User:Lord Milner/sandbox/X Public Oversight (United States)

=Public Oversight (United States)=

Introduction
This article defines public oversight, it explains why it is needed, and it explores the various ways it can be adopted by a concerned public to assure the sound administration of government.

Oversight is defined by the Random House Dictionary, unabridged edition, as:

Supervision; watchful care, “A man responsible for the oversight of the organization”.[1] In any business, “Oversight of a system or process is the responsibility for making sure that it works efficiently and correctly."

Legally, it represents proper custodial care within the organization.

All forms of government have built in checks and balances. However, to assure that these constraints work, public oversight is required. Businesses work because they are profit motivated, with a Chief Executive Officer or President owner at the helm to eliminate costs, and to assure the efficient delivery of goods. Taxpayer paid institutions, with the personal profit equation removed from the business model, have no such leadership. To assure the efficient deliver of services on a business model, the public must be the final arbitrar over all waste, fraud and abuse. As voters, they are not unlike the board of directors of a large corporation, guiding and steering the chief executive in the right direction for the benefit of society. This function is exercised at elections, at town hall meetings, and with an open door policy to the public at large. However, the actual supervision of government is left in the hands elected officials, and here is where public oversight is needed. Monthly financial reporting in federal, state and local government does not exist. Instead, a third party auditor is brought in once a year to do the yeoman's work of making annual financial statements. He must then audit his own work. Payroll has no checks and balances. Checks are drawn by a payroll manager, bank statements are not reconciled, and if funding ever goes low, money can be drawn from an endless supply of tax revenue. The only law in place with regards to revenue is one that states that income must outpace expenses by at least 10%, so that municipal funding doesn't runs out. In an environment without expense reporting to control controls, where a lower standard of cash accounting exists (bank statements are looked at, but not reconciled) prevents payroll accountability, where mayors are unaware of their financial role, and where the public is left in the dark, an environment of trust and ignorance has risen, all to the detriment of society.

The supervision of departments is delegated away from the mayor to subordinates by municipal code. Our elected officials: mayors, town council members, county officials, state legislators, governors, and appointed cabinet agency heads and judges, receive no official training. Supposably, their life experiences, skills, and success in life have brought them to these leadership positions, but the public knows nothing about them, and weak public record act laws prevent the confirmation of degrees and work experience. Although the taxpayers pay the salaries of public officials, once elected, these officials naturally want little or nothing to do with accountability of their time. Without public oversight, a vacuum exists in government that can be filled with all sorts of payroll abuse, fraud, inefficiency and deceit. The taxpayers that fund this system are the best people to trust that all is accounted for properly. That is the goal of public oversight.

Public Oversight has its rooting in Greece and Plato(?) (sentence on Leviathan)

In the early 20th Century, the Efficiency Movement through the use of best practices attempted to coral the problem of inefficient government by applying logical business models to departments. Through the loose coordination of checklists, promises, and telephone audits, state cabinet agencies steer the leadership of local government towards constant improvement.

Public Oversight
Public Oversight is citizen oversight over taxpayer paid public institutions. This means oversight over federal, state, and local government, and the three branches of government that exist within each of these jurisdictions. This need is imperative because internal checks and balances are never enough to guarantee blind trust in institutions that exist to provide services to society. We must always remember that government employment is public sector, service industry employment, where the work is simpler, and employment guaranteed, unlike the private sector, where both the risk and rewards are higher. It is therefore important to keep an eye on government, the quality of government, and the level of government spending. There is no better supervisor than those that contribute to the system of taxpayer wealth. We should knock down all walls, have complete transparency over everything the government does, and view secrets, wherever they exist, as a sign of fraud or embezzlement. The idea of a government worker hiding behind a rock with a secret is something we want to know more about. There is an adage that says, "If you want to cut down on the size of evil in government, you have to cut down the size of government." Given the overall lack of transparency in government today with regards to the above goal, this need is more important than ever.

