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News Article
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Citizens commission still at work
By David Crowder
The Citizens Commission for Best Practices in Government is still working quietly but hard, according to its chairman, lawyer Enrique Moreno.
Established by businessman Woody Hunt and others in 2007 as a community response to the federal probe of public corruption, the commission conducted its first and only public meeting last September.
Since then, the commission has posted on its Web site answers to 27 questions about corruption submitted by people who attended that meeting. The site is www.citizenscommission.org.
One person asked, “What is the best way to forestall corrupt behavior?”
The response: “Eliminate the incentives for such behavior including the belief that once elected, the official is a ‘law unto themselves’ and that as long as whatever is done is for the ‘betterment’ of the community, it can be justified.”
The online answer continues: “Critically, the ends are just as important as the means, and so they are not justified if they reek of cronyism or subjective assessments based on factors other than capability, performance, honor, and good work.”
Now, the commission chair is looking for allies.
“What we’ve been doing is certainly long term and it is by no means sexy,” Moreno said. “It involves things I think are not easy to tackle, so we’ve been wanting to add some partners to the initiative.”
The El Paso and Mexican-American bar associations have joined, he said, and the El Paso County Commissioners Court has been invited to work with the citizen’s commission.
“I think there’s a role for us to collaborate with the county,” Moreno said, but further outreach is on hold.
So, too, is the commission’s next public meeting.
“I think the election is taking up all the oxygen in the air right now and there’s nothing wrong with that,” Moreno said. “We will re-engage with some public things afterward.”
The citizens commission – not to be confused with the county’s new ethics commission or any other public body – is aiming at institutional change within local governments that have been touched by corruption and the investigation by the FBI and U.S. attorney’s office.
“It’s easy to say ‘I’m all for good government and ethical conduct,’” Moreno said. “But what can you do, in terms of specific actions that would make some of the things that have occurred a lot more difficult to do? Those are the type of discussions we are having.”
One way to clean up public purchasing and contracts might be the adoption of the kind of blind bidding the federal government often uses, he said. Bidders’ identities are kept secret and their bids are given numbers during the evaluation and award processes to cut down on favoritism and the possible influence of money.
“That’s a discussion I think needs to happen because so many of these issues involve procurement,” Moreno said. “And I think there ought to be discussions within the electoral process and in county government.”
The commission’s other members are vice chair Blanca Enríquez, Janet Aguilar, Alicia Chácon, Irene Chávez, Belén Robles, Dick Schwein, Rev. John Stowe, Steve Yellen, Jule Zimet and Deborah Zuloaga.
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| LisaT - posted: 2/8/2010 5:11:37 PM
Where are the voices condemning the possibility of closed door sessions of the PURB. Hey what they are doing is not important. It's just 2 rate cases. One for El Paso Electric and one for Texas Gas. No impact there is there. | |
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