State Rep. Tom Saunders is re-introducing a bill that would prohibit employees of city, county and town government from serving as elected officials within their local government.
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"I'm not picking on any one individual, but it's a conflict of interest if you are a police officer or firefighter sitting on a council or board of commissioners and vote on issues pertaining to your employment, your salary. It sends the wrong message, I think, to the public."
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Prohibiting employees of local government from serving as members of legislative or fiscal bodies within the same local government was one of the recommendations of the Indiana Commission on Local Government Reform.
State law already requires disclosure of conflicts of interest, but not refraining from a vote when there is a conflict. When they're running for office, government employees usually say they're ethical enough to refrain when there is a conflict, but things can get a little fuzzy when they're actually in office. Councilman and police officer Marty Bender, for example, really should have recused himself last year when a proposal came up to trim pension benefits for city employees, but he vigorously opposed it.
Just eliminate the potential for problems by prohibiting those employees from serving. People should not be in both the executive and legislative branches.
Comments
"People should not be in both the executive and legislative branches."- but our state constitution calls for County Commissioners who are both!