Tyranny Lisbon Style: A Fine Performance

Editor's note:  Before reading the following article we thought it best to explain that Police Chief David T. Brooks is the TYRANT in Lisbon that we are explicitly referring to.  In all reality he is nothing.  Stand up to him. He has used his power of authority to rule Lisbon for HIS own benefit.  Using his "so called" power as Police Chief in a little community that really doesn't even need a police department as big as it is.  All in the name of making his own legacy.  Well whoop dee doo.  The town's financial situation is critical.  The state mandated monetary reserve is lower then suggested because of poor Town Management, mostly to keep the over funded Police Department going.  

tyr·an·ny

 [tir-uh-nee]  Show IPA

noun, plural -nies.

1.

arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power; despotic abuse of authority.

2.

the government or rule of a tyrant or absolute ruler.

3.

a state ruled by a tyrant or absolute ruler.

4.

oppressive or unjustly severe government on the part of any ruler.

5.

undue severity or harshness.

  A Fine Performance

On Monday night Lisbon’s Ethics Panel gave a fine performance dancing around the most pertinent issues surrounding Councilor Bowie’s Conflict of Interest. 

    The following critically important facts were never addressed:

•      A large portion of the Bowie family income is derived from the Police Department payroll. To say that it is possible to be unbiased under these circumstances is expecting too much from human nature.

•     If  the Police budget and/or personnel ever need to be slashed can we really expect Mr. Bowie to have an open mind on the cuts.  Could YOU indirectly fire your own wife or spouse.

•     As long as the Councilor’s wife is a Police employee there is potential leverage to obtain a favorable vote from at least one Councilor.

This  relationship is in clear violation of our Town’s Charter  Chapter 12 “Ethics and Conflicts” section  12-5. - Additional standards.

(A)----Standard of conduct. A public official, other than the town manager or the superintendent of schools, who is a municipal or school department employee shall not hold a supervisory position, or be senior in the chain-of-command, to an individual with whom he or she has a personal relationship or a financial involvement (other than the municipal or school system employment relationship), unless:

Councilor Bowie is obviously a senior in  Mrs. Bowie’s  “chain of command” and is covered by the above charter excerpt. And due to the lack of a higher municipal governing body they are also unable to fulfill any exempting requirement that would rectify this conflict.

I feel that instead of confronting this conflict the Ethics Panel decided to skirt the real issue and use the ethics guidelines to hide from an uncomfortable ethics decision. By doing this “end run” they have placed their own integrity in question.

We all know what needs to be done here. Lets put integrity back in Lisbon Town Government.

Respectfully
Joe Hill
lisbonmaine.net