When City Commissioner Merili McCoy made the controversial recommendation that all Commissioners "lead by example" by taking the same drug test required for City employees, we all assumed that she might be targeting one or more of her fellow Commissioners who do a little coke or smoke a little grass. But, as it has turned out, it was all eyewash.
First of all, real City employees are tested randomly. They don't know when their time will come— so they can't plan by cleaning up their acts. The City Commissioners decided when they wanted to be tested— although Harry Bethel says he's willing to be on the random list.
Also, if a City employee's test shows drug positive, there are sanctions, ranging from mandatory rehab to dismissal. There are no such sanctions for City Commissioners whose drug tests might show positive.
According to Sandy Gilbert, the City's Human Resources Director, the results of the Commissioners' tests are confidential— even if one or more of them are addicts. So, although all of the Commissioners have now reportedly peed in the cup, you will never know the results of those tests— unless someone in City government leaks (no pun intended) those results, or the individual Commissioners release their results themselves.
So far, several Commissioners have announced that their tests showed them to be "clean"— but only Tom Oosterhoudt has released his actual report. The other Commissioners should follow Oosterhoudt's lead. Otherwise, what's the point of the exercise?