Ethics and Campaign Review Board Member Fred Flatt has resigned in a scathing letter to Santa Fe Mayor David Coss.

Did I say scathing? More like claws-out, eye-gouging smack down. Here are the highlights:

Unfortunately, the Ethics Board suffers from both structural defects and a philosophy of 'Let's not look under that rock, we might find something.' The word 'proactive' is not in the Board's vocabulary. It has been very frustrating to me and I am no longer willing to go along with the fiction that the Ethics Board has been effective in its assigned mission.

and

I know that ethics can be a 'tiresome' subject, David, but the reason that I voted for you was a change from all that 'Old Time Politics' that New Mexico is justly famous for. I have been sorely disappointed in your performance just as, I am sure, you have been disappointed in my not being a 'rubber stamp' on the ethics board.

Ouch. Flatt cites at least two occasions where he says ethics investigations have not been fully carried out. He implies that an internal investigation into possible fraud in the city's "Toilet Retrofit Program" had not been properly carried out. He also claims to know of a city employee who has been bilking the city budget by not clocking hours he didn't actually work.

Flatt's been complaining about the ethics board for at least a year and a half.