Conflict of Interest?

Every tax is a pay cut. Every tax cut is a pay raise.
Citizens for Limited Taxation

Ethics, n
A set of principles of right conduct.
The rules or standards of governing the conduct of a person or the members of a profession.

Is this a conflict of interest? You decide.

There are some 36,600 eligible voters in the Town of Framingham, MA. As such, the town cannot have an open town meeting. There simply is not enough room to hold so many people. Instead, the town has town meeting members, elected to represent it's citizens. Currently, there 216 (12 slots in 18 precincts) members. Each town meeting member represents 155 voters.
It has come to my attention that town employees are allowed to be town meeting members. There are currently about 30 members of the town meeting members that are town employees and other town meeting members that are spouses or relatives of town employees. In the future, it's possible that they will indeed have a majority vote (51%) within a town meeting.
It seems reasonable in a real open town meeting that town employees should have one diluted vote, but in a representative town meeting, it's another issue. In a representative town meeting, the town employee is voting for about 150+ voters. Guess whose interest will get priority?
When I vote for a town meeting member in my precinct, I do not even know if that person is a town employee. The ballot does not tell me. Who would have thought it.
No one says it's a conflict of interest. Does it become a conflict of interest when 51% of town meeting member positions are held by town employees, immediate family or relatives? That would be a mere 109 votes. This represents representative tyranny.
John M. Kahn stated for the record that he is OK with this arrangement. No surprise here.
This list is my attempt to measure the influence that town employees (TEs) have on town meetings (TMs) just by their numbers and general attendance levels. It was highly subjective but I do not know of a better way of measuring influence. Anyone who has suggestions can forward them to me.

On November 20, 2002, on the second night of Town Meeting, town meeting members voted to give George P. King, Jr. a merit pay increase by a vote of 62-54. Given that there are supposed to be 216 town meeting members, where were the other 100 when this vote was taken. This represents a complete failure to represent the tax payer by almost a majority of town meeting members.

Is this a conflict of interest? You decide.
There are some 36,600 eligible voters in the Town of Framingham, MA. As such, the town cannot have an open town meeting. There simply is not enough room to hold so many people. Instead, the town has town meeting members, elected to represent it's citizens. Currently, there 216 (12 slots in 18 precincts) members. Each town meeting member represents 155 voters. It has come to my attention that town employees are allowed to be town meeting members. There are currently about 30 members of the town meeting members that are town employees and other town meeting members that are spouses or relatives of town employees. In the future, it's possible that they will indeed have a majority vote (51%) within a town meeting. It seems reasonable in a real open town meeting that town employees should have one diluted vote, but in a representative town meeting, it's another issue. In a representative town meeting, the town employee is voting for about 150+ voters. Guess whose interest will get priority? When I vote for a town meeting member in my precinct, I do not even know if that person is a town employee. The ballot does not tell me. Who would have thought it. No one says it's a conflict of interest. Does it become a conflict of interest when 51% of town meeting member positions are held by town employees, immediate family or relatives? That would be a mere 109 votes. This represents representative tyranny. John M. Kahn stated for the record that he is OK with this arrangement. No surprise here. This list is my attempt to measure the influence that town employees (TEs) have on town meetings (TMs) just by their numbers and general attendance levels. It was highly subjective but I do not know of a better way of measuring influence. Anyone who has suggestions can forward them to me.
On November 20, 2002, on the second night of Town Meeting, town meeting members voted to give George P. King, Jr. a merit pay increase by a vote of 62-54. Given that there are supposed to be 216 town meeting members, where were the other 100 when this vote was taken. This represents a complete failure to represent the tax payer by almost a majority of town meeting members.

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