Thoughts on political contributions and SWSDA Staff.....

-------- Your tax dollars at work ---------

My two cents.....

One comment asked what I thought about large contributions by one contributor....

I'm no expert on this but I do have views....in many ways the question is more fundamental and that is .... should the system for political candidates be brought into the 21st century. We know that the present system lends itself to corruption, cronyism and politicians who spend too much time raising money rather than arguments for the things they want to do while in office.

My view is that political donations should be restricted in size and source... For example, no contributions should be made by anyone who cannot vote in the particular election. That would mean no corporate donations, including donations from not for profit societies. Donations over a small amount like $50 and the name of the contributor who made the donation should be published at least one month before they can be used by the candidate..... That would be my perfect system..... I am sure political operatives would find ways to frustrate the effort but it couldn't be worse than the present system.

In search of Deep Throat

Over the past week or so I have focused the light on SWSDA's Board, Municipal and Provincial officials and politicians. Aside from SWSDA's CEO, I have said little about other SWSDA staff. In part, because I believe that many SWSDA staff are good, honest, hard-working, sincere individuals who are equally troubled by what they see and know about SWSDA. These unfortunate folk are caught between a rock and a hard place. Many have seen the abuses I've referred to first hand and know SWSDA's governance and accountability problems intimately. For those folks I feel a certain amount of compassion.

At the same time, I believe these folks have a moral responsibility to represent and protect the folks who pay the bills and their salaries.

That is why I am making a public plea at this time for staff to report any abuses they have seen or see to the Ombudsman's Office at PO Box 2152, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 3B7. Plain manila envelopes posted to me at PO Box 995, Sheburne, Nova Scotia B0T 1W0 will also work. So will anonymous postings to this blog.