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Florida EC Chair Calls for Some Wheels
Thursday, February 4th, 2010
Robert Wechsler
Cheryl Forchilli, chair of the Florida Commission on Ethics (which deals with local government ethics), wrote a must-read op-ed piece that appeared on the Florida Thinks blog yesterday.
Forchilli's piece begins with a nice simile:
- If a sports car barreling down the
interstate at 120 miles an hour
passes a Florida Highway Patrol officer, we expect that officer to flip
on the lights, stop the speeder, and make our roads safer.
Wouldn’t the public be angry if the Legislature passed a law that forced the officer to stay parked by the side of the road, patiently waiting for a concerned citizen to pull up, sign a sworn statement describing the speeder’s actions, and ask the officer to please look into it?
Yet, that’s exactly how the Florida Commission on Ethics is forced to operate.
- 1. Commission-generated investigations
2. Increased fines (noting that the highest fines are reserved for the most egregious violations)
3. Including participation as part of recusal (that is, not just abstaining on votes), and prohibiting staff from participating on the official's behalf
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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- Robert Wechsler's blog
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