Just smoke

So the Nashville legislature have introduced safeguards in the form of an ethics bill in an effort to quell the public's increasing distrust of political dealing at the capital. Well, well, well. They must have had visions of the chopping block to take such a step. It appears that the bill agreed upon is for show only. It has been watered down to make it palatable and without real consequences to the vast majority of the capital crowd. Business as usual for the lobbyists and the legislators, and why should it be any different? The people influencing rule making are the ones with abysmal ethical standards. The people will never see a honest and ethical legislature until the crooks are run out of town, and at present the town is full of them.
What do you think?

More smoke

The City of Cleveland has decided it is in its own best interest to agree to a joint committee on fire protection with Bradley County. Many of my readers know by now that the city fathers do not agree to anything unless they have the controlling interest. And this joint committee will be no different. County folks, brace yourself to be screwed again. My prediction is that all of the City Council and the majority of the County Commission will hail the joint committee as a landmark in city/county cooperation while knowing all along that all actions of the committee will be stacked in the city's favor. How is this, you say? Simple math. All city council members represent districts inside the municipal boundaries. And a majority of Bradley County Commissioners represent mainly city districts. Of the remaining commissioners that represent mostly county folk, the majority of those pledge allegiance to city wishes. The result is that no matter how any joint committee is composed, the result will always favor what the city wants. Because of this inherent inequity the City of Cleveland wields greater power when according to the power tree, power should descend from federal to state, then to the county and finally to the city unless it is a metro city. Since Cleveland is not a metro city, power should be handed down from Bradley County to the City of Cleveland just as it is for Charleston and not the other way round. When one considers that there is a larger population residing in the county than in the city the lack of representation for county folk is almost criminal. Until this inequity is corrected by a strong county mayor, commissioners that consider county residents when they vote, and election district division that is fair to all residents, county folks will continue to be disenfranchised, and quite frankly, screwed.
What do you think?

Breaking news

This cane in  just in time to meet the deadline. Although it warrants a front page slot we are ready to print so this space will have to suffice. Thanks to a reader who alerted us to a blog (message) posted on a website called www.hometowncleveland.com by Clevelander, Drew Morgan about the political fundraising activities of Bradley County Sheriff Dan Gilley. Apparently, Morgan received a call from the Sheriff's secretary asking him to buy a ticket for the BBQ fund-raiser using county resources in violation of state regulations. The blog was posted April 26 2005 and reads as follows:

"Just got a call from the Sheriff's secretary. She was calling me b/c I bought tickets to his BBQ fundraiser last year. Now, this is a county employee calling me on a county phone line, on county time to solicit a ticket purchase from me for the Sheriff's fundraising BBQ. Does anyone else see a problem with this? Deputies routinely sell tickets to this event. I'm 99% sure that County School Board member, Terry McGuire was the organizer for the fundraiser last year. I bet most of that is done on county time.
We're paying for the organization of the Sheriff's re-election fundraiser.
Now, does anyone else smell something rotten?"

The Sheriff's office was contacted by The People News for comment. Bob Gault, Media Relations Officer for Sheriff Dan Gilley said he could not comment on the blog and doubted the Sheriff would comment either.

The People News will continue the story next month but in the meantime if what the Sheriff's staff are doing is indeed a violation of state law, it should be investigated by the appropriate authorities.

If you can add to this story, please call me at 559-2150

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