Was Ethics Fad a Mere Summer Fling for Deerfield Beach Commission?

Judging by this agenda item for Tuesday's meeting, Deerfield Beach commissioners are ready to fling their ethics code out the window after just two and a half months. The idea belongs to Mayor Peggy Noland, who needs an ethics code worse than Michael Beasley needs a Twitter editor.The paper-thin excuse...

By Thomas Francis

August 31, 2009

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Judging by this agenda item for Tuesday's meeting, Deerfield Beach commissioners are ready to fling their ethics code out the window after just two and a half months. The idea belongs to Mayor Peggy Noland, who needs an ethics code worse than Michael Beasley needs a Twitter editor.

The paper-thin excuse being offered is that the state has ethical guidelines to keep elected officials in line, but that doesn't address the original basis for adopting of an ethics code -- to add an extra layer of accountability in the year after Mayor Al Capellini and Commissioner Steve Gonot were indicted on felony corruptions charges.

No, since those state laws were the same when the ethics code passed in June, there must be another reason it's being scrapped in August. Blogger Bett Willett offers a theory that's making the rounds at City Hall: that it's related to the temporary contract to run the restaurant on the Deerfield Beach pier, where JB's on the Beach is a contender and where Noland may have a conflict of interest.

Before the code can be repealed, the commission will have to have a public hearing in mid-September. If that doesn't attract some mad-as-hell residents, nothing will.

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