Burbank Ethics Commission?
Burbank blogger (and photographer and mid-level bureaucrat trying to get by...) Dan Evans comes roaring back to life this week with an interesting idea:
The recent Burbank general election had a certain Lockean quality - nasty, brutish and (thankfully) short. From my perspective down in the flats, it seems odd that so much anger and vitriol would be spewed over a friggin' city council election. ...... You should be able to point out your opponents flaws, as much as you can (and must) tout your own ideals and credentials. But voters must know where those attacks are coming from. And to do that, the city of Burbank should create an Ethics Commission to oversee the local political process and make things more transparent.
As a guy whose job includes following the money in the last election (and doing a mediocre job, I might add), it would be great to have a body enforcing local election laws. Buddha knows the state Fair Political Practices Commission has had enough going on already.
What do you think, council? Gary? Anja? Berlins? Gordon? hello? anyone? anyone?
Comments
Got your link through Will Rogers. I'm a first timer at this blogging and posting experience. I do like the fact that Burbank is starting to generate some "news" since I think we get precious little from the Burbank Leader.
As to an Ethics Commission...what's it gonna cost us? I'm not really familiar with them, I read Dan Evans comments about his work on LA's. I believe in process, and I believe the process does work (and sometimes it does take time to work, but it does work). While Ethics is very important to me, I think it often just gets politicized anyway, and I don't know that we really gain much from it. I am not a fan of more government/bureaocracy(SP?) and not just because of cost, but because of politicization.
Posted by: Mike Napolitano | April 19, 2007 5:19 PM
Thanks for your comment! I'm glad you found us and hope you'll be back frequently. As for concerns about politicizing an ethics commission -- wouldn't that hinge on who is serving on such a panel? That's the hard part -- if appointees of a particular council member can do proper policing, even when their own benefactors are involved.
Posted by: Eugene Tong | April 19, 2007 6:58 PM