Long before I started writing a column , I used to cover the Orange County commission. I started back in the late 90s with Linda Chapin, covering Mel Martinez and Rich Crotty as well. As such, I sat through multitudes of county commission meetings.
Yet never in all those years can I recall seeing any of those boards do what Teresa Jacobs are her board are preparing to do Tuesday.
That’s when they are expected to jam a charter amendment on the ballot — without virtually any of the standard vetting.
And it’s all an attempt to thwart a grassroots push for sicktime.
Now I don’t have any beef whatsoever with county officials questioning – or even campaigning against – mandatory sick time. That’s Democracy in action.
But I do have a beef with elected officials circumventing their own checks and balances — especially when they do so in hasty ignorance.
Sound too harsh? Well, consider the following …
Shortly after the county commission started talking about trying to pass a new law to prevent county ordinances from impacting employer-employee relations — one that would negate the sick-time law if it passed – people started wondering about the proposal’s unintended consequences. So a Sentinel reporter asked amendment proponentJennifer Thompson if her proposal might inadvertantly harm efforts to employ minorities or veterans (which were widely supported).
Thompson responded: “I haven’t thought about it.”
Um, that’s a problem.
Click here for the full Orlando Sentinel column.