Develop New Albany's lobbying effort on behalf of the proposed River View project has raised quite a few questions. The potential conflicts of interest - the organization's most recent past president and current membership chair listed on the development's "About Us" page, the current president's employment with the city administration pushing the project - are apparent. That the lobbying effort exists at all directly contradicts a recent DNA press release outlining their reluctance to lobby as a non-political 501(c)(3) non-profit and a citation of organizational by-laws which state "the Program shall not engage in the carrying on of propaganda or shall not attempt to influence any legislation."
The questions are so central to the group's credibility that it's difficult to imagine concerns weren't raised by DNA's board when asked to approve the River View communication. Call me oversuspicious, but past experiences lead to another question: Was the board even asked or was some sort of quasi-executive pronouncement simply foisted on them without process?
It would almost be better for the group's reputation if the question wasn't asked, allowing some room for explanation. It would also be a call for reform for an organization who lists city government as a top sponsor.
Some folks have reported difficulty with the links to the DNA web site.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what's up with the site but the links transfer users to the correct URLs. Some browsers, though, seem unable to render the pages correctly.
I'm on a Mac and the DNA site works with Firefox but Safari and Chrome produce empty boxes and a "contact us" link where other content should be, even on the home page.