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Hillsborough hard-luck story

To hear some Hillsborough commissioners tell it, a free meal here and there stands between their ability to serve and keeping their heads above water financially. That's why a discussion Thursday over banning free meals degenerated into a brainstorming session over the tax implications of a meal allowance. The commissioners who would sock taxpayers for meals need more information on how they could avoid paying taxes on the perk. Residents who eat, pay the rent and clothe their families on less than a commissioner's near-$90,000 annual salary must wonder how officials can spin this graft as a hard-luck story.

The commission debate comes a month after the Legislature voted to bar its members from accepting gifts from lobbyists and their clients. Yet what should be an exercise in raising the ethical bar has become a search in Hillsborough for ways to keep the gravy flowing. One proposal calls for paying commissioners $625 each month as reimbursement for charity and other events that charge a ticket price. The stipend supposedly would build a wall between elected officials and lobbyists while sparing board members a financial burden that might cause them to skip events.

Fact is, as Commissioner Ronda Storms said, most of these social events are a waste of time. Luncheons and dinners give business people the opportunity to lobby and politicians an opportunity to preen and advance their political careers. Public business should be conducted in public, in public buildings and at advertised, open meetings - places where the public cannot be excluded because they lack the money or a ticket. Not only is a stipend undeserved, but a blanket payment would make it difficult to see whether commissioners spent the money as intended.

Commissioners can afford to pay for their meals, coffee and other incidentals as most working people do. If an event truly requires a commissioner to attend, the county should pick up the tab for reasonable costs. Government has long reimbursed officials for legitimate public business. That policy is a wall, and the disclosure requirements give the public a glimpse of where and what commissioners spend. There is nothing special about commissioners having to juggle time and money. At the very least they should not try to cloak their sense of entitlement with an ethics argument.

[Last modified January 9, 2006, 00:56:11]