Our Founding Fathers
When our republic was born, the 56 founding fathers that signed the Declaration of Independence were fearful of a return to monarchal rule. King George was a symbol of tyranny to the colonies, and a system of government far removed from the monarchy of Great Britain was desired. The Founding Fathers achieved this with "The Articles of Confederation". Under this new system, hardly any federal government existed at all. The states would pool their resources and contribute an annual sum of money to support federal operations. However, within a few years problems arose when the states failed to contribute their fair share, or fell behind in their dues. Without a change, it was possible that the new democracy would fail. A new plan was needed. From the ashes of this first system of government rose, "The Constitution of the United States". The Constitution created today's federal government, it defined its powers, and it allowed it to raise taxes. This solved the important problems of raising money for national defense, addressing critical infrastructure needs, and preventing trade wars between the states. However, not all were happy. Thomas Jefferson, the author of, "The Declaration of Independence", was in Paris as the United States Ambassador to France at the time, and he didn't see a need for it. He thought the problems of government could be fixed though legislation, and he feared big government and all that it represented. To guarantee liberty, Jefferson proposed that a "Bill of Rights" be attached to the Constitution. These rights, along with further amendments years later, define the fundamental rights of individuals. They serve as a counterbalance against federal tyranny arising from the Constitution. Jefferson's followers were known as anti-federalists, and they laid the groundwork for the two party system of government that we have today.

The supporters of George Washington were called Federalists, and they represented the majority of our founding fathers. Federalists believed that wealth, and creating a system of laws that laid the groundwork for wealth creation, was the cure all to all of societies problems. That's because the former colonies were large, mostly rural and poor. Also, newly admitted states were the poorest of all the states, and a system of governance was needed to address this matter. Trade was an important part of this plan. To promote economic recovery after the revolutionary war, President Washington renewed ties and friendly relations with our traditional and most important trading partner, England. The Anti-Federalists were of a different mindset. Jefferson instinctively distrusted government, he thought that government should be open to the people, and completely transparent. In fact, he designed a White House that had large curving walkways leading up to the front doors so that all the people could visit and talk to their President whenever they felt like it. Another symbol of his was the wearing a raccoon hat, which identified him with the common people. Jefferson supported farmers, the poor and causes of the newly admitted states. Also, due to their loyalty during the American Revolution, Jefferson allied the nation with France, not England. Accusing Washingtonians of being elitist and power hungry, the Anti-Federalists organized themselves into a political party, the "Democratic-Republicans" to challenge the Federalists in the 1796 Presidential election.

The two original political parties of the United States are not the Republican and Democratic parties we know of today. George Washington's, "Federalist Party" would be a right of center Republican Party, and Thomas Jefferson's left leaning "Democratic-Republican Party", sometimes referred to as "democrats", but mostly called "republicans", would be a center, or left of center "grass roots" Republican Party. Today's Republican Party, born twice from the ashes of the Federalist Party (first as the Whig Party in 1836, and then as the Republican Party in 1857), is true to its roots. It supports a strong economy, a strong military, powerful leadership, and liberty for all. Today's Democratic Party has its origins with President Andrew Jackson. Jackson was a popular military general who fought the Seminole Wars in Florida, he ran for President in 1824, and won in 1828. His supporters formed the, "Democratic Party" that we know of today. This party lowered barriers to voting, to immigration and to naturalization. In the 1824 election, Jackson won a plurality of both the popular and electoral vote, but since no candidate won an electoral majority, the House of Representatives decided the issue. They chose John Quincy Adams. In response, in 1828 the supporters of Andrew Jackson laid the groundwork for continual success of their party.

Whether you support Republicans, Democrats, Independents, or no party at all, the goal of public oversight is the same for all. Oversight mechanisms over government exist that must be strengthened and broadened. They are discussed next. Also, public ethics laws and public record act laws exist in federal government and in each of our fifty states. Helped by modern technology, specifically the internet, we are in a position to educate the public, to strengthen democracy and to transform the way government works. Certainly, if Thomas Jefferson was alive today he would use the power of the internet to empower the citizens with supervision over government. In the 21st Century, this is a tool just as powerful and important as the Bill of Rights.

