To Abstain vs To Recuse

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I was wondering why former city attorney,Lindsey Carter, was at the last board meeting. I asked a few questions and it was revealed that certain members of the Board of Aldermen think he is still the city's attorney. Unfortunately, you can't fix stupid. During the board meeting in December, there was a vote to override the mayor's veto of the termination of the city attorney, Lindsey Carter. They voted on the matter and there were not enough votes to override the mayor's veto, since Rebecca Hale had to recuse herself from taking part in the vote since Linsdey Carter is representing her husband in a legal matter. Therefore, she did was was right, and recused herself from the vote. But Kent Crider declared that her vote was to be counted. Now the Attorney General states that abstentions are counted with the majority vote, but Rebecca Hale did not abstain from the vote, she recused herself from the vote. Webster's define abstention as restraining oneself from doing something and recuse is defined as to disqualify or seek to disqualify from participation in a decision on grounds such as prejudice or personal involvement; and since Rebecca now have a personal involvement with Lindsey Carter, she knew that it was not ethical for her to participate in a vote regarding the employment of Lindsey Carter. Now I know some aldermen might be confused by the ethical guidelines since they knowingly voted on issues that they were personally involved with, but thankfully, Rebecca was willing to follow the law on this particular matter. So, someone in the Gibson, Crider, Hale and Johnson coalition needs to sit Crider down and explain this matter to him since he don't seem to be able to wrap his brain around the ethical nature of Rebecca's decision to recuse herself from the vote regarding former city attorney, Lindsey Carter. In my opinion, I think Timothy Johnson should have the honor of explaining this procedure to his colleague. Just a couple of months ago, he made it a point to tell the mayor that she did not have the right to address the audience, and he stated this point over and over again. So, with all due respect, I think he should take up the banner and sit his friend down and explain to him the difference between abstain and recuse.

Comments

  1. AnonymousJune 4, 2016 at 2:32 PM

    A very clear explanation on the differences. Clear enough for me to understand. Lloyd. 6-4-2016

    ReplyDelete

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