Wednesday, April 22, 2009

DISCUSSION: ETHICS REFORM, A HEALY DIVERSIONARY TACTIC?



The STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report/SCPR) would like to take Mayor William J. Healy, II at his word that he is sincerely for ethics reform.

But yours truly cannot.

Too much water has flowed over the dam for that. The Report believes that these are desperate times for Healy and he is flailing about to find a life raft to save his political viability in Canton and Stark County.

After listening to Healy's proposal several times (including the live presentation), The Report sees the proposal as containing one poisoned pill, if not several.

The "killer pill" for sure is the requirement that council members and city administration officials make their city of Canton income tax returns public.

Healy has to know that there is no way council will agree to this. Presidential candidates labor over press demands that they reveal their federal incomes tax returns. And Healy thinks that city council members are going to agree to such a requirement?

Healy, being the smart - in some ways - guy he is, undoubtedly has calculated this factor and figures he has created a failsafe harbor amidst allegations he has conducted himself unethically.

Well, he says to the public, I proposed the ethical reform. I was for it. Who failed to pass it? Canton City Council, that's who.

Watch the accompanying video in which Healy attempts to bootstrap himself into being the ethical one. Throughout the video he figuratively points the finger at Council as being the ethically challenged.

The Report is not buying what appears to be a Healy political gambit.

Here is the video.

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