While the crowd at Tammany on Gower are fighting over the recent firing of an internal auditor, they are missing a fairly obvious solution to the problem of ensuring that the City's books are well-watched: let John Noseworthy have a look at them.
The City of St. John's has been run for far too long as a closed shop without much in the way of public oversight or scrutiny. The current council - every single one of them - has yet to demonstrate the slightest concern for transparency and accountability particularly when it comes to the way city council spends public money.
Sure there has been plenty of talk, especially from Ron Ellsworth. But Ellsworth's already shown himself to be good at talk, but not much when it comes to the action of disclosure. Heck, when confronted with a simple question about a political poll he'd commissioned, Ellsworth couldn't figure out whether to fib or fess up. So he did both, first fibbing and then confessing he was behind it.
Talk is cheap.
If Ellsworth and his cronies at ToG want to earn public confidence, they'd start by letting John Noseworthy audit the city books.
At the same time, since they've made such a public spectacle of the internal auditor, it is incumbent on city officials to disclose the details of what went on. They will howl at the prospect and try and find every legal means to keep the whole mess under wraps, but the whole episode stinks to high heavens.
A little sunlight will help disinfect the place.
Something says, though, the council and senior officials will be doing everything possible to put up blinds, all the while talking a good game about the benefits of solar energy.
It's what city council does.
-srbp-