Oversight Parameters
To guarantee government transparency with the public, our federal and state legislatures have enacted public ethics act laws and public records act laws.

Public Ethics Act Laws
In the wake of Watergate, Congress enacted the Ethics in Government Act of 1978.[2] This law requires annual financial disclosure statements to be filed by the President, the Vice President, executive branch officers and managers, our congressmen, federal judges, and all military generals at the rank of one star general and above.

Our 50 states also have public ethics laws, in some cases more effective than the federal law.[3] However, overall, state ethics laws usually reflect the federal government law, in that financial disclosure requirements are ubiquitous, while other transparency laws wait on congressional action.

Local government law often has a framework for public ethics ordinances, which consist of a general policy statement and complaint procedures. However, the enactment of specific transparency ordinances, which would be a boon for the public in any township, is usually lacking. In the absence of specific guidance, this area is left to our state senators and assemblymen (the state legislature), who generally lack the expertise needed to perfect that area of law. Fortunately, each of our 50 states has a cabinet level agency dedicated to supervising local government. Although they are not capable of passing laws, they have the equivalent power of lawmaking through the use of Administrative Law. These rules are policy directives made to enforce the intent of state laws. Each state cabinet agency has a staff of small lawyers that set internal policy, consistent with the state law of their agency, with the goal of fulfilling the intent of that law. Therefore, to fulfill their supervisory role over municipalities, our agency uses administrative law, which the call, "policy directives". The internal procedures set by each cabinet agency are complemented by departmental rules, supervisory guidance, and job descriptions. All must be in agreement with state law, and enacted with the purpose of fulfilling the intent of the state legislature.

Public Records Act Laws
On July 5, 1967, Congress enacted the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) law.[4] The legislation is best summarized here. The law was written in the spirit of a time when openness to government was desired and deemed advantageous to the public. The law says that all government records should be accessible to the public upon request, with a few exceptions (9 in all) in the interest of the public good. Today, most requests are made and responded to over the internet. One interesting website is the FBI's vault, where the FBI made records on closed investigations of interest to the public available on the internet. The Department of Justice has a similar website.

Our 50 states also have freedom of information act laws.[5] Generally, the nine exemptions found in the federal Freedom of Information Act are expanded two and even three-fold at state level due to legislative deference to authority.

Locally, our counties and municipalities abide by state law, with requests for records handled by county and municipal clerks. To facilitate the processing of requests, a clearinghouse information center exists in at least one state, whereby all requests for records originate from one source.[6] This allows all records to be stored at one location indefinitely, and instantly accessed by the public.

Future Oversight Measures
With the help of modern technology, in the form of internet transparency, a standardized, easily accessed and easy to use message board system layout can be placed on the main screen of all taxpayer funded websites. The mission of this message board would be to bring the public closer to our elected leaders, to assist in eliminating all waste, fraud and abuse, and to strengthen our democracy.

Executive Branch
The executive branch of federal government consists of the President and Vice President of the United States, all federal cabinet level departments, and lesser agencies. Each of these cabinets and agencies must file annual reports with Congress to substantiate their work. Unlike corporate America, where annual reports must be audited by an outside, independent public accounting firm, no such requirement exists here. These important financial and performance reports are created in-house, audited in-house, and rather than being sent to the President, they are sent to Congress for budgetary oversight. A list of all annual reports sent to Congress can be found on the index (last 4 pages) of this report. They should be available to the public on their respective internet websites, however there is no law to require this. Most should be downloadable through the internet by performing a pdf search, such as, "United States Department of Agriculture annual report pdf". Separate from this, of particular interest to the public are law enforcement crime numbers, which are reported to the Justice Department. A summary of crimes brought to federal courts by federal prosecutors can be found here.

