I like this idea, but this sounds more to me like a PR spindoctor for the ArbCom than anything else. I don't know if we need more officials right now, we're already pretty sticky in the beauracracy.
The Ombudsman should actually be quite "ArbCom sceptic" if you know what I mean - he or she should in no way succumb to the ArbCom interests, since the whole point of an Ombudsman is to act as a structure of appeal and review for the ArbCom and to a lesser extent admins.
As to bureaucracy - I agree that the Ombudsman's role is already carried out to an extent by Jimbo. However, I presume Jimbo is already overloaded with work, and that he simply doesn't have the time to investigate and report on cases in depth. It is pretty unreasonable to expect him to be an ombudsman and last-step-of-appeals person, and do all of the other work he does in terms of the Wikimedia Foundation, and promotion, etc.
I guess many people would like to take on the function of the ombudsman, at least those of us who are committed to justice on Wikipedia in the light of recent admin and ArbCom action.
Food for thought, though. Just how much crap does Jimbo get, just for being
who he is? My guess is that it's a lot.
Yes, I suppose it's a lot. That's why I don't think he should deal with cases that sometimes may seem quite trivial in the greater scheme of Wikipedia, but may be very important to particular users or the community.
Ronline