Left In Lowell

Well, you can’t say Governor Patrick is sitting around on his hands with this ethics problem swirling around Beacon Hill. From a press release yesterday:

GOVERNOR PATRICK ESTABLISHES TASK FORCE ON PUBLIC INTEGRITY
Bi-Partisan Task Force Will Advise Governor on Ethics and Lobbying Reform

Governor Deval Patrick today signed an Executive Order forming the Governor’s Task Force on Public Integrity. The task force will examine the existing regulatory frameworks that govern ethics, lobbying and public employee conduct, and will seek input from public officials, experts and the public. The group will make recommendations within 60 days relative to legislation necessary to strengthen current laws, regulations, investigative and enforcement mechanisms, and penalties.

“We in public office are not entitled to our positions. We are placed here by voters to do the best we can on their behalf, and we are expected to conduct their business honestly and openly,” said Governor Patrick. “The members of this task force offer a broad range of professional backgrounds and experience. All of them share a commitment to ensuring the highest standards of honesty and public integrity.”

For more details, you can go here for the full press release (including the names of the people appointed to the 12-member task force) and the video/transcript of the speech.

Who knows if this will really do anything in the end (though I like the idea of this coming down to legislation the Governor introduces…at the very least, even if it fails, it’ll showcase the good guys and the bad in the legislature). But hey, it can’t hurt. It’s better than a kick to the head, anyway.

By the way, this task force includes getting input from the public, so if you have something productive to offer, please do. If you are one of those people who bitch and moan about the corruption on Beacon Hill and you don’t put your input in, I don’t ever want to hear you complain again, on this blog or anywhere. This is your chance to do something productive about this problem instead of just trying to run candidates against it. (That means you conservatives, too.) Of course, to my mind, those same people who do the most bitching are the ones that want to keep that corruption around - it strengthens their arguments against Big Government. If government actually worked really well (I argue that it already is headed there under progressives), then how would you convince people to be pissed off about it and vote for your guy? You might actually then have to run on the issues…heaven forfend.