Lee County Corrupt? Not Really

Monday, Mike Sabot – a FORMER contributor to SWGAPolitics.com – implied that the Lee County Board of Commissioners was corrupt without any proof and without giving the full story. Here, I present the rest of the story – with apologies to the late great Paul Harvey. (See this post on my personal site this morning, because of Mike’s actions today I have made the decision to remove him, effective immediately.)

Mike implied here – which was repeated in both the Lee County Ledger and Albany Journal – that Lee County Commission Chairman Ed Duffy and Commissioner Rick Muggridge were conspiring to gain control of the board. He noted that Frank Richter happens to live near Ed Duffy and therefore there must be some collusion between them, and he noted that since Johnny Barthlein once lived near Rick Muggridge – I’m told Barthlein has since moved – there must also be some collusion there. First, Duffy became a Commissioner at the same time Richter was appointed to the board. Duffy was NOT on the board at that point, then-Chairman Leverett was. It is HIGHLY unlikely that a freshman Commissioner could plant his personal pick on a board – particularly in the very first meeting! Furthermore, it has been revealed to me – and I am trying to confirm this right now – that Richter wasn’t even Duffy’s neighbor when they both first achieved their respective positions! Yet Mike is trying to paint some black helicopter conspiracy theory?

Regarding Muggridge and Barthlein, it is indeed in the minutes from July 14 that Chairman Duffy said that he had assured Commissioner Muggridge that when a vacancy came open, he would be put on the Authority. In the paragraph from the minutes just before this, Commissioner Muggridge had pointed out that there was only one Utlitities Authority customer on the Utliity Commission (which is Philip Husain, though this isn’t in the minutes from that day). He therefore recommended a guy he said was a customer of the Utilities Authority, John Barthlein.

Ultimately, there were seven candidates for three positions. George Walls (Incumbent – Redbone District), Perry Mathis (Incumbent – Smithville District), Victor Stubbs (Incumbent – Leesburg District), Johnny Barthlein, Rick Muggridge, Robert Usry, and George Dobbins III. Of the seven member board, the District makeup is 2 Pamyra (Ed Duffy and Frank Richter), 2 Redbone (George Walls and Philip Husain), 2 Leesburg (Troy Golden and Victor Stubbs), and one Smithville (Perry Mathis). Only one of these members is an actual customer of the Utilities Authority – Philip Husain. Of those 7, two of the three incumbents were chosen for reappointment – Walls and Stubbs. Meaning that there were now five contenders for one spot, one incumbent (from the Smithville district), 2 known customers (both from the Century district), one previous Board member from the Smithville district, and one other candidate that appears to live in either the Leesburg or Smithville district, as best I can tell. The former board member from Smithville was chosen, replacing the incumbent from Smithville. Meanwhile, Century District is not represented at all on the board, and the customers still only have a single representative on the board – but more on that in a moment.

Per several people – only Commissioner Muggridge in the Herald today was on the record -, apparently there are precisely zero Utlities Authority customers in the Smithville district, and the vast majority – 86%, per Commissioner Muggridge – of them are split between the Century and Redbone districts. Furthermore, per Commissioner Muggridge’s letter of intent (page 67A of the linked document), the taxpayers of Lee County have contributed $2,127,178.00 over the last 5 years to fund the Utility Authority, while Authority customers have contributed $13,997,090.00. This means that 87% of the money has come from actual customers and only 13% from the general taxpayers of Lee County. Yet one of the districts with most of the customers doesn’t have representation on the board at all, and only 1 of 7 board members is a customer. That means that while customers pay 87% of the costs of the Authority, NON-customers make up 86% of its board. Does this REALLY seem right to anyone?

Closing, Carlton Fletcher apparently point blank asked Mike if he had any proof of any of his claims, and not only did Mike say ‘Not directly, but Duffy was seen having lunch with (the developer).’, but Mike apparently didn’t even provide any indirect proof! The fact that Chairman Duffy was seen eating lunch with a developer proves NOTHING other than the fact that they shared a meal. Meaning Mike had ZERO proof, and this was COMPLETE speculation on his part that he was trying to pass off as fact!

Because of all this, Mike will please forgive me if I deem his ‘information’ to be unreliable, at best, and therefore skip his site.

I wonder if Mike really wants to try to tell me to get my facts straight again, as he did in an email today? Because the more research I do, the crazier he looks.