Voters say "yes" to creating 17-member jobs commission

Yesterday, more than 60 percent of voters approved a ballot question that would create a 17-member jobs commission to study how to grow employment in the private sector.

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Voters say "yes" to creating 17-member jobs commission

POSTED: Wednesday, May 18, 2011, 6:46 PM
Filed Under: Elections | ElectionEar

Yesterday, more than 60 percent of voters approved a ballot question that would create a 17-member jobs commission to study how to boost employment in the private sector.

The Committee of Seventy, a watchdog group, recommended that voters not approve it, arguing that it "would risk the creation of another potentially permanent and costly government 'commission' which is not necessary."

Translation: It could be a vehicle for patronage jobs, according to critics.

Seventy also points out that several government agencies tasked with job creation already exist, including the Commerce Department and the Office of Economic Opportunity.

But the commission's chief sponsor, Councilman Darrell L. Clarke, wrote in a letter that "Seventy's position is 100 percent wrong."

He argues that the jobs commission is necessary because, as of February, the unemployment rate "was a staggering 10.4 percent."

"The Commission will cast a wide net," Clarke says, "looking at job training, workforce development, economic development, education, licensing, zoning and taxation."

The members of the commission will be appointed by the mayor and City Council president. Not unrelatedly, Clarke is expected to run to become the next Council president against Councilwoman Marian Tasco.

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