"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Sunday 15 September 2013

In The Eye of the Beholder

12.53 comment to Variations on a Theme post.

You are right. No member of  council has authority to direct staff.  It's covered in. Clause  4
of the Code of Conduct. 

Which  was  the predeccessor of the Code of Ethics. 

Which was preceded  by  a  written policy. 

Which was preceded by  a common understanding of the principle of  democracy. 

The various Codes  have required Council members to read and understand   whichever Code  is in effect. 

Therein  lay the perennial problem. 

It may be something like Quebec's  proposed Charter of Values ; interpretation  . 

It depends on who you happen to be talking to .

If, for example , you talk to Councillor  Gaertner ,you would  receive a different interpretation than if you're talking to me. But it  could be the same  as several other Councillors. 

Which is why I haven't signed two copies of the document. one to remind me of my commitment to abide by  principles, not commonly understood  let alone practiced by other members of council. 


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Once you have enough votes to become elected, nothing more needs to be signed.

Anonymous said...

I'm pretty sure there was a lot of Councillor-directing- Staff in the previous administration. This term it appears to be the other way around. But it's very hard to tell who knows what at the table. Certainly not a group working as a whole to accomplish something for residents.

Anonymous said...

Didn't know you had a late shift. Raining nicely. Sleep well.