Originally Posted - November 17, 2005

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40 of New York's 62 counties have been surveyed and better than 80% of our elected officials are in violation of what seems to many, as a minor legal technicality to file their oaths of office and obtain their surety bonds as required by law. This can only be seen as a minor, trivial and arcane technicality because despite the unprecedented ease and affordability of mass communications and access to education available today, most of us have forgotten what is at stake.

Excerpted from the March/April 1997 New York State Bar Journal Public Officers, Beware! No Excuses Accepted by Carolyn H. Mann:

We submit that the failure to timely file an oath of office is an important and justifiable disqualification for holding public office. Those who are hurt by the consequences of failure to strictly comply must resignedly accept their fate because, as we intend to show, the purpose of the statute is to secure a trust rather than to punish the careless.

No Exceptions!

Briefly, § 30(1)(h) obligates a public official, whether elected or appointed, to file an oath of office, within 30 days of the commencement or notification of his term.

The New York Courts have heard several cases pleading relief from a direct reading of this section, yet all pleas have been to no avail. In each and every case, the courts have read the clear and undisputed language of the statute finding no latitude to permit any exceptions.

What is all this fuss about an oath of office not being timely filed? Is it merely a "technical" bugaboo that should be significantly eased? Or, is the demand for strict compliance rational and wise? This author believes the latter…

The New York Legislature apparently believes the taking of the oath of office to be a critical qualification for those in public office accepting the public trust…

Through this device in a public setting, the people are offered some assurance that the words and actions of public officers are possibly being carefully guided by something other than the official's own set of self serving principles. The swearing-in ceremony is visual and psychologically binding; the filing is written and legally binding.

The "emphatic and unequivocal" language of § 30, Public Officers Law represents one of the important links in the web of our representative democracy and is on the far other side of a mere "technical" nuisance. To reiterate, Public Officer, Beware! The law as it is presently set forth is there to protect, not to punish. No excuses will save a public term of office without taking and timely filing a solemn promise to the people served…

The legislators of the day who drew up our Constitutions and Bills of Rights took this commitment seriously enough that they legislated severe penalties for failure to treat this contract with all with in their jurisdiction as they would any other binding legal commitment. They did so appreciating the temptation to put party loyalty and political patronage before public interests.

They realized their own heirs MIGHT be subject to these penalties as public officials, but as well the unalienable rights, freedoms and protections each generation is obligated to protect and pass on to their heirs WOULD be subject to legislation and public policy shaped to the agendas of opportunists, over the best interests of the public. These restrictions on government power would allow common citizens to reign in powerful officials, and remind all of their peers of the power and sanctity of this commitment to the Constitutional limits of their power as public servants.

Limits that protect the unalienable rights freedoms and protections of ALL with in American jurisdiction from over zealous politicians and public officials who might place popular sentiment and/or agendas, (or the agendas of special interests) ahead of these Civil Rights of ALL (regardless of minority or non-minority status). The Bills of Rights to our Constitutions are partial lists of our Civil Rights, look over the Amendments and see if you recognize Civil Rights, if you have forgotten what these rights are and where to find them.

State statutes specify the offenders' offices will be declared vacant as if the official had died in office. The governor or municipal board of directors can appoint a replacement or reappoint the same office holders, and their official rulings or actions ARE NOT automatically reversed. Therefore the jails and prisons DO NOT empty into the streets. All police officers, fireman or other unelected official who have failed to file can be blanket reappointed.

The elected officials do however have to run for reelection in special elections the next election cycle. The Relevant Laws The purpose of surveying public officials Oath of Office is not to create chaos any more that the statutes were intended to destroy the government. Our purpose is to restore appreciation of the importance of a fundamental commitment made to respect the unalienable civil rights of all people with in the jurisdiction of the United States, regardless of political correctness or minority or non-minority status, and to support the lawful objectives of the oaths of office.

We are not expecting miracles but if we can compel the proper authorities to follow the law, a lot of elected officials will be forced to comply with the law as they compel us commoners to, and run for office again next election. The media, public officials and the public may have to confront what our Constitutions and Bills of Rights are and how they are supposed to fit in our lives and do so in an election year.

Possibly we will confront the commitment each generation has to their heirs to understand, protect and pass along these rights, freedoms and protections with no less influence than when they were entrusted to us. Clearly this has faded to the back ground on our watch if we cannot appreciate this commitment's value when its deterioration is put before us.

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of New York, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of ... according to the best of my ability;"

The Warren County judge and county sheriff whom investigative journalist June Maxam wrote her series of exposés about, have countered with abuses of their powers as public officials to silence her. As June Maxam's investigations have grown to expose higher than 80% non-compliance among public officials in the 40 of the state's 62 counties surveyed, so too have the stakes and pressures to silence her, before the penalties of statute law can be applied to all the public officials who have forgotten or forsaken their commitment to Constitutions and duty, for patronage, party and power. See Local newspaper publisher ordered back to jail or the Reporter's Committee for Freedom of Press website.

Even previously untainted officials are dragged into the morass of persecuting and intimidating a whistle blower. Obstruction of justice (from stone walling Freedom of Information Law request to ignoring multiple court orders), abuse of office and dereliction of their sworn duty to uphold the Constitutions (in the name of party loyalty and patronage over public interests) do not have to be added to the transgressions of otherwise good and effective public servants. We cannot tolerate the acceptance of these double standards in the treatment of the 'politically connected class' and the "Commoners", nor the spreading corruption of a cover up.

This situation does not appear to be unique to New York State either. The sentiments about such commitments were generally universal at times these laws were drafted, debated and passed.

If your state requires public officials to swear or affirm an oath of office check to see about filing requirements for Freedom of Information Law in your state and check to see if your officials have complied, as well the penalties for non-compliance. Again, the founders have left us the tools to at least start to repair these problems on our watch, if we dare use them. If we use these tools entrusted to us to rein in our legislators, and public policy makers to respect and not reinterpret our Constitutions and rights we may also trigger a debate about what we have forgotten that we are obligated to pass on to our heirs.

I urge you to contact Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, and demand an investigation http://www.oag.state.ny.us/online_forms/email_ag.jsp This is an on-line form---if you want, copy and paste the following:

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer,
Please investigate why there are so many counties in NYS that have been allowed to violate the Public Official Law in regards to filing their oaths and or securing their surety bond!

The people have a right to expect public officials to abide by the law- its called public trust!

The commitment to support our Constitutions is not arcane or trivial, and the law as you know is emphatically clear for good reasons. It was relevant when written, and continues to be relevant today. It was not that many years past, when the commitment to support our Constitution is still widely respected.

How can officials sit in judgment, prosecute, legislate, or arrest an individual while breaking the law themselves-particularly where a financial and legal liability exists? If we cannot trust our courts and our government to comply with our Constitutions laws in dealing with renegade government officials what good are the courts, the government and the Constitutions?

If we take such dereliction of duty in stride or turn a blind eye to this situation where are we heading, and what are we leaving for our heirs to deal with on their watch?

If we are arguing that filing these oaths is a trivial, arcane, technicality, then with all our vaunted educational and communications resources, then we have lost track of the significance of this commitment to the rights, freedoms and protections that generations before us have struggled, suffered, and sacrificed to be able to share with and entrust to us to pass on.

Help us set a precedent with New York that is worth having sweep across the country. http://www.trt-ny.org/The_NYS_Oaths_Project.htm 11-17-05

© 2005 North Country Gazette