Commissioner Jack Smith has made some decisions I haven’t agreed with, but I believe him to be honest and genuinely concerned about the county and its citizens. He will receive my support in the primary election for county commission.
Steve Brown is another story all together. Brown is very personable, but so is a con man. He talks a good game, but so does a con man. And just like a con man, Brown is out for what he can get for himself. We know, similar to a con man, Mayor Brown was ethically challenged.
An ethics complaint was filed against Mayor Brown for having a city employee, his executive assistant, pick up his child from lessons during work hours. An ethics board found him guilty. He’d also bring his two daughters to City Hall and abandon them in a conference room for hours without checking on them. Concerned city employees would check on the neglected girls. Brown chose to make the part-time mayor’s position full-time.
Mayor Brown refused to sign an amendment to the Intergovernmental Agreement with the Peachtree City Development Authority that City Council had lawfully approved. Brown then illegally stopped contractual payments of hotel/motel tax revenues to the authority without the required council approval.
Peachtree City has a moratorium on annexations. The moratorium prohibits city employees, which includes the mayor, working with a developer until authorized by council. Mayor Brown disregarded that directive and worked intimately with Wieland Development on an annexation plan of over 300 acres in the West Village. Brown’s reasoning: he had stepped out of his mayoral shoes and was just a private citizen.
Mayor Brown opposed the 2004 Transportation SPLOST referendum for one reason: he didn’t agree with the revenue distribution. State law prohibits elected officials from advocating a voter referendum. Brown had Comcast tape his opposition message in their studio, edit it and air it on one of their channels. Again Brown claimed he had stepped out of his mayoral shoes and did the spot as a private citizen.
At the time of the taping, Comcast was beginning negotiations with the city to renew their franchise agreement. The tape provided by Comcast was clearly marked with “Mayor Brown” on the jacket, the label and at the beginning of the tape.
An ethics complaint was filed with the state Ethics Board, which they thought serious enough to hear. Brown prevailed after Comcast said they’d taped the piece for him as a private individual.
Steve Brown is a good activist and an alright columnist. Look beyond his words to his actions. He just doesn’t have the character to be a community leader.
John Dufresne
Bagram, Afghanistan
