Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Stabbed In The Back

Here is a typical case of how animal control disasters are handled...

The cruel death of pit bull puppy Mooie in Federal Way two months ago may lead to the reorganization of King County Animal Control and tougher enforcement of animal-cruelty laws.

A County Council committee was briefed on the proposal Tuesday and agreed to send it on to the full council for consideration June 5.


But, then the politics come in...

Mark Steinway, co-founder of Pasado's Safe Haven in Sultan, said Tuesday he was disappointed his organization wasn't notified of Tuesday's meeting because his group had suggested the critical look at the agency.

Whatever happened to the idea of open government? Pasado's Safe Haven was directly involved in complaining about how this case was handled. But, at the last minute, they are NOT invited to the decision making meeting? Who else wasn't invited or allowed to testify? This is a typical example of the types of kangaroo courts set up to address animal control and dog bite legislation.

I have seen this over and over again with politicians... the governing bodies pretend to listen to you, then, when it comes to decision time, they do it behind closed doors, or they don't invite those most affected or interested to avoid having to adddress legitimate concerns. They cut off debate, they play games and don't invite people who should testify, they sabotage decision making, and ignore the legitimate needs of the public, and doom more dogs to death.

So, beware if you are dealing with your local governing authorities over dog law. They will probably play parliamentary games and stab you in the back at decision time. Get them to agree to make all such meetings and decisions IN PUBLIC, and to agree to invite EVERYONE at those meetings. Get that in writing, or otherwise, all your hard work will be disregarded in the end. Also, assume the press won't be on your side. Read the linked article and ask yourself if this reporter did even an adequate job of investigating what went on. There is much more to this story, but where are the serious questions?

You can bet this so-called "reorganization" won't work. This is just a way for the politicians to say they did something, without really doing anything at all. They are just shuffling people around. That isn't a reorganization, and my bet is those higher ups responsible for the screw up in this investigation won't be either fired, retrained or punished.

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