I’m obliged to write because some recent letters were about two friends of mine, Rick Price and Greg Dunn. As the saying goes, people are entitled to their own opinions but not their own facts. These letters provided someone’s “own facts,” but not the real ones.
I remind those who read the online version of this paper, and inform those who haven’t, that two of the writers have perpetuated the same error. They confuse Wilson Price, former member of the Fayetteville City Council, with Rick Price.
Rick was an elected official, but he has never been a member of the Fayetteville City Council. Living in Fayetteville is a necessity to be elected there. Rick doesn’t. And, FYI, there are others named Price who are, or who have been, elected officials who aren’t Rick either.
I was somewhat surprised that Cal allowed one of these writers to selectively quote from Cal’s favorable endorsement of Greg and imply that Cal opposed Greg.
A blatant attempt by Greg’s first opponent also distorted words that had appeared in the newspaper, and the strong reaction by the newspapers at that time played a role in Greg’s victory over that opponent.
Then, that writer cites a recent AJC “study” on corruption in the state of Georgia and, in her next breath, inserts Greg’s name. A false and obvious attempt to link him to something he has nothing to do with. Incidentally, that “study” ranked New Jersey first.
With that, and the selective snip from Cal’s endorsement, and the honest (?) mistake about Wilson Price, which was repeated, I wonder if that letter writer is the one who may have a personal issue with ethics.
I understand that these writers are probably trying to help their candidates, but they should ask those candidates if they want to get started in politics this way.
Rick was a county commissioner, serving eight years including two as chairman, and then was elected to the state Senate two times. That’s a total of 12 years of diligent and effective service.
Greg served us for eight years on the County Commission, with six as chairman. In my opinion, he was the most capable public official who has ever represented any part of Fayette County.
I’ve been very involved in local and state politics since 1990. I’ve known a lot of politicians and public servants in that time, some good and some bad.
The truth is that neither Greg nor Rick are perfect. I haven’t agreed with either one in every instance. But, they were two of the highest quality public officials that I have had the privilege to know in that period
We’ve had our share of poor and bad elected officials. I’ve not been shy about naming them in the past. Rick and Greg aren’t in that group. On the contrary, they provided a higher standard by which we should evaluate the others; past, present and potential.
Peter Pfeifer
Peachtree City, Ga.
[Pfeifer is a former member of the Fayette County Commission.]
