Stamping out Dreaded Library Favoritism

"We decided to err on the side of caution"

Whenever you hear this phrase uttered by a government worker it would serve you well to prepare for the disclosure of an extremely stupid policy. This time the phrase was used by St. Tammany Parish Library Director Janice Butler, and it not an exception to the rule.

After asking the state Board of Ethics last month whether library staff can accept inexpensive and homemade Christmas gifts from grateful patrons, St. Tammany Parish library officials last week received the board's response: Bah, humbug.

Even small gifts, such as "cakes, pies, houseplants, etc., from patrons of the library for their performance of the library employees' duties" are off-limits, according to an advisory opinion issued by the ethics board.

Any employee of a Louisiana public library who receives such a gift from a library patron needs to "return the cookies to the person and say that, 'I cannot accept these cookies under the ethics law,' " said Aneatra Boykin, staff attorney for the ethics board.

We can assume, given the strict nature of ethics rules, that all lobbying efforts in the great state of Louisiana have ground to a screeching halt. (Ya, right.)

How can it be that ethics laws have come to mean that I cannot give a library worker, or a postmaster, or a school teacher, a plate of cookies if I feel I was well served by their efforts? Is our society bettered in any way by the peanut butter cookie being placed on the same ethics plane as a $2000 campaign contribution? Just what office, exactly, is the lady at the counter running for? Is the dreaded chocolate chip cookie as harmful to public works as the $1,000,000 a year lobbyist?

A junket financed by an oil company or hedge fund? No problem...just keep those corrupting Rice Krispies treats out of my sight!

It doesn't stop at holiday cookie plates, however. No, to see stupidity harnessed on that small scale would actually be a victory for sanity.

Butler said ethics concerns have also prompted her staff members to forgo their traditional holiday party and employee gift exchange.

Get ready for it, here it comes!

"We decided to err on the side of caution," she said.

Now, that is really taking an effective swipe at corruption--those reference librarians are in a perfect position to offer huge political favors to the readers of romance novels and the latest from Larry McMurtry.

And honestly, nothing torques me off more than knowing that the library staff gets together once a year after hours and exchanges brownie plates!

Covington library patron Chandler Willis said he is planning to lobby the ethics board on behalf of public library employees.

"I think that this is political correctness run amok," he said.

Now, that is exactly the type of thing I would expect to hear from an abuser of the system. Come clean, Mr. Willis. What sort of favors are you seeking? What, exactly, are you hiding?

h/t Pirate's Cove via Right Wing News