Mayoral Change Needed

– October 25, 2007Posted in: Outlook, Politics

With hypocrisy, cronyism and corruption becoming the staples of our local government, the downward spiral will continue – unless Bo Dorough is elected on Nov. 6

Is Albany, Ga., our beloved hometown, better off than it was four years ago, when Mayor Willie Adams was elected?

Judge for yourself:

Our population is smaller.

Our poorest citizens are poorer.

Our industrial base is weaker.

Our taxes are higher.

Our leaders lie.

Downtown revitalization is in peril.

Our sales tax money is illegally spent.

Our city manager illegally withholds records.

Consultants are hired without competitive bids.

Personnel files disappear.

New rules at city hall quash citizen participation.

The sign ordinance, restaurant smoking ban, Sunday alcohol sales, and other city laws have been selectively enforced.

The SWAT team crumbled.

Drug squad positions aren’t filled.

The hostage negotiation team disintegrated.

The community policing council was abolished.

The relationships between the Police Department and other criminal justice agencies are worse than ever.

The chance of being murdered is greater.

Citizen inquiries about rapes, domestic violence, and robberies go unanswered.

Our police chief accepts no responsibility for his department’s shortcomings.

The city manager says the police chief is doing his job magnificently.

And – in spite of everything listed above — the mayor says that the city manager and police chief are doing their jobs magnificently.

Indeed, both of their personnel records are immaculate.

Government under Adams is a prototype of hypocrisy. It talks one way and acts another; it blathers of convincing judges to banish criminals from the community, while scoffing at laws it considers inconvenient; and it overtaxes us by millions of dollars every year, while claiming to be efficient spenders.

So, what do you think? For those of you who don’t regularly read this newspaper, you may not be aware of the hard facts associated with the statements I made above. There is documentation associated with each of them; if you want it, just drop me a line, or check out my blog — kevinhogencampalbanyjournal.blogspot.com.

Albany doesn’t have a mayor now; we have a charming little socialite chairman of the board. Adams is friendly, he makes everyone laugh, and he truly enjoys the job and the status the position brings. Regrettably, though, our mayor’s ethical shortcomings stand in the way of him being a successful statesman.

The mayor using a police captain to drive him around, claiming that it’s his bodyguard, certainly isn’t the biggest problem plaguing our community, for sure. But the scenario, and the mayor’s refusal to answer questions or supply records about the arrangement to use the captain’s services, is symbolic of the arrogance and – more importantly — the waste atop the city government food chain.

Bad government lies at the root of the crises in our community. The first collapse at city hall since the 2004 election of Adams and his adversary-turned-ally, City Commissioner Tommie Postell, was that of the professional human resource management function of city government. Next came the most critical element of service delivery – the Police Department, under the leadership and lack thereof of James Younger, and despite the continued admirable efforts of much of its rank-and-file.

Does anyone remember Adams pre- and post-election assurances and goals? I do — and each has been for naught. For example, Adams said he would help bring the high school graduation rate to 90 percent; our community would be safer and cleaner; the airport would be relocated to another city so that it would serve all of Southwest Georgia; and that he would serve only one term.

In a letter soliciting support for his re-election bid, Adams touts educational gains as being among his accomplishments.

Say what?

Not only did Adams not improve the graduation rate, he didn’t try; city staffers and education officials held one education town hall meeting on Adams’ behalf in four years.

Adams’ campaign propaganda also says that the city built it reserve fund from nothing to $11 million in four years. The truth is the city had $4.5 million on the fund when Adams was elected. And the rest of the truth is, of the $11 million, $2.8 million has been committed to subsidize the public employees’ group health plan.

So, is Bo Dorough, who has served as Ward 4 commissioner for eight years, a godsend? That’s not clear, but what we do know is that Dorough has the ethical fortitude to do the right thing.

Isn’t honesty what we want most out of government?

Dorough has proven that time and time again, perhaps to his political peril — like voting to increase business license fees even as Adams changed his vote – that the next election doesn’t matter.

Look at Dorough’s taxpayer-funded expense account. I did. Dorough barely spends any of his $7,500 annual allotment, while Adams spends nearly all of his $10,000 – sometimes illegally, according to the city attorney, who works for Adams and his colleagues.

That’s as good a gauge as there is for judging how careful the two are – or aren’t – with our money.

Through his actions (aka votes), it seems that Dorough would just assume lose friends than make them happy at taxpayers’ expense.

I like that.

What a refreshing change it would be to have Dorough in office.

It’s been a brutal four years for city government. Let’s make a change on Nov. 6.