Tom Gordon Blames the News Journal for His Own Lack of Transparency

Tom Gordon Blames the News Journal for His Own Lack of Transparency

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This week's unnecessary controversy is over a planned trip to Denmark (!) by Community Services Manager, Sophia Hanson, and an unnamed other county employee to inspect a library that apparently they think is a model for what they want to do with the planned library across the street (sort of) from Chris Bullock's church on Rt 9. County Council did not know of this trip until Councilman George Smiley asked about it after a presentation on this library this week. It isn't clear that any one knows much more about this trip, but Adam Taylor of the NJ asked for more detail and was pretty much told that the County won't release more information on this because the County Executive thinks that the NJ is just going to do a hit piece:
County spokesman Tony Prado said Friday that Gordon administration officials would not talk about the trip. They wouldn't say who was going, when the trip is scheduled to take place, how much it will cost, whose idea it was, or why it is necessary to visit a library in Denmark. "The executive is concerned this is going to be a negative story and he doesn't want to comment," Prado said. "This has been a project that is near and dear to his heart, and the executive feels like this is going to be a hit piece, so he would just rather not comment."
A Small Request for County Councilwoman Lisa Diller

A Small Request for County Councilwoman Lisa Diller

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Most of us have seen this grandstanding bit of business from Tom Gordon publicly calling for an apology from you for insisting on requests for information from the County Executive's Office be provided when requested. Ms. Diller's response here has been characterized as yelling -- which it might be, it certainly sounds as though she's frustrated with the lack of communication and the selective release of information to Councilmembers. If you listen to the audio of that meeting, (start around the 10 minute mark) you hear one Councilman talk about the Administration spending money on events and photo ops the County doesn't seem to have. The rest of this discussion is specifically about the refusal of Gordon and the County Attorney to provide a briefing in Executive Committee during that Finance Committee on the Pike Creek appeal.

Developers Running the Show in NCCo

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Sunday's NJ featured a fantastic piece of reporting by Adam Taylor and Maureen Milford. Called Influence, Access Taint Land-Use Decisions, this is a remarkably detailed look at how the NCCo land use planning process -- from both the county and the DelDOT side was apparently captured by the developers, their lawyers and their lobbyists. Not only that, but Pam Scott's showy leaving of Saul Ewing was just for show. So not only is the land planning process broken, but so is the Ethics Policy in the county.

We Don’t Need No Stinking Ethics Commission!

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NCCo County Executive Paul Clark wants us to believe that cutting back on the County's Ethics Commission budget is somehow good fiscal responsibility. When in fact -- and certainly given his own "ethics" history -- it is utterly irresponsible to cut back the ability of this Commission to watch over the doings and interactions of individuals in County government.

The Next Elected Office Mike Protack Will Lose

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This is an interesting article -- one that details Protack's long-time losing streak and continues the tradition of local Republican Party officials running away from him or trying not to acknowledge his existence. If this is the candidate that NCCo Chair Fleming ends up with that is not an especially auspicious start of this chairmanship.

NCCo Tries to Make Ethics Reports Harder to Get

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According to the NJ, the NCCo Council is looking to provide itself some cover from having to release some of its ethics reports. You read that right. Paul Clark and Georgie Smiley are working at a bank shot with this bill -- trying to pretend that the work of the Commission doesn't count with the public unless they find a problem:

NCCo Budget 2010

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Yesterday evening, County Executive Chris Coons delivered his budget address. He took about 40 minutes to deliver this, including an extensive setup of his Listening Tour (which rhetorically at least)…