Legislative Branch
The legislative branch of federal government is made up of our elected federal legislators: Senators and House of Representative members. They are responsible for writing federal law. On average, our 434 congressmen write 6,000 bills a year, of which about 5% become enacted law.[7] A list of laws written and supported by your congressman can be found on his or her website. We should be surprised at the number of bills that are written and at the extremely low number of success stories. The bills that don't pass are sidelined, this is the biggest number of all, and also the biggest surprise. The big picture can be found here.

Judicial Branch
The judicial branch of federal government is made up of all federal judges, of which 1770 are authorized. Statistical caseloads for each of our federal courts are published yearly.[8] By combining the civil and criminal numbers, (files C-3 and D-3), of your nearest district court, you can gauge how much crime is reported by the supervising judge of the courthouse.

Executive Branch
The executive branch of state government consists of the state governor and his cabinet agencies, usually 15 to 20 separate departments that operate independently from one another, and submit annual reports to the state legislature. The composition of the state executive branch can be found by conducting an organizational chart pdf internet search, such as, "The State of New Jersey, Office of the Governor, Organizational Chart pdf". Interestingly, most state laws identify the State Attorney General as, "The Chief Law Enforcement Officer of the State".[9] However, the Supreme Court ruled during the Watergate hearings that the President of the United States is the chief law enforcement officer of the country. This must be true. Otherwise, the President, and in this case the governors, as the attorneys general bosses, are held to be above the law. This is a circumstance that cannot exist, and the state statute should be changed to fix it.

Here are important public oversight reports relating to law enforcement in the state:

Annual Reports from the Attorney General (DCJ, OAG, UCR, federal grants, PTC courses): https://www.nj.gov/oag/dcj/library.html

Legislative Branch
The legislative branch of state government consists of elected state senators in the upper house, and elected assemblymen in the lower house. Like their federal counterparts, their responsibility is to manage the laws of the state. In addition to writing laws, the leadership in the upper house and lower house is each responsible for appointing the elected body to committees, specialization of which furthers the quality of lawmaking. Each of our 50 states has a legislative resource page, which is easily accessible.[10] From here, you can look up your elected legislator's lawmaking, and his office address.

Judicial Branch
The judicial branch of state government consists of the Appellate Court and the Supreme Court. Although it is commonly believed that a state court exists, operating between our county courts and the state supreme court, that is not the case. Appeals from county court decisions go directly to the state appellate court, and from there to the state supreme court. Therefore, lawsuits presented in county court have two chances of appeal, after which all decisions are final.

Below are the important oversight tools provided to the public by state law to monitor the state judicial branch of government. Note that reports should be very similar from state to state. With these reports as a guide, you should be able to easily find you're state's reports and websites.

Here are the important public oversight management reports for the State Judicial Branch of Government: https://www.njcourts.gov/public/annualreports.html

Here are state oversight websites for judicial discipline:

The rules all judges must follow: https://njcourts.gov/attorneys/assets/rules/cjc.pdf?c=nie

How to file a complaint & results: https://njcourts.gov/attorneys/acjc.html?lang=eng

Here are state oversight websites for lawyer discipline:

The rules all lawyers must follow: https://www.njcourts.gov/attorneys/assets/rules/rpc.pdf

Where to file a complaint: https://njcourts.gov/attorneys/oae.html

Results: https://njcourts.gov/attorneys/drb.html

A second way to discipline a lawyer, the State BAR Association: https://tcms.njsba.com/personifyebusiness/Leadership/Bylaws.aspx

.... and the State BAR Policy Manual (look up "Discipline"): https://tcms.njsba.com/personifyebusiness/Portals/0/NJSBA-PDF/miscellaneous/njsba%20policy%20manul%20--%204-16.pdf

A nationwide list of State BAR Associations: https://generalbar.com/State.aspx

Here are state oversight websites for all judicial employees (non-judge court employees):

The rules all judiciary employees must follow: https://njcourts.gov/attorneys/assets/rules/2014_code_of_conduct.pdf

Local Government
Local government consists of both county and municipal governments. The misnomer is just that - the name comes from England, and it is called local government due to the state cabinet agency responsible for supervising their operations. Therefore, "the local finance board" is really that department of the oversight cabinet responsible for all finances accrued from taxes below state level.

