We’re well beyond the point of ridiculous on the newest appointment to the Fayette County Board of Elections. Commissioner Lee Hearn shouldn’t have been appointing his cousin to oversee his election results in the first place. Mr. Hearn is smart enough to know right from wrong.
Now, we’ve found out Mr. Hearn’s cousin also owns a very large piece of land next to the West Fayetteville Bypass. I think it’s fair to ask whether Mr. Hearn or his wife or his mother have an ownership interest in that land as well since it’s owned by a family trust. The public should be entitled to view a full list of those family members with any degree of ownership interest. I also think it’s now abundantly clear to everyone why Mr. Hearn supports the West Fayetteville Bypass.
The whole situation is just plain dirty. Mr. Hearn has done nothing but keep secrets from the people of Fayette County. If he’s involved in something he has to keep a deep dark secret from his constituents. Mr. Hearn needs to resign, and his cousin needs to resign, too.
After Commissioner Brown dropped the bomb about Mr. Hearn’s relatives owning land at the West Fayetteville Bypass, you could see everyone in the audience shaking their heads in disgust.
The chairman, Herb Frady, gave Mr. Hearn a chance to respond to Mr. Brown’s accusations about the family owning land near the West Fayetteville Bypass and Mr. Hearn didn’t say a word. Therefore, we can likely assume Mr. Brown was telling the truth. It is appalling that Mr. Hearn refused to speak about the issue even after it was exposed.
We’ve got some people involved in some dishonest business and the lid has been blown right off for everyone to see.
Is it any wonder why people are losing faith in their county government? People are angry about what they see. But as for the three commissioners from the previous commission, they just don’t care one bit about transparent government or doing what is right.
There’s no excuse for lying to the public or lying through omission. Remember that this is the same commissioner who told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he just lets people vent their frustration with his actions at the meetings and then does whatever he wants.
We must do something about this mess and vote Mr. Hearn and his buddies out of office.
Ginga Smithfield
Fayette County, Ga.
