Will the ETHICAL Leaders Please Step Forward?

Mr. Ronald Littlepage, in his opinion piece in Sunday's Times-Union asks for something we really need here in Jacksonville: leadership.

He claims that Jacksonville is stuck in the doldrums; Mayor Peyton is a lame-duck (and one who appears to have just had enough of politics) and our City Council's leadership cadre, in Mr. Littlepage's words "isn't exactly visionary."

Mr. Littlepage is a master of understatement. The fact is, from a leadership perspective, we are in pretty rough shape.

What shocks me the most about Mr. Littlepage's piece is that he ignores ethics completely. He calls for leaders to step forward, he discusses who some of those future leaders might be, and how they might address solving some of our problems, but he skirts around the real problem: the vast majority of our politicians seem to be out for themselves, and the Ethics Commission, the only watchdog we have, is chained up & muzzled so it can't protect our interests. Never mind that the politicians are supposed to be looking out for our interests.

I completely agree with Mr. Littlepage that we really need some leadership here. I do have to question why it is that he seems to be ignoring the ethics issue. Unless he doesn't see these kinds of things as a problem?

Whether he does or doesn't, I can tell you that I do. A number of my friends and neighbors do, too.

If you, like me, want to send a message to our leaders, please sign the Trail Ridge Petition, asking for a Conflict of Interest Investigation. If our elected officials won't act ethically, it's our duty as citizens to put them on notice.