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I'm not even complaining, at best I'm armchair quarterbacking :) I made an observation that mixing local politics with getting approval for an already set rule

• nobody9999 5y ago
  >I'm not even complaining, at best I'm armchair quarterbacking :) >I made an observation that mixing local politics with getting approval for an already set rules seems ripe for conflicts of interest, inconsistency, arbitrariness, predictably bad optics when local special interest groups get favorable treatment compared to less special (ie. poorer) groups. Fair enough. My apologies if it seems I pushed a little hard on that. It's just that far too many people seem to take every opportunity to metaphorically roll up their newspaper and take swipes while yelling "Gub'mint bad! Bad gub'mint!" I'm emphatically not claiming that's what you were doing, but knee-jerk condemnation of "gub'mint" is far too common in the US these days, which makes me a little over sensitive on that topic. That idea is, at least in the US (and other democracies), ridiculous in the extreme given that we are the government, or at least we elect the folks who run it. I agree. There are many opportunities for conflicts of interest, arbitrariness and outright graft, especially in state and local government. That said, I'll repeat my statement from the comment to which you replied: You elected those those folks. If they aren't doing it right, then elect someone else. If your representatives are inept or inefficient, find some folks who aren't. If your representatives are corrupt (here's a particularly lurid case[0]), then boot them out and prosecute them where appropriate. >basically separation of powers is missing at the local level. the executive branch (ie. civil service) should be separate from the local "legislature" Not sure how it is where you are, but we have separate "branches" where I live in NYC[1]. The Mayor (and myriad city agencies) makes up the "executive" and the city council (as well as local community boards -- at least in an advisory capacity) makes up the "legislative" branch. They are separate entities and, just as it is in the Federal government, no legislator can simultaneously serve in the executive branch or vice versa. I know that many (most?) parliamentary democracies don't operate that way, with sitting legislators from the ruling party/coalition serving in executive roles. That's just not the case where I am, or in most other state and local governments in the US AFAIK. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Manes#Downfall_and_suicide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Manes#Downfall_and_suic... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_New_York_City https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_New_York_City