County "Reform": Real Leaders Advise More Thougtful Process

In my previous post, I linked to a Philip Morris column that basically states the Plain Dealer’s editorial stance on county “reform”: do it now, do it fast, anything is better than what we have — a reckless and unjustified position.

In the column, Morris scolds politicians who have opposed this race to hurl together a new system of government for the county, referencing the irrelevance of official corruption, saying,

“Voters should now hold these same leaders, beginning with U.S. Reps. Marcia Fudge, Dennis Kucinich and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, rigidly accountable for coming up with a workable plan to fix county government immediately.”

What chutzpah! A group of insiders has tossed together a “reform” scheme (actually, there are two proposals) with a minimum of broad-based input and support — and now it’s everyone else’s responsibility to come up with a viable alternative plan — immediately!

Uh, no. The people who should be held “rigidly accountable” are those trying to force-feed us plans that have been insufficiently vetted in the public eye and are trying to get these plans passed quickly before too many questions can be asked. Fudge, Kucinich, Jackson and the others understand that something done quickly in response to a “ crisis” in large part fanned by the media is likely to be sloppy and create more problems than it solves.

Fudge has posted the letters issued by the leaders Morris attacks on her congressional website:

They note, accurately,

“We are in agreement that some reform of county government is needed. However, we cannot and should not allow the current corruption probes to be the propellant for long term change.
This is the right opportunity to rethink County government and change the way business is done, not just change the structure of government. In our opinion, the proposals now on the table fall short of that goal ... Undoubtedly change should take place in our county government. However, the current proposals fail to acknowledge the critical issues our county faces and does not progress our region.”