Corruption Probe News Conference

[waterboy]

quote:Originally posted by DowntownNow

An independent performance audit would have had a far greater chance of catching this than not doing anything, even while everyone is screaming "we want an independent audit."

The audit would have looked at everything I described above.  It would have taken into account anomalies present such as discrepancies between approved contract bids and inflated invoices.  Upon finding a discrepancy, an auditor, to be thorough, would have investigated the reasons for the discrepancy in order to find ouf it the best practices were utilized and efficiencies or detriments found that could be later corrected.  It also would have provided a 3rd set of eyes pouring over invoices, contracts, inspection reports, etc.

Simply, when there's a question, doing something is often times better than doing nothing at all.

You're probably an auditor or familiar with their practices. Can't fault your logic that action in this case would have been preferable to status quo.

However, these are elected officials who have to run for office against clever partisans who know how to make no good deed go unpunished. Questions of funding, motivation, morale and allegations of poor management would be used to defeat even the best of candidates.

I still feel that the reason there was no independent auditing supported lay in those issues. There has to be a permanently funded solution that avoids these traps.

[DowntownNow]

Yes, elected officials usually want to run again but no one should shy away from running for public office if their intent is to truly represent the best interest of the City.  You will always be running against someone that will quite typically have a differing opinion from you, in this case lets talk the Mayor.

Funding - nothing has ever dissuaded Mayor Taylor from doing something she wants to do, she finds the funding.  Not to mention, a possible source has already been referenced.

Motivation - the Mayor should be motivated by the fact that corruption has been found in one instance where it was reported.  What is the likelihood that this is the only instance since the City has numerous departments that deal with millions of taxpayer's dollars and contracts and inspections?  She should be motivated to set the record straight that under her watch, nothing else was going on and the City of Tulsa is a good place to do business without the spectre of graft lingering.

Morale - Can't imagine it could get any lower at this point.  The public questions public works employees' and officials' honesty, the administration's ability to do its job in policing and protecting taxpayer dollars...there's no bigger black eye, "pick yourself up, dust yourself off" and get back to doing the job of the people and show em you care.

Poor management - well let's face it, no real argument here to go against.  Yes, this was happening before her term started, but it was brought to the light of day during her term so that makes it her problem.  Add to that the numeroud calls from the public and city councilors for the PWD audit and the subsequent ignoring of those calls or the dragging of feet and sorry, it's really your problem now. She took ownership of it when she ignored the calls for investigation and the Feds put it out there instead.  The responsibility ultimately for those under you rests with a company's CEO, a ship's captain, the President of the United States, and yes the Mayor of the City of Tulsa.

None of this should dissuade Taylor from running again (or anyone) if thats what she wants to do (not that I want her to) but that's her choice.  How she is viewed when she runs again will be partially determined by how she responds to this latest fiasco.  If you want to run for office, you better have a thick skin, its not for the faint of heart.