Friday, December 24, 2010
Mission spin: part 2
Let’s continue an examination of the ‘Bastrop County Mission, Values, and Objectives’ by considering the ‘Our Values’ section.
‘Integrity’, ‘Accountability’, and ‘Respect’ deserve special attention because without these three, the remaining five ‘Values’ are just window dressing.
INTEGRITY: ‘Practicing honesty and ethical behavior in our dealings with one another and with those who entrust us with the governance of the County’.
Webster’s definition of integrity is: ‘Being of sound moral principle; uprightness, honesty, and sincerity’. Now, would anybody who has followed the CTA/Eco-Merge fiasco, and read the Freedom of Information documents which have been made partially available to us, really believe that any ‘moral principle’ was followed when the Commissioners negotiated and approved the 381 Agreement behind closed doors? How does a decision made without any public input and which may ruin hundreds of people’s lives uphold the integrity that is professed?
ACCOUNTABILITY: ‘Accepting responsibility for one’s actions.’
Just how does that phrase square with the video evidence of Judge McDonald promising a public hearing for citizens on the CTA, and then, after repeated requests from citizens for him to honor the promise, he tries to convince the people that he was speaking about a MUD, and not the entire project?
RESPECT: ‘Treating others the way we would like to be treated.’
How respectful is it to leave those who would be most affected by the CTA project completely out of the negotiating equation? Why weren’t the people of this County treated with the same consideration as Carpenter & Associates? The Court has given citizens of this County zero respect and endangered the future of many in the process. If only the Court practiced what it preached.
Bastrop County, as the rest of the United States, should operate on a system of representative Democracy which mandates that our elected officials carry out the wishes of the electorate and seek their input on issues that may materially affect their existence. Attempts to undermine this system are usually prefaced by ’spin’ designed to make you think you’re getting exactly that, when you’re only getting a corporate sow’s ear dressed up like a silk purse.
Are the ‘Bastrop County Mission, Values, and Objectives’ spinning too fast for you to read?
