The following story describes a situation where an investigation of the behaviour of two State Senators done by their staff found both Senators "innocent". This is a staff that works for the Senate and their eventual jobs may depend on these Senators. Maybe the state should look at all of the various ethics boards or commissions and make sure that the membership is not made up of the people who are regulated by the ethics board or are paid by the individual professional being investigated. This should also include the prohibition of members of the same profession serving on the ethics board for the profession that they govern. Doctors, lawyers, judges, nurses, etc., all have a majority of their profession on their ethics boards or commissions.
Here is the news report on the Senators:
LANSING — A state Senate investigation into a heated exchange between two members in a Capitol elevator June 17 found “insufficient evidence” of behavior that would require disciplinary action, Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, announced today.
triggerAd(1,PaginationPage,2);
Bishop, in a letter sent to Sen. Irma Clark-Coleman, D-Detroit, said he would not take any formal action against Sen. Roger Kahn, R-Saginaw, who Clark-Coleman had accused of acting in a threatening manner toward her during an argument over state spending.
An investigation of the incident by Senate staff concluded the two had a loud and angry, and brief, confrontation. But there was little evidence beyond Clark-Coleman’s assertion that Kahn had given his colleague reason to be fearful, the report said.
Clark-Coleman told investigators Kahn was so angry he “looked like a blowfish” and that she feared he would strike her during the exchange. But other witnesses — there were two other senators and an aide in the elevator — said that, while both Kahn and Clark-Coleman were extremely agitated, the encounter did not appear to verge on violence.
The two senators clashed after a committee hearing in which the Republican majority voted to cut funding for Wayne County’s community mental health programs. Clark-Coleman said the vote was heartless and discriminatory.
End of Story......
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
American government was desoigned with a seperation of powers with the intention of preventing these types of conflicts of interest. Most involved with the legal profession are aware that lawyers violate the rules of professional conduct regularially. As the Attorny Discipline board is comprised of lawyers, little action is taken to resolve complaints. In 2003 the Michigan Supreme Court issued a corrected order proposing standards for sanctions for those who violate the rules of professional conduct. Supreme court justice Young, J stated "I hope that consideration of these proposals will raise awareness and spark a spirited debate on the question of now WHETHER the organized bar will self police its incompetent members, but of HOW it should do so." It would appear that this problem is pervasive enough to get the attention of the bar's most prominent members. Several versions of these standards exist, however no action seems to be taken to enact them. It would seem that the Michigan BAR association cannot take the conservative action of even putting regulations into place. Self regulation of the Michigan BAR is failing wholeheartedly.
ReplyDelete