Comments on: Ethics Board Retains City Appointed Ethics Officer with 4-2 Vote

By: DavidB

DavidB — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 16:08:44 +0000

In reply to Preston Scott. Lawsuit. Definitely.

By: The Village Idiot

The Village Idiot — Sat, 22 Aug 2015 23:14:55 +0000

In reply to The Village Idiot. Initially I was a huge proponent of the ethics initiative, but now that I see it in action, I realize I was so wrong about it. We are no better off now than we were before it was enacted.

By: The Village Idiot

The Village Idiot — Sat, 22 Aug 2015 22:28:39 +0000

In reply to Preston Scott. If the ethics board is going to continue operating this way, can we get an amendment to the city charter to rescind the ethics board amendment we voted in last year. There's no point in wasting the money on the ethics officer and her staff plus the political donation reimbursement if we aren't going to get anything out of it. What we really need to do is get people outside those who read TR to vote for someone other than the morons we keep electing. Until we change the type of elected leaders, nothing will ever change.

By: Daisy Duck

Daisy Duck — Sat, 22 Aug 2015 13:05:09 +0000

So if the city had hired Rammage or Faircloth, would you even be having this discussion? Seems like what you are upset about is not having who you want in the job. And no matter what the City is on the hook to pay for the Board by Charter and whoever hired is an employee of the City as long as City pays. So anyone in the job is a City employee! The only way you have an independent board is to fund it some other way. Having the person paid by the City is a conflict right out of the gate! You are depending on the City to adequately fund an office to investigate itself. What office will be first to be cut in budget, do you think? Why not stop and see how the Board performs? A lawsuit will cost more tax dollars for lawyers. And an assistant for the Ethics Office was identified as an item to be cut by Hawks. So on one hand, you want office to be independent, but Hawks want it to continue to use City staff to perform is administrative work. Can’t have it both ways. Charter along with the refunds is a budget black hole.

By: Howard Eisenman

Howard Eisenman — Sat, 22 Aug 2015 04:10:12 +0000

Simply outrageous.. The arrogance of the business as usual folks that are running our city government is off the charts. Yes, legal action should be considered. 70% of the voters should not have to settle for a sharp poke in the eye!

By: Preston Scott

Preston Scott — Sat, 22 Aug 2015 01:35:10 +0000

UPDATE FYI: If you are reading this, whether you agree with my politics on issues or not, you care. This is an issue that not Dem/GOP; it is right and wrong. There are discussions underway to organize a response(s) of some kind. Thank goodness for the investigative, fair, and accurate reporting done by TR. Take heart, more and more people are getting involved – consider the recently gathered “Budget Hawks”. The fight is always the toughest before a breakthrough.

By: mbo

mbo — Fri, 21 Aug 2015 18:30:05 +0000

Seriously? This is clearly one of 2 things. Either this is the most uneducated, incompetent city commission to ever walk the earth or they are behaving extremely defiant. I tend to believe it is the latter.
This disrespectful, smug behavior angers me enough to say YES, take every last one of them to court. Let a judge assist them in understanding and embracing the definition of INDIVIDUAL ETHICS OFFICER. They expect the citizens to give up and look the other way. I say, fight em. Nothing will change until someone is held accountable.

By: Donald Duck

Donald Duck — Fri, 21 Aug 2015 16:17:49 +0000

Looks like the City of Tallahassee Commission has enough problems that maybe they should
Get their own house in order before they start
Meddling in Walton County.

By: Hope & Change

Hope & Change — Fri, 21 Aug 2015 14:59:20 +0000

You can not make this stuff up.

Along with the fraud in the Solid Waste billing to this.

As Stalin said, “it is not the vote count that matters, but who counts the votes that matters”.

The pattern of corruptions continues.

I am waiting to see if the US Attorney will open an investigation into Mail Fraud at the City for misrepresenting the billing for solid waste collection.
If I, as a small business, knowing sent out inflated and misrepresented invoices for the cost of service in the US Mail, I would be indicted for Mail Fraud in a heart beat.

Lets see if our “new ethics” officer does anything!
This should be test for her.

Is it ethical for the City to commit Mail Fraud and hide the true level of taxation from the public?
Is it Ethical to use this money form the Solid Waste overbilling in other areas that are unknown to anyone but the City Manager.
Is it unethical to accumulate funds in a reserve account and then use those funds without any transparency?
Should I go on?

Hope & Change

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 21 Aug 2015 14:37:32 +0000

A private contractor has manipulated the system with the full support of the city commission and city attorney’s office. The contractor has taken control of a public citizen’s advisory board.
With that control, city funds are being selectively distributed to buy more control. The apparent ethical violations by the city commission, the city attorney and the Architectural Review Board are extreme.

See the article from June 3, 2011 in Tallahassee Reports:

http://tallahasseereports.com/2011/06/03/tallahassee-historic-preservation-process-raises-questions/

With this now-cemented tie between the city attorney, the city commission and the new Ethics Board, there can never be any hope of integrity and honesty coming in the distribution of these funds.

Has the Ethics Board committed suicide, and been replaced by a puppeteer group?
If you are a member of the new Ethics Board, your first act has besmirched your character enormously.
What are you going to do about it?