All of the little signs read “COUNCIL MEMBER”. The story in The Middletown Journal with the headline:
used terms such as “City Council“, “council“, and “council members” no less than ten times. Some of the slides in the presentation even used the same terms as the Journal article. The group looked exactly like the Middletown City Council, talked like Middletown City Council, and acted like City Council, but was it Middletown City Council???
Now I know that some of you will think that I am being picky, and I realize that people like “jm” and his gaggle of aliases would attack me and belittle me if I would have posted these thoughts on the Journal e-dition, but the difference IS important!!!
You see, the Middletown City Council may have the right to create a municipal Public Housing Agency, but I do NOT believe that they have the right to be the municipal Public Housing Agency!!!
You see, any board, commission, agency, or similar body that a city council creates must be accountable to that council. It is the most very basic conceptduring the creation of our nation that there be “checks and balances” in the governance, in order to prevent the possibility of tyranny, of unchecked power of any sort, to “rule” the people as opposed to equitable governance of the people, by the people and for the people via their duly elected representatives.
The most shameless, brash, unabashed, blatant, audacious abuse of power and elected position possible is when a person, or groups of persons, purports to be a “check upon themselves”!!!
Of course, I must be all wrong, or else how could the SIX attorneys and TWO quasi-attorneys directly involved in these two groups allow this to occur???
Or…are the differences between the Middletown City Council and the Middletown Public Housing Agency so small that even these EIGHT great legal minds are confused?
And all of the above illustrates a point I have been trying to make for nearly a decade:
Being a member of, or a "liaison" to, all of the various boards, commissions and agencies to which Middletown City Council members so zealously insist on appointing themselves is illogical; carries an inate and unavoidable conflict of interest; and is at the least improper while most likely illegal.
Along the same vein, please cease the crying about how busy being a council member keeps you. It is your own fault. When all of the resume-building appointments are made---JUST SAY NO!!! Out of the other 49,993 citizens in this city, it is a good bet that you can find someone other than yourselves to sit on a golf commission or a park board.
(And many more citizens would probably be willing to serve on the boards and commissions if they knew for certain that there wouldn't be a council member there trying to throw their weight around! After all, each board or commission not only REPORTS to the council, but also RELIES on council for funding. So, if the board doesn't do everything the "liaison's" way, how much chance would they have getting anything approved by the full council? Gee...there's that pesky "conflict of interest" again that no one at City Hall is willing to admit ever exists!!!)