Remember the Guildford Four, the Birmingham Six and the Maguire Seven, those tragic Irish nationals wrongly accused and convicted in the 70s of bombing British pubs and performing other IRA acts of terrorism? Their story was made famous by the movie In the Name of the Father and even got mention in a Pogues song.
Then there were the Scottsboro Boys over in Alabama back in the early 30s. These nine black boys, ranging in ages twelve to nineteen, were accused of raping two white women on a train from Chattanooga to Memphis.
Oh, and how about the Chicago Seven, those counterculture activist tried and acquitted (or freed on appeal) for inciting riots and committing other acts of civil disobedience at the 1968 Chicago Democratic National Convention?
The common thread running through these groups is that all were caught up in an overzealous, prosecutorial campaign to gain convictions at whatever cost, civil liberties be damned, only to see their convictions overturned after years of legal, physical and mental torture.
So what’s the point of this history lesson? These stories, like so many more, have been captured in the annals of history not so much by the horrific facts of each incident, but by how the naming of these groups summons visions of global governmental violent oppression, false accusations, and decades of wrongful imprisonment, creating martyrs who inspired change.
Now the martyr-makers at the Florida Commission on Ethics have done their part in the same fashion to immortalize the vindication of the mayor, his staff, some city officials, and other local businessmen by dubbing these people at their ethics hearing as the JACKSONVILLE 11.
No joke. The Times-Union, in a single stroke of insensitive editorializing, and the Ethics Commission, in full mockery of the legal process (and as an affront to Leslie Goller who filed the ethics complaint), have attempted to invoke sympathy for these local officials and public figures by referring to them as the JACKSONVILLE 11, even though it was determined that they ALL BROKE STATE ETHICS LAWS by failing to disclose perks and gifts.
Yes. The state ethics commission found that rules were broken by the official’s failure to report perks received in excess of $100.00. The non-elected officials got off because they were not required to report the perks (it’s only wrong if there’s a law that says it’s wrong.) So, in essence, guilt was found. Yet the state did not see fit to go any further to penalize these saps because, well, there’s now a reporting system in place.
So who are the JACKSONVILLE 11 that we are now supposed to pity? First, there’s the mayor. Then Art Shad, Michael Corrigan, former Councilwoman Elaine Brown and former Chief Administrative Officer Dan Kleman. The others are former and current Peyton staffers Scott Teagle, Steve Diebenow, Adam Hollingsworth, Kerri Stewart, Trey Byrd and Dan McCarthy.
Make no mistake. These people were found to have committed the violations they were accused of. The real crime is that absolutely nothing will happen to them. I thank the Florida Commissions on Ethics for immortalizing the indiscretions of the JACKSONVILLE 11 and making them come off looking like victims and heroes.
Will “THE 11” now get t-shirts made? Will we have to endure an A&E special documenting their plight through the administrative legal system? Will we see Michael J. Fox play John Peyton in the biopic film adaptation of the book soon to be written by Bob Woodward? Will we soon be singing a folk song in their honor accompanied by an accordion and pan flute? Will the nightly news be filled with interviews of the accused families who are just grateful to see Johnny and Arty home again, completely vindicated.
You get the point.
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3 comments:
Here's what we've seen of Councilman Art Shad's - chair of the Finance Committee for the City Council -- increasingly bad judgment in just three short months of THIS year:
1. Jan. 15 - he gets yet another speeding ticket...check the city's arrest records and you'll see 13 cases/incidents on Arthur Harrison Shad, DOB 5/12/67.
2. Jan. 29 - after being frightened by a labrador retriever, he assaults a man in a local park. This story gets minimal coverage. The victim received five stitches for his encounter with his councilman in FEC Park. This is a park where Shad, an admitted dog phobic, knows there are dogs each afternoon. In fact, last year, he committed to financing an off-leash area in a small section of the 15-acre park to be sure the dogs there could run in their own space, then he went back on his word and shut the effort down. If he'd have done as he said he would last summer, there would have been no chance for him to do as he did this night -- make the monumentally stupid decision to run straight through a group of dogs, become frightened, then use very bad judgment and cold-cock a citizen who never touched him.
3. March 6 - in coverage of the Florida Commission on Ethics' decision that he broke state ethics laws -- his statements are just dismissive and flip. In the T-U, he said, "Going forward we'll just report the darn things." The darn things? His statements to WJCT were just offensive to me as a resident of his district -- no remorse, nothing.
The residents of District 5 -- and the rest of this city -- deserve someone with a greater sense of ethics, an awareness of the value of truth (he lied to the police officer about the incident in FEC Park and he lied to the media the following day -- he was never touched by either the dog or the victim in the case). We deserve someone who uses good judgment every day -- not someone who repeatedly reacts in ways that are dangerous to others, to himself and to the city.
He ought to resign, pure and simple. But he is never challenged - by the Mayor or his friends in the mayor's office, by the law, or by the media.
Why should the people of Jacksonville put up with Art Shad's bad judgment another day, much less for the remainder of his tenure in office?
Some of Art's indiscretions were desribed in a February 8, 2008, like the assault and Sunshine Law violation. His trouble with speeding tickets was alluded to. JaxOutLoud has also been very vocal. Leslie Goller did what she could to unseat Shad. Also played down is his substance abuse issue, which apparently he's been treated for. So the question is, when will the city and his constituents say "enough is enough?"
1. The I Can't Drive 55
2. The Stitches Five
3. The Stereo 90
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