June 27, 2017

First, a big thank you to Council Member Matt Kunz for visiting our blog.  In a seeming response to our most recent blog postings about Milton’s anti-citizen, unconstitutional Ethics Ordinance, Mr. Kunz sent out the following tweet:

As we have written in our previous posts, the bar is not set real high for obtaining this ethics certification:  1) City Council passes a resolution pledging to follow a set of 5 ethics principles and 2) City Council enacts an ethics ordinance that meets a set of minimal standards.  This all falls in the category of “Talk Is cheap.”  The truth is that through their actions, one or more council members have violated all five of the ethics principles they have pledged to uphold.  And by adding a wrongful use section to the Ethics Ordinance, Council turned a tool for holding Council Members accountable into a tool for Council Members to stop ethics complaints and to suppress exercise of free speech and other political rights.  Mr. Kunz is hoping you won’t invest the time to understand the facts, but he underestimates the intelligence and civic pride of Milton’s citizens.  Engaged citizens understand that some council members routinely misbehave.  Consider the following.

• Several council members, including Mr. Kunz, have been caught using personal and company e-mail for City business.
• Three council members pushed successfully to grant a developer a second hearing on a final platting and then reversed their earlier votes on the platting to allow a one-acre lot on a gravel road, violating Milton’s 3-acre minimum. Kunz is tied to developers through large campaign contributions.
• Kunz actively promoted a developer’s project, thereby violating his duty of judicial impartiality in a rezoning hearing, which is a judicial proceeding. This is akin to a judge advocating for a defendant in advance of that defendant coming before him in court.
• Kunz has called out and attacked a citizen from the council dais during a City Council meeting. This was in direct violation of a letter sent out to all city staff and government officials prescribing appropriate conduct when interacting with citizens and which Mr. Kunz voted for.
• In revising a cluster housing ordinance, Mr. Kunz circumvented staff and the City Manager, in violation of Milton’s City Code requiring Council members to work through the City Manager.

So it is fair to say the Mr. Kunz does not care about ethics.  We call upon Mr. Kunz to stop hiding behind certifications and to justify his serial ethics infractions.  We would welcome the opportunity to publish more from Mr. Kunz than a tweet on ethics.  Mr. Kunz, instead of warming the bench, we challenge you to debate us on this topic.  In a public setting and in the presence of ordinary citizens, let’s have an open and honest debate on ethics in the City.  Mr. Kunz, this is your opportunity to finally get in the game.  In the words of the great Lou Holtz:  “So many times people are afraid of competition, when it should bring out the best in us.”