Response Editorial: Accountability or Just Another Excuse to Sue?
It’s interesting to watch how quickly some voices in town leap not toward solutions, but toward lawsuits. The latest editorial about the Chris Vera situation reads less like a call for transparency and more like a familiar pattern: stir outrage, demand legal action, and ultimately drain taxpayer dollars in the name of “accountability.”
Let’s be honest. The loudest critics in this debate aren’t pushing for better governance—they’re pushing for another opportunity to haul the borough into court. And who pays for that? Not the officials being criticized. Not the activists writing editorials. It’s the residents. The workers. The families already stretched thin. Every hour billed by an attorney comes straight out of the pockets of the people who actually fund this town.
The editorial claims the borough made “poor decisions,” but offers no real alternative except the same tired playbook: sue first, ask questions later. If the argument is that legal fees are already too high, how exactly does adding more lawsuits fix that? What’s the plan—other than demanding more taxpayer-funded litigation?
Yes, the handling of the ban raises questions. Yes, residents deserve clarity. But demanding endless investigations, outside lawyers, and ACLU involvement isn’t accountability—it’s a financial sinkhole disguised as civic virtue.
If the critics truly want to protect the community, then they should explain what they propose that doesn’t involve dragging the borough into courtrooms and piling up bills. How do they intend to get answers without turning every disagreement into a lawsuit? How do they plan to improve trust without bankrupting the very people they claim to defend?
The editorial insists that “without consequences, there’s no accountability.” Fair enough. But accountability doesn’t always mean litigation. Sometimes it means electing better leaders. Sometimes it means showing up to meetings. Sometimes it means demanding policy changes instead of demanding payouts.
What we don’t need is another round of taxpayer-funded theatrics.
Columbia deserves steady leadership, not reflexive outrage. It deserves solutions, not lawsuits. And it deserves a conversation about how to move forward that doesn’t begin and end with taking more money from the people who live here.
So before calling for more legal action, maybe the critics should answer one simple question: If suing the borough isn’t the goal, then what exactly is their plan?
