Stop us if you’ve heard this one:
When the appointments are made to city boards, it is important that those choices are made ethically and fairly because to do otherwise erodes confidence in our city government.
This should not be a difficult task, yet somehow the idea has proven to be more that our city government can handle.
On Tuesday, Tiffany Sturdivant was selected to serve on the Columbus Light & Water board. The council vote deadlocked at 2-2 (Ward 1 Councilman Gene Taylor recused himself on the grounds he has a relative who works for CL&W). Mayor Robert Smith broke the tie in Sturdivant’s favor. Taylor, who chose not to recuse himself during two previous CL&W appointments, seems to have seen the light, which is commendable.
We take no issue with who was appointed: Sturdivant has long taken an active role in our community and is qualified to serve.
But we have a big problem with the process through which Sturdivant was chosen.
Specifically, we find Ward 4 Councilman Marty Tuner committed a serious breach of propriety by not recusing himself of voting on Sturdivant’s candidacy.
Sturdivant is both Turner’s girlfriend and campaign manager. So there are not one, but two conflicts of interest that should have compelled Turner not to participate in the vote. Not only did Turner vote, he put Sturdivant’s name up for the vote.
Whether he realizes it or not, Turner’s decision to participate in the vote does a disservice not only to the community, but to Sturdivant, who now will operate under a political pall in her new role.
The mayor compounded the problem by rewarding Turner’s lack of integrity by placing Sturdivant on the board with his tie-breaking vote.
The mayor apparently feels campaign managers make good CL&W board members.
In June, Smith broke another tie on a CL&W appointment by voting to re-appoint to the board his former campaign manager, Brandy Gardner.
The way both Sturdivant and Gardner were selected for the board lends credence to the idea that when it comes to board appointments, who you know matters as much, perhaps more, than what you know.
If we find there are fewer and fewer competent applicants for board positions, we should not be at all surprised.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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