The News Sentinel's real agenda
The Knoxville News-Sentinel has no problem with concentrating incredible amounts of power in the County Mayor's office in Knox County:
Admittedly, the past year's mayoral scandals make mayoral appointments a tough sell. But Knox Countians shouldn't make public policy based on a worst-case scenario. Citizens should fight for a form of government that'll be most efficient, most logical and most likely to attract quality officeholders when it's running the way it should. Clearly county government would run better if a good mayor could actually run it.
So the News-Sentinel trusts the voters of Knox County to concentrate a largess of power in the hands of a County Mayor's office that can't even manage (or more likely has simply refused to manage) its own finances, but seems to believe they are incapable of choosing fee offices from election to election.
Then there is this telling statement:
If electing the trustee is such a great idea, let's ask the city of Knoxville to make its tax collection department an independently elected office, outside Mayor Bill Haslam's control.
Same for the city's business license office. And the law director. And so on.
Who thinks those are good ideas?
The constant comparison between Knoxville City government and Knox County government in the editorial pages of the News-Sentinel is a testament to what the KNS is really trying to accomplish-a metropolitan government in Knox County and the end of county autonomy there.
Metro government is what the News-Sentinel's real editorial agenda is all about where its position vis-a-vis the county government is concerned. At the very least, the News-Sentinel owes it to the public-to the voters of Knox County-to be honest about their real agenda and their promotion of metro government in Knox County.
Labels: Local politics
posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 4:05 PM
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