Political intimidation

The Issue: Contractual renewals are allegedly being reviewed with a fine tooth comb.

Our View: This alleged review process could open-up city hall to countless lawsuits.

An austerity measure was instituted to bring down public sector expenditure. How timely a plan, at least on paper, ruined by the hiring of more employees outside the civil service system. In other words, more politically connected people were hired via excepted services contracts to forego the difficult requirement under the civil service system.

Today, rumors abound that those under excepted service contracts are going through rough times, especially when found to be aligned with the “other” camp in the hotly contested GOP gubernatorial primary slated for November 4th. This is a form of political intimidation that infringes upon the exercise of one’s individual freedom.

We can understand taking action against cabinet people in this vicious shuffle. But we can’t quite stomach the alleged use of political coercion to shore up support for a favorite gubernatorial team. We say, let the individual voter decide for himself or herself who to vote for in the impending GOP primary. After all, most, if not, all of them pitched into the greater goal of putting the incumbent administration in office.

The public sector needs to institute trust and confidence in the civil service system to protect the rights of individual employees. This is one of the salient aspect of a democracy–the guarding of individual freedom–even in the right to select a candidate. It boils down to the Preamble to the US Constitution that says in part “…of the people….” The eventual victor in the impending GOP primary must also be the decision of a majority “…of the people….”

To violate individual freedom and rights in the exercise of the democratic process is to demonstrate our inability to allow the most fair manner that governance delivers its decision that comes every four years. City hall or those who quietly wall the hallways of public offices policing differing political options must veer off from such exercise. It’s political intimidation in pure form and substance. Let the chips of the democratic process through. After all, it’s the most fair form of deciding the will of a majority of GOPers. Si Yuus Maase`!