Gov. (not my man) Mitch Daniels has decided to "streamline" government.
According to a Tribune article by Rick Callahan Daniels wants to eliminate the three county commissioners and replace them with one county administrator who will appoint the county treasurer, recorder, assessor, surveyor and coroner. And commissioner Steve Bush agrees with him. Mr. Bush thinks this will help insure that we will have qualified candidates.
As for myself, I cannot think of any way to make Floyd County become more corrupt. If one person has that much power how can they stay honest? No matter how good one's intentions, we all know that power corrupts.
We the citizens should decide which candidates will hold these positions. The last thing we need is less power for the citizens. It is bad enough that our Federal Government still has the Electoral College. Floyd County has a lot of concerned people who take an active part in our elections. We should not be forced to live in Daniels' little fiefdom.
Let's not let this happen.
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6 comments:
Sounds like this is based on Unigov. Isn't he recommending one County Executive? Unigov is present in Indianapolis, where their city limits expand out to the county. Did you know the idea of Unigov has been mentioned many times for New Albany - to expand to cover all of Floyd County with a New Albany Mayor to govern? The school systems and then the parks departments were merged. Merging of Planning and Zoning were wanted, but hasn't happened - yet. As far as being corrupt, you sound like you think Floyd County already is corrupt. Legally, I think it would mean someone has done something criminal, whereby they could be arrested. I think many people have seen and heard things that are "unfair" to citizens. To be corrupt I would think someone would need to profit. If there is proof (good luck on getting that), then the challenge is who to give that proof to, in order to report and stop corruption. If you think the county level person is corrupt, then I believe you go to the county prosecutor. If that doesn't work, or if you think the governor is corrupt, then I guess you go to the Indiana attorney general. I am not sure exactly, when a citizen should call the FBI. Are there any attorneys out there with information about corruption?
I agree with you that citizens should decide on candidates for these positions. However, I can't say I feel all candidates that run for office (or even those who win) are qualified.
Yes, it is a shame we still have the Electoral College. I wish Birch Bayh had succeeded in his efforts to accomplish its elimination, when he was a Senator from Indiana. I still hope the Electoral College disappears, but I have learned not to hold my breath.
Susan
Susan,
Thank you for the information. I had not head of Unigov but I have heard of merger for Floyd County and New Albany many times. I don't believe this will work for us since the county seems to be in better financial shape than the city.
Maybe some of our county residents can weigh in on this. If they think their taxes will go up they won't be happy.
We haven't even mentioned the city and county councils. How would they be merged? Will council seats be eliminated? That doesn't sound like a popular plan either.
Of course Louisville and Jefferson County merged with one Mayor but as far as I know the citizens still vote for their metro officials.
Perhaps "corrupt" was not an appropriate description but it is a word I hear thrown around a lot lately. I think unfair is a much better word to use in my circumstances.
I'm a democrat and support what Daniel's is doing. Throw all the crooks out of office.
I'm a democrat and support what Daniel's is doing. Throw all the crooks out of office.
My worse nightmare has ALWAYS been that somehow the City might end up in control of the County. No way in heck would I wish my "unconstitutional" debt upon ANYONE, much less our County.
It always has been mentioned but I say we have three forms of local government, i.e., township, city and county. DO NOT WANT TO LOSE MY COUNTY COMMISSIONERS NOR DO I WANT THE MONIES MIXED OR THE DEBTS MIXED.
If there was just a way these issues wouldn't rear their ugly head, I would say go for it also.
Until then - HELL NO.
Would the County Executives trump the Mayors? Would the County Councils oversee (approve) the budgets of the cities in their counties?
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