WPCNR MR. AND MRS. AND MS. WHITE PLAINS POLL. AUGUST 21, 2010:

Our newest poll I am indebted to The Journal News for creating and I thank them for raising the issue.

This week we have seen another chapter unfold in the Bradley Administration.

The  City Board of Ethics was persuaded to investigate that Mayor Adam Bradley had committed an ethics breach in finding a place to live at an apartment owned by a person doing business with the city.

The Board of Ethics,  moving swiftly,  found reacting like the Three Mesquitters" that there might be an "ethics" breach.  A letter "smoking gun"  was requested by a Freedom of Information request from the Gannett chain (delivered by the city in an all-time record timely response to their FOI request) and a special counsel was requested by the Board of Ethics to investigate the matter. It was an amazing enterprise of investigative journalism to say the least, or selective information leaking by somebody that conned the Board of Ethics into being used to make the Mayor look bad again and revive calls for the Mayor's resignation.

Even if an ethics breach is found to be true, the Common Council still has to vote to make the Mayor resign, and if the Mayor does not,  then the Governor has to remove him. That's something a new Governor, or an old one is really going to do, right? I doubt it.

The Gannett chain  ran two stories reporting calls have been renewed that the Mayor should resign over this latest breach.

All around the country, mud is thrown up at persons in public office and in private positions, and there are immediate calls for them to resign: Some have: Eliot Spitzer most notably.

The point is the Mayor could very well be exonerated completely from the domestic violence charges he is facing.

The Mayor's "Ethics Breach," supposedly being investigated "confidentially" by the Board of Ethics which finds its way into the local press in embarrassing detail for a "confidential investigation" could also be found to be a trumped-up charge. Really, who did tip the Board of Ethics to the breach, anyway? It is easy to witch hunt. At least these days we do not burn people at the stake.

Well this "Resign if charged" philosophy  raises the question: Should an official be expected to resign once charged? Or should they only be expected to resign when proven guilty or after an appeal is upheld, or when there is an even a hint of ethical misconduct?

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