Augusta Mayor Hardie Davis owes Augusta citizens an apology for lying on camera, The Augusta Press contends in a Friday editorial.
During an interview with WRDW-TV investigative reporter Liz Owens, Davis denied using a vendor for video-related services with ties to his chief of staff, Petula Burks, although records show he did.
Burks has a considerable relationship with LC Studios of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., which was paid more than $17,000 of Augusta taxpayers’ dollars, with the latest bill of $6,669 in March for Davis’ “Move with the Mayor” production.
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Burks is president of a nonprofit she started and runs, and Cameus Chicoye, owner of LC Studios, is an assistant vice president of the nonprofit.
The newspaper called the mayor’s office’s lack of ethics “astounding,” citing Davis’ propensity to give away thousands of dollars to nonprofits although it is illegal to make charitable donations using taxpayers’ money.
I think the mayor should apologize and pay the citizens back for at least some of the $10,000 he’s spend on lunches and dinners since taking office, as well as the $2,000 he spent on renting the Miller Theater for his second inauguration, which he could just as well have had at the Marble Palace. But then, I’d be afraid he’d hire those people from Florida to come up and do a YouTube video of his apology, complete with marching band, a highly-paid political consultant to write it for him and exorbitantly priced speakers to praise him, who he would have driven from Atlanta to Augusta at taxpayers’ expense.
At the end, you could expect Hardie to present himself with an award, a $500 plaque. Altogether, you could expect a price tag of about $15,000, plus the price of the political consultant and the speakers.
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After the apology, everybody would head to Red Lobster for lunch, and Hardie would pay the $500 tab with his city credit card and send the taxpayers the bill.
This would be a YouTube production that would receive 300-400 views at most, based on viewership of city officials’ previous online productions.
And at the end of the day the question about the apology is, “If someone is apologizing for lying to you, can you believe what they say?”
Leadership on Loco Weed
As The Augusta Press noted in another recent editorial, everybody in “leadership” in Augusta is vying to become YouTube stars.
Davis has converted the mayor’s office into a video production studio so the city can tell its own story. And he used thousands of taxpayers’ dollars for productions, such as his “Move with the Mayor” video, which didn’t go very far because not that many people watched it. And there was his “State of the City” address, also produced by LC Studios of Fort Lauderdale, in which he encouraged Augustans to support local businesses to help them out during the pandemic. That hardly fared better in viewership. And there was a COVID-19 video I missed.
Meanwhile, City Administrator Odie Donald has gotten into the act with his “Leadership on Location” videos. In Episode 1, at the Augusta 911 Center, Donald delivered an exciting message.
“I’m super excited to be here today,” he said. “Really enjoyed a tour of the facility under the leadership of 911 Director Dunlap. Really excited, not only with the work of the 911 center but their ability to expand to serve the citizens better.”
Episode 2 started at the Transit Department with Donald in a lavender checked shirt and purple tie standing with Transit Director Sharon Dottery, then riding on a bus and then standing at a bus stop where two women gave him the fisheye. Thank goodness it only lasted one minute and 45 seconds.
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Episode 3 of “Leadership on Location” has Donald excited to be at Fire Station 2 and declaring he’s had the best dinner there he’d had since coming to Augusta.
There’s also a “Let’s Talk Leadership Odie Donald II” videotaped interview with Kevin Gooch, chairman of the 100 Black Men of Atlanta, during which you’ll learn everything you ever wanted to know about Donald and then some. The most interesting thing I learned is he’s a former basketball player who played all over the world until he injured his patella.
It wasn’t bad, but if you could sit through the chairman’s five-minute reading of Donald’s bio and resume and the hour-long interview without wishing you were somewhere else, more power to you.
Breaker, Breaker for the Bandit
Then there’s Sheriff Richard Roundtree playing patrolman in “Car 1 to Dispatch RCSO,” pulling over drivers talking on cell phones and giving them warnings. The most interesting parts of the episodes involve dangerous real-life situations deputies routinely deal with.
The May 27, Episode 7 includes two separate situations, a burning truck on Gordon Highway and a domestic violence situation with an armed and dangerous husband.
You can hear someone running, and Deputy Chris Rabun saying, “Let’s try to get all these cars on this side, so the fire truck can get through. Move over that way, so the truck can get through,” he orders.
There’s smoke and the sound of sirens.
“Driver got out,” Rabun says. “Truck lost control and hit the wall. Everybody’s OK.”
In the domestic violence situation, Deputy Jamyle Grant, goes into a house where a woman is crying and talking on the phone.
“Were you in a fight before I got here?” he asks. “Is he in the house?”
“No,” she says.
Grant looks in the closets and through the house.
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“He’s not in the house,” she says.
Grant goes outside where the man has a gun.
“Drop the gun right now!” he shouts. “Sir, drop the gun.”
The man doesn’t comply and wants to argue. He says the deputy will shoot him.
“Why would I shoot you?” the deputy asks.
“I love him,” the woman shouts to the man.
“M’am, stop it,” Grant orders. “We’re just talking. We need to put these guns down, so we can have this conversation.”
