51黑料

When the subject of possible epitaphs comes up in discussions with my aging friends, I go with: 鈥淪eemed like a good idea at the time.鈥�

Let鈥檚 face it, I鈥檝e never done anything stupid thinking it was stupid. When that inspiration light bulb clicked on in my mind, I considered my move to be pretty clever.

But as the hand played out, I quite often discovered just how remarkably numbskulled I鈥檇 been to think my plan qualified as a smart move.

And that might be the case with 51黑料 County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell.

When Bell decided two weeks ago that he would try to remove Dennis Hancock from his seat on the 51黑料 County Council 鈥� on its face a logical one, given that Hancock tried to hire his stepdaughter as an aide 鈥� it might be that he wanted to show his respect for the letter of the law.

Maybe it had nothing to to do with Hancock being the leading council member when Bell鈥檚 office was called to task for allowing large amounts of moonlighting 鈥� such as letting former chief of staff Sam Alton earn more at his side gig than his county job 鈥� to continue unabated in his office.

Also, it might not have been because Hancock鈥檚 pointed questioning of a Bell staffer during an ethics hearing into the moonlighting pushed that staffer into 鈥渓awyer鈥� mode 鈥� you know, talking ever so slowly and deliberately so we 鈥渃ommon people鈥� could understand.

And maybe it didn鈥檛 even have anything to do with the fact that Hancock is a Republican and Bell is a Democrat.

Because if any of those reasons were behind the move, then Bell would seem like just another petty politician looking for some payback before he heads off to Washington to take Cori Bush鈥檚 seat in the U.S. Congress. (Bell is a slam-dunk favorite in the Nov. 5 general election.)

But regardless of Bell鈥檚 motivation, one would have thought that his six years as a county elected official would have taught him that of all the cans of worms sitting on the shelves at government centers (layoffs, tax hikes, audits) the one labeled 鈥渘epotism鈥� might be the wiggliest one of all.

Because it sure didn鈥檛 take long for this tin can to bust open and pour out all kinds of squirming amongst elected officials and department heads.

Post-Dispatch reporter Kelsey Landis, who first broke the story on the pending Hancock ouster, followed up with some further digging and discovered that several other county honchos had relatives working in their departments.

The most notable is Dr. Kanika Cunningham, head of the public health department. Not only did her daughter work for the department over the summer, Cunningham actually went to bat personally to get her daughter a pay hike.

That brings us back to Bell鈥檚 statement after making his move against Hancock. He said the state constitution 鈥�.鈥�

That鈥檚 true. But that very same law (Article 7, Section 6 of the Missouri Constitution) also prohibits any 鈥渆mployee鈥� in the state from hiring or appointing a relative.

In regard to these new relative revelations, Bell spokesperson Chris King said the office is aware of them and they are 鈥渦nder investigation.鈥�

Now at this point, let鈥檚 state the obvious: Nepotism is nothing new in the world of politics; government is littered with the bodies of relatives.

But it seems the power-wielders in 51黑料 County have gotten a little sloppy when it comes to padding their families鈥� bank accounts.

Seasoned bureaucrats realized long ago that if you wanted to avoid charges of nepotism, you don鈥檛 hire your relative to work in your department. It鈥檚 way better to get a colleague to hire that relative into their department. And then when the time comes, you hire that director鈥檚 relative into your department.

Sure, it鈥檚 sleazy, but it鈥檚 legal. Laws written by politicians, most of them lawyers, usually include ways to legally break the rules.

But because some politicians fluffed off the tried-and-true ways of skirting the law, the county has a mess on its hands.

Page鈥檚 office, which had a hand in prompting Bell鈥檚 move against Hancock, says that although it currently has no specific rules prohibiting the hiring of relatives, it will now begin a review of its policies.

Now there鈥檚 a solution that should soothe the public鈥檚 concern about ethical governance 鈥� a political office reviewing the hiring policies for political offices:

鈥淪o, Mr. Fox, could you please share with us your thoughts on how we could make this chicken coop safer?鈥�

Still, the most puzzling aspect of the whole situation is Bell. He simply could have notified Hancock that hiring his relative seems to be illegal and ask him to rescind it, which is what Hancock did when he found out.

But now, instead of getting a head start on boxing up the silverware and summer clothes for the big Washington move, Bell looks like a guy who decided to pull a thread off a sweater that was just hanging in the closet.

Guess it seemed like a good idea at the time.