Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Enabling Dysfunction
"These outrages will be compounded by a silent public"
BY EMILY METZGAR
Last week’s meeting between the clerk of the Louisiana House and members of the Committee on House and Government Affairs is the focus of this week’s column (Shreveport Times).
The suggestion that the public record better should better reflect the positions of legislators was greeted with complaints about the inconvenience of paperwork and the potential fallout from an informed press and citizenry. Such a reaction is absurd, but par for the course in Louisiana politics.
As the column notes,
This fear of accountability is an established pattern that didn’t just emerge at last week’s meeting.
The column concludes,
Voters have no one to blame but themselves for the perpetuation of such a dysfunctional mind-set about elected office and the concept of public service. And only the voters can change it.
LPNS COMMENTARY: SHE LEFT OUT THIS EXCERPT-
"It's time for Louisiana's voters to stop enabling the politics of obfuscation designed to limit accountability or prevent it altogether. The aforementioned reaction to proposed changes in record-keeping procedures is absurd and the ethics board's pending investigation of bloggers reeks of unconstitutionality. But these outrages will be compounded by a silent public that simply rewards such behavior with yet another term in office."
Great Article!
