Thursday, March 27, 2008

Nepotism in Norristown?

I'm not sure if nepotism is the right word to use here because the home rule charter Norristown is now under doesn't really say an elected official is not allowed to get a borough job for two of his children. It does have several entries about employees of the borough not being allowed to hiring family members, especially if that person would be supervising said family member. And it has another entry about nepotism after the fact, describing an instance where someone already employed might be in violation if a relative is elected or appointed to a position.
Why I find this so astonishing and why I'm going into such detail is that I can't believe there isn't a clause in the new home rule charter that states something along the lines of 'relatives of elected officials are not to be hired by any department head within the municipality.'
Here's the deal. Two of Councilman David Hodo's children have been hired by the borough. Now I know David. I've spoken with him on a number of occasions and he seems like a fine gentleman to me, but certainly we can all see where there is at the very least an appearance of a conflict of interest.
What is an employee to do if an elected official, one who could very well hold said employee's livelihood in the palm of his hand, comes to the employee and asks them to hire their son or daughter?
Now what happens if said children find themselves in a bit of a pickle with the local police department?
There are just too many 'what ifs.'
Nepotism or favoritism. No matter how you slice it, it just doesn't seem right.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Vote switching in America

If you're a Republican what are you going to be doing April 22?
I know what I won't be doing. I won't be switching my party registration so I can vote for Hillary to hurt Barack.
What ever happened to may the best man (or woman) win?
I think McCain has it sewn up anyway, and here's why.
Hillary's supporters hate Barack so much that if he gets the nomination all of her followers will migrate over to McCain. And the same goes for Barack's supporters.
So I'll be sitting in the newsroom watching the returns.
What will you be doing?

Monday, March 17, 2008

Let's keep the conversation moving

We made a couple of mistakes with the Jim Van Horn story in last Friday's edition. I haven't seen the reporter since then, but trust me when I tell you I'll let him know exactly where he was when he went to District Justice Augustine's office. There also was a problem with the charge, which, apparently was harassment, not disorderly conduct, which leads me to the topic of discussion.
Should Van Horn resign from the school board?
If you think he should let me know why, and if you think he shouldn't let me know why as well.

Monday, March 3, 2008

Will the real anonymous please stand up?

What's with all the anonymous comments? Do you really believe someone is going to hunt you down if you put your real name on a comment? How about this, if you don't want to put your full name, how about just your first name? I put my name up here, why don't you? There's one anonymous who keeps on and on about how I'm connected to Mark Marino and I'm afraid to post his comments because....I'm not afraid, I'm just tired of reading the same blather over and over again. I posted it the first time you said it, but I'm not going to keep posting the same comment. Come up with something original for Pete's sake. Or, better yet, try to further the conversation just a bit. And when you do, please, put your first name, at least, on the post. There are a couple of people who have been using their real names on posts and I think it just lends credibility. The idea of this blog is to further public discourse, not provide a bully pulpit for someone who wants to post derogatory comments about other people. So, will the real anonymous please stand up?