So, let me be clear that I want to talk about this as a hypothetical situation, because I'm not referring to any specific allegation, person, or incident, but to the concept of alleged corruption.
Maybe I've seen too many movies with Al Pacino, but where there is power there is the potential for abuse of power. Where there is abuse of power among people who control or influence the justice system, be that the police or the courts, it is very difficult to uncover and prove that. So if somene believes there is corruption or abuse of power in the justice system, suggesting that that same justice system be used to investigate those allegations is going to be fairly ineffective. (That's why we now have the unbiased, independent prosecutor Kenneth Starr spending millions of our tax dollars.)The media, in its role as a watchdog, can be effective in ferreting out corruption and abuse of power, but it takes advanced newsgathering skills, sources, and a huge amount of faith on the part of those sources in the effectiveness of the news media.
It seems to me that from New York police scandals to Watergate, corruption or abuse of power in high places is only uncovered when there is an inside whistle blower with credibility willing to talk to either the independent prosecutor or the media.
So, I think every citizen should have a healthy amount of faith in their government and in the systems of that government, but it should be tempered by the realization that abuses of power can exist. We should not naively think "it can't happen here" because it can happen anywhere.
The question is: What purpose does it serve to bring such suspicions to the attention of a group such as vision2020? One possibility, though not the only one, is that people who feel disenfranchised or ill-served by the systems of government see this group as having the kind of influence that could uncover abuse of power if it in fact existed. Perhaps someone who might bring such suspicions to this list hopes they can motivate someone on the list to spend some time digging through public records. Perhaps they think someone on this list has enough power themselves, enough standing in the community, and enough credibility that if they asked the right people the right questions they might learn something.
I would guess that before any private citizen would take on such an undertaking, the suspicions would have to "ring true" in some way. The "evidence" would have to be compelling, and not sound like gossip, or the individual would have to have had some prior knowledge or suspicions from another source.
Lois Melina
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Lois Melina
Editor, "Adopted Child" newsletter
P.O. Box 9362
Moscow ID 83843
phone: (208)882-1794
fax: (208)883-8035
Lmelina@moscow.com
www.raisingadoptedchildren.com