Ethics and Ethanol: The Branden Dunblazier Story

[XLFD]

On last weeks district court arraignment list, you may have looked over one of the people that was charged with a misdemeanor for driving while intoxicated on January 30th while skimming it for other people you may know.   

http://www.masoncountypress.com/2016/02/05/79th-district-court-arra...

You may recognize Branden from out at Home Depot where he has been working for a few years, the last year with Ludington Mayor Ryan Cox, who mysteriously resigned his middle school teacher job in the Ludington School District before this school year began.  Branden and Ryan go way back together, reportedly as very good friends of each other.  They both were regular qualifiers for the honor roll as they matriculated through Mason County Central Schools and graduated together in 2001:

You may recognize the Dunblazier name if you have any dealings with the county courthouse, particularly with the prosecutor's office, as Branden's mother Doreen Dunblazier works as a legal assistant and a victim's rights coordinator.  Doreen has decades of experience with the county and is held in high regard.

Fortunately, Branden's alleged indiscretion of driving drunk did not create victims of his crime for his mother to coordinate, and whereas it is not likely that Mayor Cox was besotted and in the vehicle with Branden when he was stopped two Saturdays ago, Mayor Cox did have enough faith in his long time friend to stand by him and appoint him to a rather exclusive committee in Ludington at the beginning of this year, less than a month before he was nabbed for impaired driving.  The Board of Ethics.

Let us hope that if Branden offers no contest, is found guilty or otherwise pleas to operating an ORV while intoxicated like other officials, that he will do the ethical thing and resign from his post that he will have tarnished, and not further embarrass his close friend who had the faith in him to appoint him to the board that supposedly adjudicates whether other officials have violated the rules.

[Willy]

The fact that Ludington has a Board of Ethics is almost laughable. What do they do? Have a monthly meeting to determine which outrageous ethics violations they will ignore that month or pat themselves on the back for doing a good job of ignoring all the potential corruption and cronyism that is taking place right under their noses. Ludington's Board of Ethics is as embarrassing as the City Council. Ethics and the Ludington City Council are not words that can be blended. I tried to insert "Ethics" into Ludington City Council and my computer began to melt. That darned word "ethical"  kept trying to ad "un" to itself. I guess the words "Ludington City Council" have made other words in the English language ashamed to be associated with them.

[AQUAMAN]

Excellent weekend humor Willy, too bad it's all too true to facts! Looks like Dunblazier stepped in his own poo poo. Now it's just a question of how far he's going to go to either exit or keep his own feet and the Leprechaun Mayor's feet in it too.

[XLFD]

The Board of Ethics is a joke, I tried to use it back in 2009 and found it to be little more than a figurehead group-- in fact one of the members told me it was as much.  Even though they had clear jurisdiction over my complaint, they found it easier to accept Richard Wilson's advice and declare they didn't, in a meeting that violated the Open Meetings Act.

It's what one would consider of a Ludington city council appointed Board of Unethics-- shoot, my computer does what Willy's does-- or maybe it's the King of the Leprechauns working his foul magic.

[XLFD]

Branden Dunblazier was tried by the Mason County Prosecutor's Office and formally found to be a bad boy by the 79th District Court.  According to today's COLDNews in the "From Our Court" section he "must pay $870 for operating while impaired by liquor.  He may serve 93 days in jail in the next year at the court's discretion."

[AQUAMAN]

Looks like birds of a feather, flock and drink together, right Mayor?

[Wonder Woman]

What are the requirements to serve on the Board of Ethics?  (other than being friends with the mayor)

Legally and ethically, should Dunblazier resign from this position? 

[XLFD]

Sec. 2-90 of the City Code describes the various duties, powers, qualifications of the BOE.

Being tagged with a DWI does not otherwise disqualify someone from that Board as a matter of law, but ethical and political implications come into play during this election year.  Subsection C of that code says:  "A member of the board of ethics may be removed by the mayor, subject to the approval of the city council for misconduct, inability, or willful neglect of duties. Before any member of the board of ethics is removed from office under this section, the member shall be afforded the opportunity for a hearing before the city council."

If the mayor does nothing, Branden's position is secure on the BOE.  It does leave Mayor Cox and the city council politically vulnerable to calls from the public for his dismissal, however, since having Branden make sensible ethical valuations over other officials (when he didn't have the common sense to not endanger the lives of our fellow citizens by driving drunk) is irresponsible of our elected leadership. 

[Willy]

To the old saying of "who will police the police" we can now add " who will  oversee the ethics of the ethics board"  Ludington of course will need more than that. What will create a true ethics oversight in Ludington would be to have an " ethics board for the ethic boards ethic board for the ethics board, etc.
 

[XLFD]

When a proven unethical city manager and city attorney are the only ones that can effectively convene any meetings of the Ludington Board of Ethics, the committee is effectively useless anyway. 

[shinblind]

The minutes from the Ludington Board of Ethics meeting, "Party on Ryan"  "Party on Brad"  "WOOOOOOOOOOO."

Another well earned accomplishment  to add to their resumes.