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Township Trustees May Be Charged With Hissy Fits

By TChris, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Wed Aug 13, 2008 at 04:22:27 PM EST
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Cheese whiz! Can it really be a crime for town council members to pick up their toys and leave the sandbox?

Trustees Sharon Eineman and James Ulinski walked out of Rosso Memorial Hall, where township meetings are held, about five minutes after the meeting started because they didn't want to vote on an agenda item, forcing the three remaining officials to end the meeting because they lacked a quorum. The township's attorney, Robert Huth, said the two trustees could be charged with misconduct of public office.

"It was extremely childish," Treasurer Darrin York said. "You are here to do a job. You can't walk out of a meeting because you don't like the way things are going to turn out."

If childish behavior by elected officials is a crime, the president and most members of Congress should be behind bars. Or at least on probation (with electronic monitoring, of course).

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    Township Trustees May Be Charged With Hissy Fits | 5 comments (5 topical)

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    My gosh (none / 0) (#1)
    by Steve M on Wed Aug 13, 2008 at 04:23:48 PM EST
    Talk about a political prosecution.

    Reminds me of the incident where the Texas Democrats left the state so the Republicans wouldn't have a quorum for redistricting.

    sorry to be OT again (none / 0) (#2)
    by CHDmom on Wed Aug 13, 2008 at 04:29:52 PM EST
    They just announced Bill Gwatney, the Dem leader shot in Ak died.

    Actually, coming from a small town, (none / 0) (#3)
    by Valhalla on Wed Aug 13, 2008 at 05:19:29 PM EST
    I rather wish acting like spoiled children were a crime.

    Well, ok, a fine-able offense, perhaps not an actual crime.

    I've seen a whole lot of small-town politics and it's just as ugly as the national kind, only usually they get away with even more because no one's paying attention (media/blogger/etc people I mean).

    But sandbox behavior negatively affects the residents in town -- right now my hometown is at risk for losing the Library, police and fire coverage at night, and closing down the Senior center, among other things, because the town selectmen started a rather stupid fight with the townspeople.

    I'm not saying it's losing lives to war in Iraq, but the fact that the magnitude of harm is smaller doesn't mean people should be able to act like children with the public trust.

    Ya gotta love it... (none / 0) (#4)
    by kdog on Wed Aug 13, 2008 at 05:23:01 PM EST
    Your typical "town council" I'm afraid.

    At issue was an agenda item about a grievance filed on behalf of a building official on paid suspension

    Let me guess...3 of them were the "building official's" buddies, 2 were buddies of the guy who got him suspended.

    Your tax dollars at work Macomb township.

    why does this sound (none / 0) (#5)
    by cpinva on Wed Aug 13, 2008 at 07:00:09 PM EST
    like something this guy just made up?

    misconduct of public office.

    it sounds more like an impeachable offense, not a chargable one. gotta love small town politics, and it's the same all over the world.

    and yes, the country hasn't sufficient jail cells. lol

    Township Trustees May Be Charged With Hissy Fits | 5 comments (5 topical)

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