They are asking lots of questions about how they can be at any meeting, other than a scheduled Co.Commission meeting, and talk or share information. It really shows how little the commissioners and John Owings know about how to conduct business in compliance with the Open Meetings Act. They really do need a class or seminar on how to do it right.

They really do need a class or seminar on how to do it right.

Maybe the first actually good idea to come out of all this mess.

(Assuming that some of them even care about good government v. "who's your daddy" and "what have you done for me lately."

They really do need a class or seminar on how to do it right.

Sounds like a good idea; City Council already does that very thing:

Charles Swanson, who represents the Knoxville City Council, said he advises council members not to discuss upcoming votes.

"In my opinion," Swanson said, "they should not talk about any pending matter that could come up for a vote."

To make sure council members are up to speed on the law, Swanson trains them in the sunshine law’s intricacies.

"We have an orientation session when City Council members are elected," Swanson said. "One of the things we do is go over the Open Meetings Act and what council members are allowed to do and what they are not allowed to do."

You would think it wouldn't be that difficult or earth-shattering for Scoob et al. to wander down the hall in their own freaking building and sit in on one of these sessions.

~Russ

Don Daugherty

I just mailed out this release and thought folks might want to see it before it gets picked up (if it gets picked up).

KNOX DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHIEF BLASTS TRUSTEE SISK
FOR POLITICIZING PROPERTY TAX BILLINGS AND
DEMANDS REIMBURSEMENT FROM SISK CAMPAIGN

Knox County Trustee Fred Sisk is guilty of blatant political maneuvering at taxpayers’ expense, says Knox County Democratic Party Chairman Don Daugherty. The Trustee’s Office recently completed its annual mailing of property tax bills to Knox County real estate owners. The bills were mailed, as usual, at taxpayers’ expense. Nothing at all is wrong with that. This time, however, Sisk included a slick, full-color brochure, pie-chart included, touting not only the Trustee’s accomplishments during the 2006 tax year, but also Sisk’s personal biography.

While Knox County property owners are used to the yearly receipt of the tax bills mailed by the Trustee’s Office in or around October, they do not usually receive county-printed brochures as inserts in the bills touting the qualifications of the Trustee. In the brochure, Sisk, appointed to the Trustee’s position on January 31, 2007 after former Trustee Mike Lowe was removed from office after the Supreme Court’s decision on term limits, plugs his educational background, work experience (an “18 year history in the Trustee’s Office providing a wealth of institutional knowledge”), community activism, and religious and civic affiliations. Sisk is now running for the Trustee post, which is on the ballot in 2008.

The two-sided piece, printed at public expense, is a blatant violation of the very spirit of Tennessee’s campaign finance laws, says Daugherty: “A county officeholder should not at any time, use public monies top promote his own political campaign. That is precisely what Sisk has done on this occasion: he has used a routine county-business mass mailing to promote his election.”

Daugherty says the taxpayers of Knox County deserve an apology. More than that, he says, Sisk’s campaign should come clean and reimburse the Trustee’s Office for the total cost of printing the brochures, the cost of employee-time spent preparing the pieces for mailing, and the extra-mailing costs associated with the mailing.

With everything that has occurred in Knox County in the past year, one would think that Sisk would not have made such a brazen and plainly unethical move. “It is as if these guys think they’re entitled to steal from the public,” said Daugherty.

Finally, Daugherty said that he will register a complaint with the proper officials, including asking the County Commission to use it’s newly-discovered investigative powers to resolve the matter to the taxpayers’ satisfaction.

I got my property notice and was stunned. I can't believe anyone would be that brazen about stealing from the public treasury.

THROW THEM ALL OUT.

(link...)