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Ridding System of Corruption The Miami Herald Pursuant to Earl Mackey's Jan. 27 Otherviews page column, Reform Florida's short-circuited ethics law, the Florida Ethics Commission is ineffective because it is headed by people appointed by the governor and House and Senate leaders. Mackey says that this has been recognized as a potential conflict in having key elected officials appoint the very commission members who may be called to investigate their actions. However, the solution he suggests -- that a majority of the commission should consist of retired judges selected by the judicial branch -- is misconceived. What the people of Florida voted for is that ``the people shall have the right to secure and sustain that trust against abuse.'' This does not say that judges and political appointees shall have the right, but the people, the ordinary citizens. The judges have shown that when it comes to discipline of their own through their Judicial Qualifications Commission, headed by judges, the system has been a dismal failure. Ninety-nine percent of the complaints are dismissed with form letters. When the case of Hillsborough Circuit Judge Robert Bonanno went before a grand jury made up of ordinary citizens, it found that Judge Bonanno was unfit to serve and should be removed. When that same case went before the JQC, based on the same evidence, it merely recommended that the judge should be publicly reprimanded. (This means that the judge appears before the Florida Supreme Court and is told to refrain from doing what he is doing and stays on the bench.) The Legislature then interceded and decided to proceed with impeachment. Before the matter came up for a hearing, Judge Bonanno resigned. The ordinary citizen pays the taxes that run the government and should have the right to rid the system of corruption. JUDY
HERSKOWITZ
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A Feast
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