Shakedown

There was an excellent article in today's Orlando Sentinel on the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority which highlighted the many problems we find with quasi-governmental agencies. As noted in their article, the authority suffers from a culture of corruption at most levels, and has been using its influential powers to swing elections and create ways to take more money from residents. The sad news is that this type of environment is found in governments around the state, including Osceola County.

Here at home, the shakedowns are more blatant but our media is not usually all that aggressive in following up on claims of harassment and cronyism. For years, contractors and developers have been 'urged' to give donations to local pet project organizations used by politicians to leverage re-election bids. It has been so commonplace that many of these companies just consider these 'donations' as a cost of doing business in Osceola County. While we believe that it is important that companies doing business in our county are aware of the non-profit agencies we have in place to help our residents, we do not believe that the pay-to-play model belongs in our community. Organizations such as the Education Foundation, the Boys and Girls Club, and H.O.M.E have, in the past, reaped huge benefits from commissioners who had taken a shine to them. Many of the comments directing developers, who were going through the zoning process, to seek out specific charities have been caught on commission meeting tapes that no one ever questions. Of course now that the money is tight and times are hard the shakedowns have subsided, but the mentality still exists. Political favors here, adjusting an ordinance there, or helping to use taxpayer dollars to finance expanded strip mall developments are just new evolutions of the same game that not one elected official has taken any steps to stop.

Strong ethics reforms must be put in place. Many of the comments and e-mails we have received over the past few weeks have centered around the same arguments. There is no trust and very little confidence in our local elected officials. From insiders and outsiders alike, the sentiment is the same, "We do not trust government to do the right thing." We find this very sad during such difficult times.

Not one of the local governments has made any moves toward ethics reforms even being discussed this year. And in the meantime, the new 'Buy Local' policy already appears to have been hijacked to keep certain affiliated 'mud dropping' members in check. While the WayneWho staff has been excited to hear about the surge in local companies going after local contracts, we have been disheartened in the feedback we have received in how the selection process seems to be working. While we have no evidence of shady dealings with the new process, and only rumors at this point, we are concerned that more has not been done to eliminate the negative perceptions in our local processes. Reforms are needed to rebuild trust in our local process by stopping the possibility of shady dealings. The time for local governments to move on honest ethics reforms is now. The days of the 'shakedown' must come to an end.