A Conflict of Interest
A Cap Times article on December 7, 2022, quotes Mayor Rhodes-Conway as referring to an “extensive and thorough third-party” analysis of Metro’s system redesign. Such a review did not happen but should have. Third-party review is a basic tenet of good governance, guarding us against the tendency to confirm our own biases. That is why Madison ordinances are sprinkled throughout with "no conflict of interest" clauses. Metro should not have designated the same people who redesigned its system to also perform the Equity Analysis of that plan. Madison prides itself on levying taxes for the common good. Yet Metro justified the in-house review by claiming that doing so saved both time and money. An estimated cost of $50,000 compared to Metro’s $50 million-plus annual budget and the loss of legitimacy? Only an independent review can assess that Metro is not hiding something to claim that “there is no reason to believe that the analysis, done in some other way, would produce an...