Creating Open and Accountable Government

By John F. Innelli

For the past 28 years Delaware County has been subject to one-party rule. County Council, which is responsible for a half a billion dollar budget, is run by five Republican members, who are far from independent in their thoughts, actions, or interests. In fact, with each passing year the Republican machine in control of County Council has grown more secretive, more autocratic, and less responsive to the people and the needs of our county. We have allowed this dangerous trend to continue for far too long. Today the consequences can no longer be ignored.

County Council's mismanagement of our resources and finances has seriously jeopardized our health, environment, and economic future. These are the consequences of a government run by a party machine that is more concerned with maintaining power than with serving the people. County Council does not seek out novel and creative solutions to the issues that affect us. Instead of proactively tackling problems across our county with a vision for creating a better future, Council has become complacent and unresponsive to the needs of the county. All important decision affecting our health, environment, and economic future are made by the leaders of the Republican machine, outside of public view, with little or no dissent or discussion. Halliburton-style no-bid contracts are regularly handed out to the politically connected instead of the most qualified candidates, and open public meetings are treated as compulsory formalities, where matters of substance are neither discussed nor debated.

The deplorable political culture in Delaware County, fostered and furthered by the Republican monopoly on power, can only be cleaned up through renewed efforts at government transparency. I believe that transparency brings accountability, and with accountability comes leadership that is truly responsive and responsible.

Proposed Solutions

In order to achieve more transparency in our County government, I propose six reforms that strive to make our elected officials more accountable to the public:

1. A Competitive Bidding Process for County Government Contracts

In Delaware County, government contracts are routinely given to the politically connected, not necessarily to the most qualified candidates. This practice discourages many businesses from even entering a bid for a job, knowing they are very unlikely to receive the contract in the end. This system works for the powerful, but not for the people of Delaware County whose tax dollars are being wasted to support it. In this way, a cycle of inefficiency becomes status-quo.

The following measures should be taken to make the bidding process more transparent and end the waste:

• All government contracts over $10,000 must go to the lowest responsible bidder that meets certain defined criteria.
• All contract bids must be available for public inspection.
• There must be a standardized procedure to challenge awards.
• All bidders must disclose all political contributions to any Pennsylvania state or municipal candidate, elected official or political committee for the two years prior to the bid.
• All county contractors must disclose within five days any political contribution to a Pennsylvania state or municipal elected official, candidate, or political committee.
• There must be penalties for non-compliance.

In Delaware County, our government is comprised of over 100 different departments, each with its own staff and budget. While many county employees are qualified and dedicated public servants, the current system for hiring government workers, which is carried on by the Republican machine, is excessively political. This political favoritism leads to unfortunate and deleterious consequences, such as nepotism and lucrative no-show jobs for political cronies. We must not allow political patronage to waste taxpayer dollars. In order to implement the best hiring and promotion practices, all available county jobs should be described in writing and made public, and should be open to all qualified candidates. Furthermore, in order to promote efficiency and assess employee performance, merit-based performance reviews, which include attendance criteria, should be performed.

3. A County Ethics Act

To ensure that our elected officials and government employees do not abuse their offices for their own personal gain, County Council should pass a prohibition of pension board members and pension board employees from accepting gifts and/or trips from any and all money managers.

4. A County Open-Records Act

One of the most insidious ways that Delaware County's Republican machine has maintained its hold on power has been to limit the public's access to important information + information that should undoubtedly be public. Open access to government information is one of the basic checks in a democratic system of government. By denying the public easy access to basic information, such as county budget figures and campaign contributions, the Republican machine stifles dissent by playing a game of Catch-22 + when accused of impropriety, they deny their critics the very information they would need in order to back up the claims of wrongdoing, and they then accuse their critics of not having their facts straight. The veil of secrecy must be lifted in Media and reforms must be passed which will grant the public easy access to vital information.

• The definition of a "public record" must be expanded, and the process for making them available must be streamlined.
• A master database of all campaign finance information of all elected officials in Delaware County must be created, easily available to the public.
• Copies of proposed ordinances must be available to the public and posted online before final adoption by County Council.
• All comprehensive annual audits and departmental audits must be available online.

Our County Council meetings have become nothing but a formality, where decisions previously made by Republican Party bosses in the backrooms are officially affirmed by Council. This is the consequence of one-party rule. The public should be able to easily judge the performance of our elected officials on County Council. To that end, County Council meetings should be recorded and televised.

6. Objective Standards and Clear Criteria for Bond Lawyers

All bond lawyers who are paid must have an active participatory role in the bond work. Furthermore, campaign contributions should be disclosed at the time of the bid for the bond work.