There is bizarre truth to this. I was looking into a $25,000 annual bonus paid to our local Sheriff (nice guy, by the way, I don't dislike him) for managing a local private prison. As I understand, a sheriff has to be on board for a private prison to operate.Sport Coach wrote:Apparently, according to her lawyer, because she kept getting elected that means she did nothing wrong.?? Wow! This sort of thing about makes my head hurt, that they try to pass it off like it's nothing people should be bothered about. When I've worked in positions of authority I would have been tarred and feathered and run out of town if I had done something remotely close to this.
However, this private prison has been vacant for years. The Sheriff has continued to collect his bonus.
That's when I discovered elected officials have sovereign discretion over the execution of their duties. They have a "zone of authority," or something like that, and within that zone nobody can tell them anything.
JP's, for example. There are JP's that never show up for work. If that's what the people want, then no harm. If they don't want that kind of free ride for a JP's salary, they need to man up at the polls.
Which leads me to believe that paying a Sheriff a bonus for a specific task is mechanically the same as bribery.
My good friend, the local County Judge, doesn't understand my argument. If the subject comes up again I think I'll ask him if the Sheriff could pay him a bonus for hearing more of a certain kind of case. DWI, perhaps. The local County Judge was recently arrested in a neighboring jurisdiction for driving while quite snockered.
It's like those you break it, you buy it signs in a souvenir shop. Sort of. Kind of like you elect him, he may not stay bought, but you're still stuck with him.
