By Mayor Carolyn Kirk – (June 25, 2011) This past Monday, at Faneuil Hall in Boston, there was a remarkable congressional hearing hosted by U.S. Sen. Carper, Democrat of Delaware, and U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, Republican of Massachusetts. The topic was the Asset Forfeiture Fund that is in the control of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and its coffers filled with fines levied against fishermen.
As a backdrop, in addition to the magnificent paintings that grace the hall, and the sculpted busts of good Americans, there was a poster-board illustrating the $300,000 luxury power boat that was purchased with the fund along with descriptions of the trips and cars paid for with the fund.
Congressman John Tierney testified, and called for the abolishment of the fund which provides for a "perverse incentive" in that the NOAA agents have been essentially motivated to aggressively pursue and collect money from fishermen because they could then turn around and reward themselves with cars, trips, and other perks of the job.
Our own elected representatives can't get their hands on audited financial statements that represent billions and billions of dollars in taxpayer money for another six years!
The federal government has gotten so unwieldy that it has lost track of basic stewardship of our money.
This hearing was important for many reasons — not the least of which was the opportunity to hear how local businesses such as the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction have been impacted by the perverse financial incentives in place that skew the judgment of law enforcement agents carrying out their duties.
Read the complete opinion piece at The Gloucester Times.