“If I put the gun down, I go to jail,” the man says. “I lose my job. She don’t have no job. I work my tail off.”
Grant calls for another unit.
“I need that fourth unit to get to me on my right side now,” he said.
This went on for a long time, but the officers finally scuffle with the man and handcuff him on the ground. They empty the guns. Deputies L. Washington and John DiFelice are on the scene.
Going Hollywood
Because the “leadership” is trying to pretend Augusta is Hollywood, I can only envision the next step being hosting their own version of the Academy Awards. I can envision this year’s winners too:
Best Performance by a Mayor: Obviously went to the mayor.
Most Suspenseful Video: The WRDW-TV interview where everybody was waiting to see if the mayor would tell the truth about anything.
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: 911 Director Daniel Dunlap
Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Transit Director Sharon Dottery
Most Humorous Expression Award: The two women at the bus stop.
Best Sound Mixing: The music during Donald’s bus ride
Best Action Film: Episode 7 of “Car 1 to Dispatch RCSO”
Hottest Performance: The truck fire
Best Score-Begging-to-be-Written (inspired by “Car 1 to Dispatch RSCO”): Richmond Sheriff Roundtree
Best Score Lyrics (more or less to the tune of “Little Bunny FoFo”): “Richmond Sheriff Roundtree scooping up the bad drivers and bopping them on the head.”
Best Director: Deputy Chris Rabun at the wreck scene
Most Courageous Actor: Deputy Jamyle Grant
Most Courageous Actors in Supporting Roles: Deputies L. Washington and John DiFelice
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Bad Fellas
Joe: (speaking into phone) Hunter, get over here now!
Hunter: Get over where?
Joe: Where do you think? The White House basement. I’m rehearsing my major speech on crime Barack wrote for me. Jill just handed me a copy of the New York Post with your picture headlined, “Did Joe inadvertently pay for Hunter Biden’s wild night at Chateau Maramont?”
Hunter: That’s old news. Three-year-old news.
Joe: It’s on the front page, top of the fold, New York Post, June 22, so it must not be old news.
Hunter: A rehash, Big Guy. You know all about it. You got it all straightened out for me three years ago.
Joe: That’s a bunch of marlarkey! I don’t know what in the hell you’re talking about! You’re telling me I paid $15,000 for your wild night at some hotel with a hooker? That’s a load of crap!
Hunter: Escort, Big Guy. Escort. And how could you forget it?
Joe: How could I forget it? I forget everything, especially when they put me in front of a microphone and everybody’s talking in my ear, telling me who to call on, what to say and what not to say when some smart-ass reporter tries to get me confused.
Hunter: It happened in 2018. When it came time for me to pay up, my debit cards wouldn’t go through, so I accidentally pulled out one linked to one of your accounts which alerted you, and you got the Secret Service to come show me how to get it straightened out. How could you forget that?
Joe: That’s what it says in the Post, but I don’t know anything about it. They say they got it all off the laptop you left to be repaired and forgot to go back and get it. How could you forget something like that?
Hunter: How could I forget?
Joe: Anyway, if you did that three years ago, how could you do this to me again?
Hunter: You said you didn’t remember it. So how could you ask me how I could do this to you again?
Joe: Oh, malarkey! I’m right in the middle of trying to rehearse this speech on crime and gun violence. I’m going to tell those white supremacists the FBI says are the biggest threat to this country, bigger even than me with my finger on the nuclear trigger. I’m going to look straight into that camera and tell them, they might think the tree of liberty has to be watered with the blood of patriots, but I have nukes, and they don’t, and there won’t be any blood. I’m going to stop this gun violence in Chicago by confiscating the guns and AR 15s in rural Indiana.
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Listen to this from my speech, ‘No one needs to have a weapon that can fire over 40, 50 or even 100 rounds unless you think the deer are wearing Kevlar vests or something.’ Isn’t that great?
Hunter: Great.
Joe: Uh, what was I saying?
Hunter: We were talking about the New York Post story.
Joe: I don’t believe that ever happened. I don’t remember a thing about it. I’m going to go in the other room and watch the news and see if anybody’s talking about it. You hang on.
Hunter: Look, I’m busy. I’ve got a new career. I’m an artist. I blow paint on paper. I know a lot about blowing, and my paintings are selling for $50,000 apiece. I’m working on one for a Russian oligarch now.
(Joe sighs and leaves the room for five minutes; then returns)
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Joe: I flipped around to CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC and MSNBC, and nobody’s saying a thing about you and me and the Secret Service. So there must be nothing to it. Hunter, never rat on your friends and keep your mouth shut.
Hunter: OK, Big Guy. But you need to get out of this basement.
Joe: Why? I like it down here by myself. There’s a lot of history down here. Teddy Roosevelt’s big stick is propped up against the wall over there. Rachel Jackson’s corncob pipe is there on an end table. Ronald Regan left a bottle of black hair dye in the bathroom. And there’s always my nuclear football to toss around.
Sylvia Cooper is a Columnist with The Augusta Press. Reach her at sylvia.cooper@theaugustapress.com.
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