Hunting the white mafia: Putting good ole boys on notice.

[The Backlash Cometh]

I'd like to believe that our awareness of public misbehavior is increasing, and with it will come a demand for improved prosecution of public officials who use their positions to benefit themselves, their family members or their business cronies. To some of us who live in counties where the good ole boys take liberties with zoning rules and who use public land and resources as their own private orchard, that day won't come soon enough.

Many of us hear rumors, for example, about Federal money that was once given to a local government to invest in parks, only for the land and money to suddenly end up in private hands. But what if that crime is still prosecutable even if it happened years ago? If there is no statute of limitations on fraud, it would mean that we would be entitled to open doors that would take us into the homes of some seriously politically connected individuals. So the question I have is this, will prosecuting good ole boys destroy the fabric of our local communities? They will be a formidable foe since they've formed networks and alliances with some powerful law firms. Or will they never be prosecuted because they are so pervasive and ingrained in our society?

I'd like to hear from those DUers who really know what I'm talking about.

[Alacrat]

1. I think it should be the government mafia

it's not just the "good ole boys", the problem is wide spread among public officials. Locally we have city council members, county commissioners, heads of two year college systems, political appointees from both sides of the isle, etc..etc.. getting busted for misappropriating public money, giving jobs and contracts to relatives, giving scholarships to students who don't attend schools, using public money and county contractors to build private homes out of state. the list could go on and on. Unfortunately these officials are democrat and repugs, black and white, male and female. I believe we should add a new law making it a crime to abuse the publics trust, make it an offense that is added to other corruption charges. These people not only steal the publics money or land, they steal the trust of the people, making the public unable to trust their government even after the offenders have been caught and prosecuted, and IMO that is the worst part of their crimes.

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. No, no. "government mafia" would be the worst sort of name.

That's how the Republicans managed to finagle a deregulation of everything that was labeled "government." Even the good part of government. In my area, white mafia would be appropriate because that's who holds the reigns of local power. They're Republican and very, very white and prejudiced about anyone who isn't like them.

The new law you speak of should put the power in the hands of the citizens, directly, since every agency that was suppose to thwart these abuses have failed us. The legal field is a joke. Lawyers go where the money is, and the money is where corrupt people are usurping the public trust and getting away with it, often with a lawyer's help.

However, I suggest one caveat about the citizens who are allowed the special powers to take action against public office abusers. They should do it for all the right reasons: For the PUBLIC good. Not for the good of INDIVIDUALS. I worked with a Libertarian who was very much an activist and a thorn at the city's side, just to gather information to give to developers who kept applying even more pressure against city hall for concessions that would result in the public paying even more money. We need a franchised Ralph Nadar-like organization comprised of pro-bono lawyers and burned-out journalists who are sick and tired of the system, and who are ready to do the right thing. Go city by city gathering stories from the citizenry and researching the good ole boy takeover of public land and resources, then using every measure to bring attention to the public to either work through the election system to clean up the problems, or take it to the courts.

It's Backlash time.