The Luzerne County Government Study Commission has released it's first draft of the proposed Luzerne County home-rule charter.
The document is not on the GSC website but the CV has posted it .
Some parts I like, some parts I don't but I have to read it in detail before I decide to vote for it or not.
What do you think?
The natural reaction is to vote for anything to change the existing system - but I think that could be a mistake in this situation. The overall structure of 11 at large is not a good starting point - fewer and geographic (5 based on equal distribution of the population).
ReplyDeleteThe fact of the matter is any system can become corrupt - with the wrong people. And simply changing the system will not be a quick fix.
Gort,
ReplyDeleteThe question on voting for the charter is not "do I like it" or "would I have written it this way?"
The question is "is the system set forth under the proposed charter better than the system in place now?"
This is a no-brainer.
Anybody can nitpick 60 pages of legal writing. Don't fall into that trap -- that's why Luzerne County is where it is.
I don't like Luzerne COunty where it is but blaming the form of government for our problems is like blaming the car for the drunk driver. Get real people. The problem is and will always be that people don't vote so we have inexperienced ego maniacs in charge. Changing the format of government won't fix things, good people will and getting more than 30% of the people to vote is the first step. We need public access for candidates to keep the special interest and wealthy under control. Newspapers should allow each "serious" candidate for county office a minimum of a half page free ad every day for two week before an election.
ReplyDeleteHey 2:53 you get a free pizza. That's one of the first rational thoughts I've heard on this subject. Bring back the good ole boys that most of you people hate. When the bad good ol boys were in charge, things ran smoothly, low (semi) taxes, moderate debt and then Makowski, Vonderspend and Skrep took over. No experience and they ran the county int the ground. I'll take the good ol days and the good ol boys anytime over what we have and if you idots think Home Rule will make the difference then go for it! LOL!
ReplyDeleteIf the form of gov't does not matter then make it a monarchy and let me rule it.
ReplyDeletePower corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. As I've written, this charter takes a consolidation of power and adds more power to it. We need the opposite, a separation of powers.
Monarchy is what we'll get!
ReplyDeleteMy problem with the charter is the appointment of the county manager by the 11 member council.
That RULER position needs to be filled by election of the people, otherwise, the County will be a Monarchy.
The people need to have the power to change the RULER if he/she turns out to be bad. We would have to count on the 11 members/KNIGHTS of THE ROUND TABLE to throw out the ruler.
That's not good enough, in my opinion. They may have allegiance to the thrown.