Archive: Opinions

In its July 5th, 2007 meeting the Tompkins County Legislature passed a resolution 9-6 calling for the impeachment of then President Bush and Vice President Cheney.  According to the Legislature's minutes of that meeting the vote followed a lengthy discussion.  Five years earlier the Ithaca Common Council voted 9-0 to approve a resolution requesting representatives in Congress to vote against potential resolutions that would allow Bush to declare war on Iraq.  A week ago last Wednesday the Caroline Town Council voted to oppose the repowering of the Cayuga Power Plant.

What do these have in common?  These governing bodies took time to discus and pass legislation on matters outside their jurisdiction.  What did they realistically hope to accomplish?  Were these legitimate resolutions, or an abuse of power?

People love to tell other people what they think.  When I was in college almost every door in every dorm had stuff that individualized the occupants, from jokes to art to political statements, to Vietnam war protest messages...  Today it's Facebook.  If you look at the sum of any "friend's" postings a pattern begins to emerge.  Some are intensely partisan or sarcastic politically.  Some post mostly about their children.  Others are all about music.  God.  Kim Kardashian.  Videos of cats.  Pictures of cats.  Cartoons about cats.

Is that what this is?  Because it resonates for a lot of people who live in our county (that agree with whatever the extra-jurisdictional vote is about).  Do the Caroline legislators think their vote was legitimate because climate change impacts every place in the world including Caroline?  Do they think it will influence the Public Service Commission's decision on whether or not to repower the plant?

Or are they wasting time that their constituents rightly expect them to spend on the business of the jurisdiction they do have?  Isn't there enough for them to do within their own boundaries?  Are all the water lines and sewer pipes and roadways and parks really in such great shape that they have plenty of extra time to legislate something that only the state  government can effectively legislate because it is within state jurisdiction?

I have heard a number of people in Lansing, including county legislators scoff at the waste of time the County Legislature indulges in when they go off on these extra-jurisdictional jaunts.  If you go down to basics, legislators at any level of government are theoretically supposed to work on maintaining infrastructure and making things better for their constituents.  If that is true, what are these votes that lack jurisdictional authority for?

The word 'unprofessional' was used in Wednesday's Lansing Town Board meeting to describe the Caroline vote.  But sometimes unprofessionalism can be a good thing.  Elected officials, including the forefathers of our country, are supposed to be lay people who take some time out of their lives to serve their fellow citizens and then go back to their own lives, families and businesses.  That there are so many professional politicians in Washington and Albany goes against this American tradition, to the detriment of our country, states, counties, etc.  Because when it becomes about politics it ceases to be about people.

So I don't mind a little unprofessionalism amongst our elected officials, as long as they reign it in and do their best to avoid it.

Is it a waste of taxpayers' time?  Sort of, but not really.  Most taxpayers don't attend legislative meetings, so their time isn't wasted.  It is, however, a waste of legislators' time.  At least from the county level on down legislators don't get paid that much to manage our communities.  They do it more to contribute to their communities than to profit from them, or most of them do, in my experience.  That makes their time a lot more valuable than that of professional politicians in Albany and Washington.  That some of them are willing to waste the time of their colleagues on these various legislatures seems a bit clueless and just plain rude.

If you think being on the Town Board or County Legislature is just a few meetings a month, you are sorely misinformed.  People call them all the time.  They email them and leave Facebook messages that require research and answers.  They serve on committees, act as liaisons to other committees and governing bodies.  It can become a full time job without a full time salary if they let it, and many do.  So wasting their time is pretty darned disrespectful at best.

Is it something they ought to do as citizens of the world?  Yes, of course.  But not as legislators of a community that has boundaries both physical and jurisdictional.  Tompkins County legislators should call for the impeachment of a fellow legislator if it is warranted.  The Ithaca Common Council is obligated to regulate whether or not the City of Ithaca declares war on Iraq.  And the Caroline Town Board can absolutely vote to forbid fossil fuel burning within Caroline's borders.  As legislators they are obligated to do so within their jurisdiction.   But not outside.

As citizens of the world they can and should do whatever they believe is right.  I don't mind if legislators lobby, outside the structure of their government positions, for things they passionately believe in.  I don't even mind if they use their government position as a credential to lend credence to their opinion.

But in their role as elected officials they are legislators, not lobbyists.  It doesn't matter if it is a county legislature or a town board.  If the Lansing Town Board indulged in votes like this it would be equally dumb.

Voting outside a body's jurisdiction diminishes legislators' authority because it makes them appear too dim to understand what their actual purview is, and gives the appearance that they think they don't have enough to do that actually is within the scope of their official influence.  It is a lot like putting something that makes a statement about your individuality on your college dorm room door.  It trumpets who you are, but is trivial and has no real influence.  It makes legislators appear ridiculous and less influential.  And it ticks off the legislators who actually do have influence on these things.

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