Ethics Commission - Duval County - Thank you to tea party members for getting involved

[FCTP]

There has been a large group of tea party members who have stood with Carla Miller on the issue of the Ethics Commission. 

 

There is a victory here and we wanted to thank those in the tea party who stood up and did something about this important issue.  You are all great patriots and a great example to what it will take to make a difference in our city, state and union...Standing up and getting involved.

 

We appreciate your hard work and dedication to seeing this bill through to the end!

 

Here's the story:

 

Jacksonville Ethics Commission gains more autonomy

Advocates score key victory, but City Council retains some influence.

Posted: June 15, 2011 - 12:18am

 

By Steve Patterson Copyright 2011 . June 15, 2011 - 12:18am

Jacksonville Ethics Commission gains more autonomy

Jacksonville's City Council gave more autonomy to the city's Ethics Commission on Tuesday, but still kept a hand in how the unpaid commissioners gain office.

The council voted to let commission members hire their own director for a new Office of Ethics, Compliance and Oversight, whose employees will act as commission staff.

The decision was a key victory for ethics advocates, who had worked for two years developing a package of reform bills (2011-167, 2011-197 and 2011-232). All were enacted Tuesday, but not without revisions.

By the time the bills reached the full council, a proposal for most commission members to be selected through civic organizations had been scrapped. Instead, six elected officeholders - the mayor, council president, sheriff, state attorney, public defender and chief circuit judge - are each responsible for picking one person. The commission members will then pick three more members.

 Read the entire story:

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-06-15/story/jacksonville-et...

[Patricia M. McBride]

JL, here is the link to the opinion piece: 

Ethics Commission: Former member recounts disappointment  Posted: June 11, 2011 - 12:00am

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/opinion/letters-readers/2011-06-11/story/et...

[Patricia M. McBride]

JL, I think if you speak to a parlimentary procedure specialist, you will find that the rules they came up with are outside the boundaries, and if you look at it, they wanted to be darned sure the citizens selected for the board did not really have a voice.  Note there are 9 board members and 6 are chosen by those who might pick folks they can tell what to do and 3 are citizens who volunteer to be on the commission.  It was no mistake doing it that way, and no, it is not democratic where everyone's vote counts equally.   If the meeting quorum is 5, then you have basically tied their hands as they can't take any action with forcing a sixth person to weigh in and vote.  We had an ethics commission before and they went through gyrations to make sure they had no power and were stopped at every juncture.   Did you see the letter to the editor from the attorney that spent 3 years on it and then, quit when he realized the system was fixed and nothing would ever get done..............the crooks won so to speak.

[JL Gawlik]

Patricia, i agree that it is a starting point, just disappointed, not surprised.

I was tickled to hear that we did make a difference, my son was so disappointed in the May election, he felt his vote did not count but i told him, it made a huge difference everywhere especially on the City Council which is very important, we changed the whole make up, even the President of the Council so his vote counted greatly as well as all the voters who turned out to cast their ballots.

Is there somewhere we can see the city Council votes? I am new to this, i am better at the Federal level than state or city, that is how i got so involved, just being frustrated with what was going on. I have learned so much with this group through you and many others.

[Patricia M. McBride]

Sally and JL, what was passed last night is a starting point.  I believe there are 7 members who sat on the council that will no longer be there in July.  The ethics commission will be revisited again and again and changes will be made over time that make it what it was supposed to be, but we must be grateful for the fact the council left the choice of the director to the commission...........now we just have to be sure the people chosen are appropriate by vetting them if need be ourselves and bringing the information in front of the council to make it part of the record!

[JL Gawlik]

They could of done it at least 4 to 5 instead of 6 to 3.

Is there any where we can see who changed what and who voted for the lop~sided foxes watching over the chicken~coop? I am curious to see who the foxes are so we can keep a sharp eye on them. This is ridiculous. Carla and her group put so much hard work into it. These are just my thoughts.

[sally higgins]

The Ethics Commision needs more teeth, in other words, it needs more authority to do what is right. Otherwise it should be disbanded.

[Patricia M. McBride]

Agree Randy.  I think that they didn't see that having those you watch be the folks who choose who does the watching shows a clear lack of understanding of what an ethics commission is.  But at least now it is passed and as others said, that is a good beginning point :).

[ACT Jacksonville]

Great Job to all who participated.... key start.  Maybe later we can get their hands out of the cookie jar.  God Bless