With everything that’s happened recently, it’s easy to get lost in the details of what everyone has done. Names like Don Buie, Al Lott, LaJuanna Woods, James Taylor, Roger Marietta, and just about anyone else who’s name has crossed the TV screen make easy scapegoats on those grounds enough. However, the root of the problem is much more sinister and much more easily solved.
To start with, let me clarify that I get annoyed by “buzz words”. They tick me off in ways that only a Paris Hilton marathon on every network could possibly tick me off. And yet, I’m about to use one.
These days, the term “transparency” has become a buzz word of epic scale. Everyone uses it, and some of them even use it correctly. However, that one buzz word could have prevented what may well be the biggest scandal in Albany history. A bit of transparency could have stopped the whole mess before it ever got to this point.
Transparency simply means that people should be able to see what’s going on. So far, the rules in Albany aren’t set up for that and that needs to change. While I’m not sure the rules need to be changed at the state level, I do think that there should be a rule that dictates city commission meetings should all be held after regular working hours. Even if the current hours only prevent one person from taking part, I really feel that’s one to many.
But that’s not all either. The City Manager’s office needs to not only stop instructing deputy city managers to not respond to questions (or as he termed them, “interrogatories“), even when they are asked under the Georgia Open Records Act. Making records available on request is the law after all, but one that some city officials don’t seem interested in actually following.
Next, let’s make damn sure that no one has the authority to spend city money without approval. Buie had checks written not just to his wife, but his girlfriend, Nicole Brown. Checks were being written based on an email with no invoices being required. My God, who knows who all else may have gotten some of our tax money for who knows what? Fiduciary responsibility is the name of the game, and it’s been to easy to weasel around the oversight apparently.
Just some transparency and oversight would have prevented all of this from happening. While this isn’t exactly bad for those who oppose the downtown projects, it’s worth noting that there’s no reason to not assume this isn’t happening elsewhere in the city. So, let’s change a few rules and get something positive out of the whole thing. Let’s make Albany as transparent as they come and really try and rid the city of corruption once and for all.
Way back, earlier in life, in many different settings, I learned that the boss often establshed the personality and character and ethical standards of an organization. It’s not unlike parenting.
Whether those standards are established by normative action (if it’s ok for him to do, it must be ok for me), or by inaction (if he doesn’t care or make the effort to inspect, why should I?), or by expectation (this will please him), the bosses’ styles and standards set the expectations and the boundaries.
And that takes us to Buie. Buie used to say, “You wouldn’t believe the stuff that goes on up there …”
Y’all — someone with authority — someone who can pull off the masks — take it from there.
Transparency does not always come easily.
You’re absolutely right about the upper echelon’s setting the tone. That’s generally where the fault lies. Unfortunately, there’s to much “upper echelon” right now to know who’s the catalyst for this kind of thing for certain. I’ve got my suspicions, but nothing I can move on yet.
However, I think the “masks” can be pulled off by some who aren’t exactly in authority. We regular schmoes have done a pretty good job so far