Rewards should not be MONEY Roy L - wrong incentive

From: Johnny 5 (johnny5_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 07/27/04 

Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 12:48:57 GMT

Now I don't know what country you live in Roy L, but where I am living,
in the USA - here is 3 LINKS of CURRENT NEWS showing the problem is NOT
LVT or WAGE taxes - it's the PEOPLE, the ones MINDING the capital,
supervising the gubbment, controlling the land.

http://www.stpetetimes.com/2004/07/27/Pasco/Reimbursing_citizen_p.shtml

Reimbursing citizen panel would be bad public policy
A Times Editorial
Published July 27, 2004

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Tired of political shenanigans, suspected corruption and a failed attempt
to dismantle the police department, voters elected a slate of good-
government candidates to the Port Richey City Council three months ago.

Now, that council majority has an opportunity to reward some of its most
staunch supporters in one of two ways.

The council majority can spend a few thousand dollars of public money to
pay the legal bills accumulated by the citizen-driven Save Our Police
committee or it can pass on the request and demonstrate it is above the
personality-driven politics of past council members.

The council should pass. Reaffirming public faith that this council's
motives are beyond reproach is more imperative than helping settle a debt
incurred by loyal supporters.

Equally important is the role of newly elected council members Greg Ross
and Fred Miller. Both should recuse themselves this evening when the
council considers a request to give the committee $3,800 to cover the
legal costs associated with putting a referendum on the April ballot.

Ross and Miller both served on the committee, though both said they
haven't participated in the group's activities in months. Still, the
group, with an outstanding legal bill of $1,500, conceivably could hit up
all members, past and present, for a contribution to pay its tab if the
city declines the requested reimbursement.

In that instance, opponents could argue Ross and Miller stand to gain a
personal financial benefit if the council authorizes the payment.

Ross and Miller should put an end to that argument and not give political
opponents the fodder for questioning their ethics.

They should not participate in tonight's vote.

That leaves Mayor Eloise Taylor, and council members Bill Bennett and
Phyllis Grae to decide. Grae is on record opposing the reimbursement. She
sat on the council majority which previously declined to pay the bill.

Taylor and Bennett, who sat as a two-person minority for three years,
should resist the temptation of assisting the committee's finances even
if they agreed with the motive. Just because they now sit as part of a
four-person majority doesn't justify bad public policy. And reimbursing
the Save Our Police Committee is just that.

The committee incurred the legal bills in pushing a referendum to reverse
a 2003 ordinance eliminating the police dispatch department. It went to
court and successfully challenged the city's assertion that the matter
could not be considered at the ballot box because the City Charter
prohibited voters weighing in on budget decisions.

Critics note the then-council majority not only paid the former city
attorney to represent its interests, but also provided a blank check to
outside counsel. Since the citizens group prevailed, its legal bills
should be covered too, they contend.

The sentiment is not without merit. But there are other considerations.

A previous council rejected the committee's reimbursement request. Is
every recent decision from the past council fair game for
reconsideration?

More importantly, assisting the Save Our Police committee establishes a
poor precedent.

Other citizen committees, the group seeking a referendum to disband the
city comes to mind immediately, can make a legitimate claim their legal
bills should be covered by the public, too.

The last thing this new council majority should do is give a leg up to
that group's misguided motives.

The council should reward good-government advocates. But the reward
shouldn't be financial, it should be professional. 

-- 
The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look 
respectable. -- John Kenneth Galbraith
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