Readers of this space likely know that I am a firm believer in complete open government; however, I also believe that, like with the First Amendment, there should be limitations and exceptions.
At Wednesday’s commission meeting, the search for a replacement for General Counsel Wayne Brown was discussed, and it is public knowledge that there are four applicants for the job.
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During the meeting, Commissioner Sean Frantom suggested that the interviews for the position should take place publicly. While I applaud Frantom for wanting to conduct city business in the open, in my opinion, he is dead wrong for several reasons.
The relationship between an attorney and their client is far different from that of an employer/employee relationship. It is a relationship that requires a high degree of trust on the part of both parties.
In short, this is why the law provides for attorney/client privilege.
Holding such interviews in public sets the stage for the eventual chosen attorney to know that they are completely subservient to the governing body in such a way that they might begin to give the commission advice that the body wants to hear, rather than advice based on solid law.
Both Wayne Brown and his predecessor Andrew MacKenzie have been accused of following that path, to the detriment of the taxpayers.
Another factor is that if the interviews are held in public, the first applicant is at a supreme disadvantage as the other applicants will be able to watch and know what questions will be asked. Meanwhile, the last to be interviewed will be at a massive advantage because they will know how the other candidates answered the questions.
I understand that it seems like it is a cost saving and convenient option to have an “in-house” legal department; however, those cost savings are only on the surface.
Coming from a family of attorneys, I know that a legal mind who graduated top of their class and perhaps participated in law review is not interested in working full time for the government drawing a government salary. There is just too much money to be made in the private sector.
Government attorneys are not specialized in any particular area of the law; therefore outside counsel almost always has to be used in litigation. Taxpayers would be surprised to see the staggering amount paid to outside counsel every year in Augusta/Richmond County.
In my opinion, the public can be served much better by hiring one attorney straight out of law school to act as the parliamentarian and be on-hand daily to handle routine legal questions from department heads and staff; that would be the young lawyer’s only job, as potential litigation could handled by an outside firm with an excellent reputation.
Most successful law firms try to hire people with different specialties. The law firm that represents The Augusta Press, Hull Barrett Attorneys, has specialized staff that can handle everything from bankruptcy law and environmental law to appellate law, tax law, real estate law and workers compensation to name just a few.
Hull Barrett is not the only such firm that exists in Augusta, there are many.
Taxpayers may have to pay a higher hourly fee, but they save money in the long run because they are only paying one attorney to handle one case at a time, as opposed to a committee of amateurs that still have to call in a professional; in the meantime, taxpayers would also be providing badly needed experience to a “green” lawyer by helping them find footing to eventually move successfully into the private sector and obtain work at a highly regarded firm like Hull Barrett or Fletcher, Harley and Fletcher.
If the Augusta Commission is absolutely dead set on continuing the trend of keeping a full staff of, in my opinion, sub-par attorneys representing the city, then the interviews need to be conducted in private and not broadcast over the internet to create yet another embarrassing side show, if nothing else.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter and Editorial Page Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
