Sunday, February 14, 2010

Monroe County State Attorney Dennis Ward is making a lot of elected officials uncomfortable.

Ward, an elected official himself, is aggressively pursuing public corruption and is seemingly omnipresent in his vigilance regarding transparency in decision-making by elected officials and government administrators.

This is a breath of fresh air. For far too long we have witnessed elected officials, government administrators and employees abuse taxpayers' trust and dollars.

These abuses can be covert or overt. They can take many forms, including: no-bid contracts, Sunshine Law violations, use of public equipment or hours for personal gain, appearances of political favoritism in tweaking land use laws, granting variances or contracts in return for a lobbyist's gift or a campaign contribution, and/or out-and-out theft of taxpayers' dollars.

Since Ward took office there has been plenty of alleged public corruption issues for him to investigate or review. These include theft from the county school district, financial irregularities at the Bahama Conch Community Land Trust, violations of bidding policies at the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District, misconduct at the Key Largo Fire-EMS District and Sunshine Law violations.

Ward is urging the Monroe County Commission to pass an ordinance that requires lobbyists to register, and sets rules to bring more transparency to individuals trying to influence county staff and commissioners. He is also reviewing a draft of a county ordinance that would prohibit members of county boards from receiving a "commission or other compensation" from a transaction recommended by their board, and he wants commissioners to limit unreported gifts to $50.

Ward also recently joined other Florida prosecutors to strengthen state laws designed to curb public corruption.

Whew!

Ward's most recent proposal, that of limiting unreported gifts, caused County Commissioner George Neugent to complain: "If Dennis Ward wants to make laws, he should run for County Commission. If the speed limit is 45 mph, it's not Dennis' decision to change it to 30. This is clearly an overreaction. ... I like Dennis and I supported Dennis, but this is going beyond his job description."

Our take is a bit different. We're glad Ward is proactive and we urge elected officials and administrators work with him to scrub their policies, procedures and operations to eliminate all appearances of favoritism and public corruption. This undoubtedly will continue to cause some discomfort among government officials, as change clearly will be required in the often-permissive culture found in many agencies.

We're all for eliminating cozy relationships with lobbyists, vendors, developers and consultants by banning gifts of any kind to elected officials and government employees or family members; and banning campaign contributions from consultants, companies or their representatives who are engaged in, or plan on engaging in, business with government entities.

We urge elected representatives to strengthen ethics and whistle-blower policies and procedures, while also adopting ordinances designed to provide transparency between elected officials and government administrators and the lobbyists, vendors, developers and consultants attempting to influence them.

The vast majority of our local elected officials, government administrators and civil servants are honest. However, ensuring public trust is paramount.

Ward's proactive approach is a much gentler policy than his office just waiting until public corruption charges are required. Hopefully our elected officials, government administrators and employees recognize that the alternative to Ward's approach -- the sound of a jail cell door closing -- can be very deafening.

-- The Citizen