Government at every level needs closer public scrutiny

One of the biggest problems facing every level of government is the need for knowledge of corruption of elected officials. Many have no real idea what they are doing. Unfortunately, we have a long list of examples.

For example, over 20 years, we spent trillions of dollars on Afghanistan, lost military personnel, and maimed others. Afghanistan is now exactly like before we arrived, except we left the Taliban billions of dollars worth of advanced military hardware. Imagine what we could have done with all that funding instead of following a series of false promises.

In my previous column, I offered a remarkable case study of how a government can take one of the highest-quality-of-life cities and blow it all up (see https://thecitizen.com/2024/09/16/lessons-from-the-northwest/). Seattle officials thought they needed to supersede the market and force affordable housing into their affluent urban community with median incomes around $100,000.

Seattle created all the artificial conditions necessary to construct around 8,000 affordable housing units. Since then, the city has been devastated, local businesses have closed, local taxpayers have forfeited their quality of life, and the city council has shoveled in tens of millions of tax dollars to keep the private affordable units afloat, beset with blight and crime taking over; all the while, former Mayor Jenny Durkan made excuses and looked the other way.

You have no reason to trust the government. There is no system in place to evaluate government performance.

Ego, and pride can be deadly

From our local governments to the federal government, our government officials cannot admit they’ve made a mistake, and they double down on dodging and hiding.

And, yes, those mistakes can kill you, seriously.

Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently testified before Congress regarding his horrendous and deadly decisions made during the Covid-19 pandemic.

From the beginning of the pandemic, the one thing we knew for sure was that this virus was deadly for the elderly. Cuomo passed a lethal directive that he is now defending, saying that if you tested positive in a hospital and you were a nursing home resident, the nursing home had to take you back while infected.

Cuomo and his public health staff had all the data and knew that the elderly were at risk when he forced a directive that no nursing home could turn away a Covid-19-positive patient. If a patient who left the nursing home and went to the hospital proved to be positive for Covid-19, they had to let them back in.

The governor’s decision was utter insanity, and nursing home patients were slaughtered from the forced spread of the virus.

Emails procured by Congress show that Cuomo and his staff knew they had created a deadly debacle. However, instead of publicly recognizing the problem and immediately taking corrective action, Cuomo’s aides rewrote the nursing home report to hide the higher death toll and intentionally manipulated their death numbers (“Cuomo Aides Rewrote Nursing Home Report to Hide Higher Death Toll,” New York Times, March 4, 2021). According to the state’s state Attorney General Letitia James, the death toll could have been 50% higher.

So, many times, the government never admits it has made a mistake, and human nature compels it to cover it up and ride it out.

The CDC and scientists in the field know the Covid data show little harm to children. Likewise, the Covid data demonstrate that the vaccine is more dangerous for children than the virus itself. Yet the CDC is now recommending two or three shots before a child is even six months old, and it could be mandated for school in the future.

I am not offering medical advice, but I strongly urge you to research why many European nations are no longer offering the vaccine to children.

Our County Board of Commissioners in quicksand

Unfortunately for them, the county commissioners did not have the foresight to realize they were bullying the wrong set of women regarding the multi-million-dollar animal shelter fiasco. These local animal advocates are like bulldogs who won’t let go (pun intended).

I have been handed a stack of documentation regarding the poor design and construction of the new shelter facility, egregious claims of shelter staff misconduct, animal cruelty, and more.

It appears the commissioners believed they could ride the complaints out, and the public would forget about the dismal state of the new animal shelter and the department running it. I can assure you that is not happening.

The atmosphere at the county headquarters is reminiscent of my days as a county commissioner when I had to fight daily to bring ethical management practices to the county government. Nearly half of the department directors were removed during my tenure. Removing the water system director and the 911 call center director made statewide news; it was that bad.

It was disappointing when Peachtree City resident Lynne Lasher brought more county dirt to the forefront (see: https://thecitizen.com/2024/09/16/fayette-awards-255k-contract-with-no-bidding-as-a-good-thing/). According to Lasher, the commissioners approved contracts without bidding on the projects as required.

“Mr. [Eric] Maxwell quickly motioned to approve the awarding of the $255,846.99 new Health Building’s AV contract to Sound Principals Pro Multi Media, Inc; equally quickly seconded by Mr. [Edge] Gibbons,” reported Lasher.

Lasher continued, “When Mr. [Charles] Rousseau dared to question why this [purchase] was treated as a sole-source award, Mr. Maxwell quickly shot down opposition by saying that the county has dealt with them before and had great results. [Maxwell said,] ‘We could bid it out, but why would you when you have a good thing.’”

There is another curious dynamic with the commissioners’ elections in a few weeks. People are asking why Republican Commission Chairman Lee Hearn’s campaign signs are showing up on the same properties as the signs of Democrat candidate Darryl Hicks who currently serves on the county’s development authority. There is much whispering in the back channels regarding this apparent collaboration.

Regarding the November election, a Republican leader told me that Angela Wingate-Haynes, the candidate for tax commissioner, was not paying her personal property taxes on time. I looked it up, and she seems to have an issue with delinquent tax payments to the county, which raises the obvious question of why anyone would vote for a tax commissioner candidate who has problems with paying taxes.

Crazy times in Peachtree City

Mayor Kim Learnard is actively deflecting on the issue of a new apartment complex proposed near the Highways 74 and 54 intersection, a site that is one of the best potential locations for a revenue-positive, job-rich corporate headquarters (see: https://thecitizen.com/2024/09/09/opinion-look-out-multi-story-apartments-are-back-facing-peachtree-city/).

Copies of Learnard’s email responses to concerned citizens show her saying the developer can submit anything they desire. However, in those emails, she does not say if she opposes the new apartment complex.

Real estate developers rarely expend funds for architectural renderings, engineering surveys, and other costs without some sort of tacit approval from city council members or city staff.

Remember that Learnard has approved multi-family housing before. She knows we currently have more than enough multi-family housing complexes in the city.

After the fiscal year 2025 budget farce, the one in which the city manager turned in the budget proposal late and told a council member that he did not have time to provide her with budget data, we should vigilantly watch for what is coming from the Learnard administration (see https://thecitizen.com/2024/08/12/budget-blowout-done-mostly-under-wraps/).

Allocate a few minutes

Please take some time to understand what is happening in our community. You should never rely upon the government’s word.

The best communities have knowledgeable citizens willing to stand against harmful influences. This has traditionally been a hallmark of Peachtree City.

Do not wait until the damage is beyond repair. Use your vote and your voice.

[Brown is a former mayor of Peachtree City and served two terms on the Fayette County Board of Commissioners. You can read all his columns by clicking on his photo below.]