A waltz of seats that continues to raise dust, from Palazzo Zanca to the Government Palace. At the center of the dispute is the latest move of the Sicilian Regional Council: the appointment of Dr. Bernardo Campo as extraordinary deputy commissioner of the Municipality of Messina.
A choice that immediately triggered the reflexes of local politics, leading the city councilor Alessandro Russo to write a peppery note of “clarifications” addressed to the prefect, Cosima Di Stani.
The heart of the problem, according to Russo’s complaint, does not concern the skills of the newly appointed person, but rather his impressive collection of positions. Doctor Campo, in fact, is already the current regional commissioner of the Taormina Arte Sicilia Foundation. A top role which, according to the councillor, could clash with the new position of deputy commissioner in Messina.
In the note sent to the Prefecture, Russo asks a question as simple as it is insidious: is it possible, in light of the current legislation on Local Authorities and on the conferability of managerial positions, that the same person simultaneously holds two roles of such weight? “The writer wonders whether top positions in regional bodies are compatible with similar or steering roles in relevant local bodies, such as the Municipality of Messina”.
The suspicion raised is that these are two positions that have the same “top management” nature. In a regulatory system that should guarantee transparency and prevent accumulations of power or conflicts of interest, Campo’s double seat appears to Russo as an anomaly to be clarified “definitively”. And the ball now passes to Prefect Di Stani.