Just over two weeks after the city voted to hire an internal auditor to review operations in city departments, a ransomware attack crippled the city. The timing has sparked multiple conspiracy theories around town about who could have initially been responsible for the attack.
There is no evidence so far that the ransomware attack was orchestrated by someone connected to city government. It is undeniable, though, that certain elected officials (past and present), specific department heads and city vendors stand to benefit from the cyber-attack. Weeks after the attack, city officials still can’t determine what data has been compromised.
It’s not a conspiracy theory regarding who is going to foot the bill for the cyber-attack. The taxpayers are going to pay the piper when the bill comes due. According to multiple cyber security professionals that I spoke with, the breach should have never occurred and could have easily been prevented. All those I spoke with indicated the problem with prevention of the attack was likely monetary. The city doesn’t offer cyber security employees a competitive wage in comparison with other local firms. Because of this, the city doesn’t attract the best talent. Clearly, somebody needs to be replaced.
The Augusta Press is trying to confirm how many cyber-security employees the city has and what their pay is. Ironically the city can’t or won’t provide the information, citing the ongoing cyber-attack as the reason they can’t fulfill open records requests.
Speaking of open records requests, the city also is refusing to provide documents from personnel files, citing the same issue. Either paper files don’t exist in the Human Resources Department or they are simply not letting a good crisis go to waste.
Property tax increases will continue to raise rents
City officials constantly gripe about rising rents, in particular for lower income residents. For years, my explanation on the subject has fallen on deaf ears. Utility costs, storm water taxes and property taxes directly affect rental rates. This week Susan McCord reported that another sticker shock is coming later this year related to property taxes. That increase is going to result in rents rising even higher.
Wasteful spending is just par for the course in Augusta’s government. Instead of trying to reduce spending and focus on services that are strictly necessary, the city continues to try and find new ways to spend taxpayer money. I still believe the city needs to hire a chief financial officer, and until they do, fiscal irresponsibility will win the day. That CFO could explain to commissioners why the city would have been better off spending more on qualified cyber-security services rather than paying below market wages. The CFO could also explain why Fire Chief Antonio Burden deserved a raise after only being employed for a year.
Burden’s $25,000 raise puts him making $170,000 per year. That’s quite a salary for someone who admittedly doesn’t know the laws related to open records, a key function of his job. Burden continues to refuse to answer basic questions on his employee who ran over and dragged a dead body at a crime scene.
Burden claims he doesn’t know if he is even allowed to provide answers. He is either lying or incompetent. It’s been several weeks, and he still hasn’t figured it out. But let’s give him a raise. That makes perfect sense.
The truth is that Burden knows the law and is playing dumb to avoid transparency for his department. He knows he isn’t accountable to anybody so why should he provide information that is going to make his department look bad? He will continue to ignore questions and deflect answers with half-truths until the last possible moment, hoping that by then the damage to the department’s reputation will be minimal since the public will likely have forgotten about the controversy.
Professional golf will never be the same
The LIV merger with the PGA will forever change the game. Details are still scarce but what is clear is that the infighting between the two tours and ongoing lawsuits are now resolved.
My theory is that the Augusta National Golf Club had something to do with brokering the deal for the sake of the future of golf. That’s my conspiracy theory for the week. I have no proof, of course, but it does make logical sense that ANGC would be the group to broker the deal. It will be interesting to watch how the tour changes going forward.
None of the changes are likely to affect anything related to the Masters tournament.
Former President Donald Trump predicted the merger some time ago. Clearly, Trump’s business sense and mental faculties have not waned with his age. Hopefully he has the mental fortitude to weed through the indictment over classified documents that progressed this past week. Biden could have made those indictments go away. The whole thing is damaging to the country and shows how the two parties are now weaponizing political office. History shows us that has never ended well for any country.
While in the Marine Corps I had to get a security clearance. My role as a lance corporal (E-3) at the time was to sit at the desk, check ID badges and, most importantly, ensure that nobody left the building with sensitive documents. It’s a little unnerving as an E-3 to ask generals to open their bags so you can search them. It’s even worse when you have to fight with them and hold your ground. I was shocked at how many times we actually had to remove documents and return them to the proper place. Handling sensitive documents is very important, and the military takes it very seriously. At least they did 20 years ago.
For example: Had anyone handled sensitive material the way Hillary Clinton did, they would spend the rest of their life in Fort Leavenworth behind bars. It is a known fact that politicians don’t handle classified documents the way they should, and for decades, those in charge have looked the other way, at least until Trump.
How Mike Pence, Hillary Clinton, Trump and Biden handled classified documents was illegal and improper. But it is expected, and charges should have never been brought over the issue. I predict Trump will be vindicated in the end and the U.S. Justice Department will be left with a huge black eye.
Columbia County Board of Education is beacon of transparency
I do want to commend the CCBOE Superintendent Steven Flynt for hosting a community event to listen to parents’ concerns. Transparency between educators and parents is essential to students’ success. Since taking the helm, Flynt has sought to be transparent with the public.
Liz Wright reported on the event and captured several interesting comments from parents.
The main thing I took way from the article was that not all people understand the purpose of public education.
Public schools were designed to train the population. Initially the goal was to provide basic skills that all people needed to have to be good, productive citizens. The industrial revolution changed the need slightly to help produce factory workers who were capable. Schools have since been transformed into social experiments to indoctrinate children into particular set of beliefs. I am not saying that is going on in local schools, but nationwide the trend is very clear.
Public school was never designed to help bright kids excel. It was designed to bring struggling kids up to par. The natural result, though, is that it brings brighter kids down to the median level. Some schools have done a better job than others at providing advanced options for brighter kids, but even then, kids who could excel further can still be hamstrung. Public school is designed to make kids equal at the level required for basic function in society. It’s unreasonable expect the schools to stimulate your child around the clock just because they are bored or can excel past other students. That has never been the mission of the public school system. Boredom can be good. It leads to creative thinking. Constantly pushing and forcing children to fill every second of their days with mental stimulation can do more harm than good.