Executive Branch
The executive branch of local government consists of the mayor and his major department heads. In most municipalities, the delegating line of authority runs from the mayor, to the business administrator, to the chief financial officer. Other departments exist, such as the police, public works, code enforcement, and the municipal clerk. However, in the execution of the powers of the mayor, these are ancillary departments. The Business Administrator is like the Chief of Operations in a business (COO), and the Chief Financial Officer is his backup. The governing body of a municipality is usually the mayor and the town council. They act in conjunction with one another to set policy and pass ordinances. Importantly, our police chiefs must report crime numbers. Categories of crime are reported quarterly, through internet software, to the state police. Annually, these numbers are disclosed on a state police website.[11]. The report format is changing to provide more detailed information about each crime, although motor vehicle offenses are still excluded. When the system was deigned in 1929, the reports went from the state police to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and then to Congress. From there, they were used to identify high areas of crime so that federal funds could be properly allocated. These reports are easily accessible to the public. More information about the old format, the UCR report, can be found here, and the new report, NIBRS, can be found here.

The annual financial report of a municipality must be audited by a public accounting firm, and is usually available to the public on the municipal website. However, this all depends on the transparency rules laid out in policy directives by that municipalities state oversight agency. If the report cannot be found online, it can be obtained from the municipal clerk through a public records act request.

At county level, government is arranged very efficiently. Although one third of municipal tax revenue is budgeted for counties, spending is predetermined and fixed. County government pays for hospitals, nursing homes, the cost of running county courthouses, county road maintenance and other essential functions. With regards to law enforcement, county prosecutor staffing is set by state law, and with regards to crime accountability, county prosecutors report directly to the state attorney general. They must supply him with annual reports[12] of crimefighting activity during the past year, which he must disclose in his own annual report.

Here are the public oversight management reports for our counties:

County Government Financial Reports: http://www.middlesexcountynj.gov/Government/Departments/Finance/Pages/Financial-Data.aspx

County Prosecutor Annual Reports (example): https://www.njecpo.org/?page_id=2799

Not all county websites disclose prosecutor reports. However, they can be found with a county public records request: https://mycusthelp.com/MIDDLESEXCOUNTYNJ/_rs/(S(f4zxz244nabbm03bvuumn51q))/SupportHome.aspx

Legislative Branch
The legislative branch of local government is the elected town council. Town councils have two responsibilities: 1) to originate and pass laws in the town, and 2) to audit bills for payment. They are also responsible for setting their own salaries, and those of all non unionized employees. As an oversight mechanism, they are required by state law to disclose these increases in an annual salary ordinance. The salary ordinance is available upon request by submitting a state public records form to the municipal clerk.

Judicial Branch
The judicial branch of local government consists of the municipal judge and his support elements: an assistant judge, and the judicial clerk's office. He is assigned, by number, by the Administrative Director of the Courts (ADC), who, in turn, reports to the Chief Justice. The ADC also provides a supervisory role over the state court, and promulgates reports to the justices that explains new law.

At county level, the size of our superior courts is dictated by state law.

Sovereign Immunity
The problem identified above (State Government, Executive Branch, Par. 6.1) exists elsewhere in government. In our judicial branch of government, judges hold themselves above the law. If the President or any of our state governors really were above the law and beyond reproach, a condition known as Absolute Immunity would be at hand. Another name for this is Sovereign Immunity. This is because in the days of nobility in Europe, the King was above the law. After the American Revolution, democracy took root in North America, and the problem of sovereign immunity was solved...for 6 years. In 1793, a merchant sued the government for the cost of goods he supplied to the state of Georgia during the Revolutionary War.[13]Template:Circular reference He won the lawsuit, and received a huge award. The fledgeling government was cash strapped, and it feared additional large dollar lawsuits. To control this process, permission to sue the government was required. This was done at first by a person contacting his legislator and receiving approval, and later, after World War II, through correspondence. The new way of doing things made it easier for an aggrieved party. To control the amount of money paid out, the government allowed itself to only be sued for the cost of the injury. To address the matter of lawbreaking incurred by officials, the new rule held that they can be sued for punitive damages. All government officials were given, "qualified immunity", meaning they are shielded by the state for injuries caused to society from accidents and negligence caused by their decisions, although they are not shielded from lawbreaking or gross negligence they incurred. If either of the latter two circumstances occur, the government steps away from the lawsuit because it is not in the business of criminal activity, and those guilty of these malfeasances are subject to the full force and effect of the laws of the state.

