American democracy has a rich heritage and one that we woefully take for granted. Marvel for a moment that since 1900, only six countries in the world have NOT changed their form of government. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the insights of our Founding Fathers in crafting such an amazing document as the Constitution of the United States.

That being said, some ideas have outlived their shelf life. One of these is the lame-duck session. It is not termed that, of course, it is simply the time between an election and when those elected take office. Originally, the time was based on the difficulty of travel in the 18th century. The date of the national election was to be the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, with the electees being sworn into office on March 4th of the following year. This was changed to January 3rd for senators and representatives and January 20th for president and vice president by the 20th amendment to the US Constitution. This was adopted in January of 1933, motivated by the Great Depression. Five months was far too long for a ‘lame duck’ president to be in office when the country was trying to deal with a major economic crisis.

We generally accept the two-month wait between election and oath of office of our elected officials the same way we accept anachronisms like Day Light Saving Time and Prevailing Wage laws. We hate them, but we’ve learned to live with them because no one has the wherewithal to do anything about them.

This electoral anomaly is in full view to anyone attending the County Commissioner meetings during November and now December. It is hard not to notice the quiet tension behind the scenes due
to the outgoing status of Commissioner Jack McKernan and the coming incumbent Commissioner Scott Metzger. The commissioners appear reluctant to make any major decisions, given that one-third of their board has been voted out of office. Scott Metzger comes to every meeting, even the work sessions, just as he has been doing for the past year now, and his presence is like a silent sentinel reminding them that a new partner is coming to the triad and he will certainly stir the pot.
The duck was missing on Tuesday, December 3rd, work session, which caused something that I have not seen in four years of covering these meetings. There was one commissioner present — Commissioner Rick Mirabito. Commissioner McKernan was absent, and Commissioner Mussare was in “attendance” via telephone. Mirabito had the privilege of moderating this one-member meeting. (Note: this is permitted under the Sunshine Law, provided that all can hear the elected official that is on the phone and he or she, in turn, can hear those speaking in the meeting room. These requirements were fulfilled at the meeting).

Do lame ducks make for lame meetings? Really, why the two-month wait? Scott Metzger was at that December 3rd meeting, but he still has to sit on his hands for another four weeks. Should not the new board be the ones making the decisions on the budget that they will have to live within the coming year? Should not the new board be making personnel decisions, especially those that will have far-reaching ramifications to county operations? November and December are important months in preparing for the coming year. Still, in practice, if the critical decisions are not made before election day in November, it is very awkward to make these decisions with lame-duck officials.

This is not in any way to disparage the work of Jack McKernan. He has worked extremely hard in his position for these past four years. But the voters chose someone else, and it seems that their voice will not be heard as timely as it should. And this does not just apply to county government, either. Why do we wait for a new city mayor? Why are not all officials that are elected take office in the most timely way possible? Why? Because that is the law. So the ducks keep quacking, and the lions keep sleeping.

Larry Stout welcomes your comments or input. He can be reached by email: lionwebbweekly@gmail.com.