COLUMN: Don’t forget who’s really right

But Pendergrass officials are anything but innocent victims of “psyco” citizens. The truth is the other way around; the citizens are victims of a politically incestuous city council and government.

This entire episode began with city whistleblowers who came forward with hard evidence — copies of documents and tape recordings — that raised serious questions about how the city managed its money and ran its police department.

Remember city police chief/manager Rob Russell yelling at a cop to not stop expensive cars because those people complain?

And how he admitted on tape to fixing tickets?

And how he admitted that the city was knowingly misusing SPLOST money?

And how the documents show he bought clothes for himself on the city credit card?

And how there were toys bought by Russell on the city credit card?

And how the expensive dinner Russell had on July 4th in Atlanta was put on the city’s credit card?

And how about Mayor Monk Tolbert declaring he would “do what the hell I want to do” in Pendergrass?

And how he settled a sexual harassment lawsuit against the town for $20,000 without any public vote or meeting?

And how he shut down public comments and questions at city council meetings?

And how he was disingenuous about the reasons for firing the whistleblowers, saying it was for budget cuts?

And how he has held illegal meetings with the council? And how his mother-in-law is also on the city council with him?

And his son is the city court judge?

And how he knowingly employed an illegal alien as a city employee in violation of the law?

And how about councilwoman Gail Stowe’s daughter, Sandra Funderburk, becoming the “new” city clerk?

And how about the close relationship between Russell and Funderburk?

The real issue here isn’t a failed recall effort; the issue is a city government that by every moral and ethical standard is just an insider’s game. Nepotism — “the family” —and favoritism rule Pendergrass City Hall.

The recall effort lost because it was drafted wrong legally by the citizens group and the judge had little choice but to toss it out. That may have been a legal victory for the council, but it does not change the underlying and very disturbing issues on which it was based. The citizens were morally and ethically right.

Whatever happens in Pendergrass in the future —investigations are ongoing — the whistleblowers and citizens should know that their efforts to clean up the town government is the right thing to do. And in the face of such a contemptible government, that takes a lot of courage.

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One of the question marks from last week’s elections was the close Jefferson Mayor’s race. Incumbent Jim Joiner won, but only by around 50 votes. I’d speculated in advance that it’d be around a 65 percent to 35 percent contest in Joiner’s favor. That it was so close shocked a lot of people.

But what does it mean? That’s the difficult part. His opponent was virtually unknown and carried a fair amount of baggage. The vote appears to have been more about being against something than for someone.

The question is, was it a vote against the city government in general, or was it more specifically aimed against Joiner?

I can’t tell. But somewhere in those votes is a message of discontent and frustration from a lot of Jefferson citizens.
Readers, I invite you to answer this question: What was the message to Jefferson in last week’s voting?

Mike Buffington is editor of The Jackson Herald. He can be reached at mike@mainstreetnews.com.