They Have Issues Too

     Since we were on the subject of our local county, city and state government I thought it would only be right to end it that way. While doing some research on the state ethics for Georgia I found something very informative. At the gubernatorial debate in October Governor Deal of Georgia stated, "the commission is plagued by confusion, dysfunction and inefficiency". 

 In order to fix this issue Governor Deal pledged to add additional people into The Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission (ethics commission). The issue I see with that is it WILL NOT fix the issue. The confusion that was once there will still be present, by adding additional people to the pot it will only cause those people to either have to choose sides or not want to be a part of the ordeal all together. 

    
      Ironically after being re-elected Governor Deal stated, “It’s functioning well." How could the commission go from being dysfunction to doing well in just a few months? No update was given as to how they all of a sudden fixed the issues. ''Classic bait and switch tactic. He's going back on his promise now that he's been re-elected,'' Common Cause Georgia Director William Perry said. Many are starting to believe that the governor only made that change to get more voted to win the election. He knew that claiming to fix any ethical issues would gain trust with the citizens.
    
      If this isn't the case I think that Deal owes the citizens a reason as to why he will no longer overhaul the commission. If it was in fact due to their recent success of fixing their own issues he needs to let the citizens know when, where, and how they did so. If he can’t provide that then he needs to step in and do as he promised the voters during re-election time. 

     If he doesn't do so he will not only cause the citizens to lose trust in him, this will cause them to lose trust in the government all together. A lot of people already don't vote because they feel like the political campaign is all talk and once in office nothing gets accomplished. In order to make this right for the future Deal needs to address this issue quickly. 

     The saddest part about the whole thing is that the commission did not seem to be dysfunctional until former members refused to discard documentation of an ethical claim placed on governor deal. Now three former individuals are currently in the process or have already received a portion of a 3 million dollar settlement. They said they were allegedly fired because they refused to lose this documentation. His opponent at the time Jimmy Carter stated, "As a taxpayer, I’m outraged that we’re now on the hook for three million dollars, and as a citizen, I’m embarrassed that this is happening in our state."

     Personally, after reading the articles I feel as the commission acted very ethical. Just because an ethical claim was made against the governor they still chose to review the claim as if it had been anyone else. The governor to me seems to be the one that has acted unethically and dysfunction. 

     If Deal wants anything to act ethically and function correctly he needs to start with self. It goes back to the old saying practice what you preach. How can he expect the commission to run effectively if he is trying to corrupt the process by having them throw out an ethical complaint?