So we have no right to know?

I walked to the mailbox and it up, eager for my copy of The Albany Journal.  I always enjoy reading the various stories in it, stories that don’t always make it into the Herald for some odd reason.  In particular, there was an interesting piece about how Albany City Manager Al Lott ordered one of his subordinates to not answer questions from a citizens committee regarding the controversial downtown bus station project.

With as much secrecy as we get downtown, you’d think that Albany, GA was the CIA.

The group, the Citizen’s Transportation Committee, was asking questions that were apparently a bit to uncomfortable for Lott.  So uncomfortable that he left Dougherty County completely to tell tranportation planner David Hamilton to quit answering them.  The meeting was being held at the Lee County Courthouse, where lot apparently illegally parked in a handicap spot to make sure he could shut Hamilton up in time.  He also questioned why a Citizens Tranportation Committee was talking about a bus station. 

The questions seem to have focused on allegations that state and local officials withholding information from the federal government to secure the $9 million in federal money for the station.

This is just the latest in the bizarre series of events surrounding the station.  For over a decade, the city has planned to either renovate the current bus station, or build a new one, based on possibly getting federal money for such a venture.  Then, earlier this year, it was announced that a new multimodal facility that would accomodate high speed rail service despite there having been no mention in any local or state transportation plans.

Records then showed that bad environmental assessment data and incomplete historical preseveration info were provided to the federal government.   The committee was apparently trying to determine if this was because of incompetance or corruption, either being possible here in Albany.

Lott’s actions at the meeting scream an answer.  Regardless of the initial cause, corruption looks to be the course for the time being.  Ineptness is bad, but everyone can make a mistake so in needs to be investigated so we can see the whole story.  Trying to cover it up drags what could be a series of mistakes into the realm of corruption, and that’s exactly what Lott did with his antics in Leesburg.

The idea that citizens don’t have a right to answers isn’t unusual from Lott though.  He advised deputy city managers not to answer “interrogatories” during the early stages of Buiegate, even referring to one investigative piece in the Journal as a “so-called” article despite the fact that the Grand Jury found the information in that “so-called article” sufficient for an indictment against Buie.

This is also in addition to the secret downtown deals that we, the taxpayers, seemingly have no right to understand despite the fact that we are the schmucks who are having to pay the bills.  Why it needs to be secret has never been sufficiently revealed, yet the secrecy persists despite claims that the Dougherty County Taxpayers Association’s appeal on the bond issue killed several of the deals.  Those, at least, could have been revealed, but so far haven’t been.

The secrecy may have a place on some aspects of government, but we have a right to know why it’s secret.  Privacy Act, for example, is a pretty good reason and I can respect that.  But that’s not what we’ve got.  Instead, we’re being told that it’s none of our business despite that being contrary to everything this nation stands for.

So what do you say Mr. Lott?  Are you going to answer some “interrogatories”?