Times: Tennessee politicans can get away with unpaid utility bills
RAW STORYPublished: Sunday March 18, 2007
According to a story in tomorrow's New York Times (reg. req.), there is a growing scandal in Tennessee involving the practice by publicly-owned utility company Memphis Light, Gas and Water of placing prominent politicians on a "List" to prevent their having power cut off in case of non-payment.
This practice has enable one local politician, City Councilman Edmund Ford, to run up thousands of dollars in unpaid bills and has evoked outrage among the citizens of Memphis, many of whom struggle to pay their bills.
Excerpts:
The List, as the scandal is known, could aggrieve anyone who has ever written a check to a power company. Month after month, Memphis Light, Gas and Water allowed City Councilman Edmund Ford to forgo paying thousands of dollars in overdue bills without having his power cut. Meanwhile, other prominent politicians -- council members, a judge, a state representative -- were on a protected list, supervised by a senior utility official, intended to prevent them from having their power cut off in case of nonpayment.
Even the mayor, Willie W. Herenton, was on the list, though Herenton says he did not know about it and never got any favors. It is not clear that anyone but Ford was allowed to pile up unpaid bills. Still, the whiff and practice of favoritism -- detailed for the last several weeks in the local news media -- is galling in a city where nearly a quarter are poor, and the local utility is publicly owned.
Voters here indulge peccadilloes among their politicians, like the occasional indictment or child born out of wedlock. But shielding the powerful from utility bills when many are struggling after a cold winter seems to have pushed public opinion over the edge. The City Council -- some members current and past were on the list -- has ordered an investigation, as has the FBI, and the president of the utility has been called before a federal grand jury.
Some in the political class have been on the defensive for weeks; citizens, meanwhile, are outraged. Outside the utility's bunkerlike headquarters downtown, some people waiting to pay or dispute their bills had no difficulty identifying who they thought was the victim: themselves.
LinkHere
According to a story in tomorrow's New York Times (reg. req.), there is a growing scandal in Tennessee involving the practice by publicly-owned utility company Memphis Light, Gas and Water of placing prominent politicians on a "List" to prevent their having power cut off in case of non-payment.
This practice has enable one local politician, City Councilman Edmund Ford, to run up thousands of dollars in unpaid bills and has evoked outrage among the citizens of Memphis, many of whom struggle to pay their bills.
Excerpts:
The List, as the scandal is known, could aggrieve anyone who has ever written a check to a power company. Month after month, Memphis Light, Gas and Water allowed City Councilman Edmund Ford to forgo paying thousands of dollars in overdue bills without having his power cut. Meanwhile, other prominent politicians -- council members, a judge, a state representative -- were on a protected list, supervised by a senior utility official, intended to prevent them from having their power cut off in case of nonpayment.
Even the mayor, Willie W. Herenton, was on the list, though Herenton says he did not know about it and never got any favors. It is not clear that anyone but Ford was allowed to pile up unpaid bills. Still, the whiff and practice of favoritism -- detailed for the last several weeks in the local news media -- is galling in a city where nearly a quarter are poor, and the local utility is publicly owned.
Voters here indulge peccadilloes among their politicians, like the occasional indictment or child born out of wedlock. But shielding the powerful from utility bills when many are struggling after a cold winter seems to have pushed public opinion over the edge. The City Council -- some members current and past were on the list -- has ordered an investigation, as has the FBI, and the president of the utility has been called before a federal grand jury.
Some in the political class have been on the defensive for weeks; citizens, meanwhile, are outraged. Outside the utility's bunkerlike headquarters downtown, some people waiting to pay or dispute their bills had no difficulty identifying who they thought was the victim: themselves.
LinkHere
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 12:27 AM
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