This story is missing too many details.
Ethics panel taking ex-Dunbar mayor to court - News - The Charleston Gazette - West Virginia News and Sports -
Quote:
The Ethics Commission voted in July to require Wolfe to reimburse the city $5,757.47 for unauthorized expenses for meals, mileage and telephone calls, and to pay back the Ethics Commission $5,698.07 for legal expenses in investigating his case. The panel also imposed a $15,000 fine on the former mayor.
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The story went on to say he never took a salary as Mayor and the original expenses for meals, mileage and telephone calls do seem
potentially justifiable if the circumstances were disclosed, but those details are absent.
He's refused to pay a dime which, by my (optimistic) reckoning, can result one of 3 ways;
1. A longer list of well publicized scathing rebuke + jail sentence deterring future unethical behavior of elected officials.
2. One reputation restored + ethics committee being examined for ethics violations deterring future unethical behavior of appointed/ elected officials.
3. OR both parties scolded by an objective 3rd party deterring future unethical behavior across the board.
Whichever way it's sliced, a Bissell steam machine seems needful. Life's messy, clean it up (if only it wasn't off shored to Mexico). Crossing my fingers the law squares it away rather than bury it under a veneer of propriety to save face. That's bound to yield a blurring of fiction from non fiction in the Dunbar constituents history books.
Another ethical aspect of this story... Allbusiness.com had a peculiarly keen interest in the small town details of Dunbar's counsel members.
Dunbar voters head to the polls today | LexisNexis | Professional Journal archives from AllBusiness.com (http://www.allbusiness.com/government/government-bodies-offices/12489550-1.html - broken link)
Are
'professionals' confused about how to make a living without installing overly agreeable individuals in local government? New age definition of capitalism= preying on the government (whose
legitimate role provides the basis for
legitimate commerce)?
Just some non-gubbermint cheese food for thought.