Municipal whistle-blowers—and political shysters—may no longer be protected by anonymity, if a proposal by the city’s Elections Commission is approved.
The proposal suggests that all written complaints of improprieties be signed before they are submitted to a law firm for investigation, and that callers to the anonymous tip hotline state their precise relationship to the person they are accusing.
The proposal was made in response to a series of allegations surrounding former mayor Tom McEnery, which ultimately were found to have no merit. The anonymous complainant, who was represented by the well-connected attorney James McManis, charged that McEnery failed to disclose meetings with top city officials about plans to develop his family’s downtown property at San Pedro Square. The elections commission unanimously dismissed the complaint—a copy of which was secretly circulated to McEnery’s neighbors.
Read John Woolfolk’s article in today’s Merc here.
This regulation will be known as the Bump Rule. There is such a thing as the Little Lindbergh Law and other laws with names. This will be known as the Bump Rule. As France frowns on extradition, Phil has taken flight.
Too bad SJI hasn’t sought to limit anonymous bloggers.
It’s a good plan to keep regulations from having an overly broad application. The regulation should be specific enough that it only serves its intended purpose and no more.
In this case, for example, the regulation could prohibit any further complaints about Tom McEnery.