Up until 1872, the above rule of qualified immunity applied to all government workers. However, in 1872 the United States Supreme Court changed the rules for itself. In a lawsuit, it held that judges are not liable to civil actions for their judicial acts, even when such acts are in excess of their jurisdiction, and are alleged to have been done maliciously or corruptly.[14] They backed this up in their administrative rules by calling it, "absolute immunity". In effect, they have crowned themselves as Kings, and made themselves unaccountable to recourse. However, we should remind ourselves that administrative rules of government agencies (and in fact, the two other branches of government use administrative rules, which place them on par with cabinet agencies, in this respect) are in place to support statutory law and the intent of lawmakers. Rules that go against the grain of law must be stricken, and that is the situation as it stands today.

Judicial Review
When the Founding Fathers created the Constitution of the United States, Alexander Hamilton discussed judicial review in Federalist Paper #78. He said the Supreme Court should be empowered to review and determine the legality of new laws passed by Congress, administrative laws passed by cabinet agencies, and even their own prior court decisions. We know the Court has reversed its own decisions over 300 times since 1789. However, we also have 50 state supreme courts empowered with judicial review, and we know nothing about their activities. In the interest of society and for reasons of public confidence over our state judiciaries, these courts should provide a check over sovereign immunity abuse by reviewing all lawsuits decided contrary to law. This review must be public, and all perpetrators must be disciplined and removed from the bench. Presently, judges are fearless about their acts.

100% Legitimate Transparency
At first glance, the citizenry may think that government deserves the same degree of privacy rights as an individual. However, that is not true. We must remind ourselves that the reason we have government is to provide for services that we, as individuals, can not acquire. After all, the Constitution was born out of a necessity to tax for the same exact purpose. We must also remind ourselves that government survives on taxpayer wealth, with most money received at the bottom from homeowner taxes, like the bottom half of a pyramid. Taxpayer wealth is decentralized because it is thought that local governments, who are closer to constituents, are best at knowing how taxes should be spent, while taxes received by the state and federal government are used for targeted purposes. Due to the amount of wealth involved (municipalities are far wealthier than individual bank branches), the need for public oversight over these institutions is obvious. In fact, this should be a civic duty, on par citizen involvement in local government (participative government). Third, we must admit that unlike private industry, which is profit motivated and expense driven, no such constraints are placed on not for profit institutions like government. Unhampered by an expense line, and handicapped by soft management, opportunities for financial abuse are greater. Fourth, governmental operations revolve around service sector driven employment. The existence of an employee - consumer relationship always places the taxpayer at an adversarial position with government. Stated differently, there is always a preference not to work, and here, all work related to a public need. Last, the public's attention is always diverted away from government affairs. To provide for proper disclosure in an environment of public apathy, heightened transparency laws are needed. Understanding the concept of government, and the role it plays, society should strive for a goal of 100% transparency, to achieve, first and foremost, an absence of waste, fraud and abuse. Furthermore, it is understood that government employment is a public trust,[15] and therefore all actions taken to bring the taxpayer closer to government should be applauded. The possibility of nationally mandated message board systems placed on all public websites, with a goal of direct interaction between the taxpayer and government officials, fulfills that goal. This law will be acknowledged with a positive public response, it will strengthen ties within the community, provide a forum for discussion, educate citizens, empower participative democracy, and perhaps provide a cure all to public apathy about government that exists today.