The Company You Keep…
If you had put your ears to the rail these past few weeks, you would be aware of the ongoing saga involving Augusta Housing and Community Development Director Hawthorne Welcher and the talk that he may have found himself in hot water with both the federal government and his bosses: The Augusta Commission.
The talk of tea time is that the $6.5 million of Covid relief funds that the city was forced to pay back to the federal government was actually money that Welcher’s HCD had spent on “administrative” costs and Marble Palace insiders are walking back claims that the money simply vanished, or worse, that it was stolen.
The money in question was intended to be spent to aid residents in paying their rent during the Covid pandemic, but it apparently never reached its intended target group. However, just because the money didn’t go to its intended recipients doesn’t mean it was not spent.
It is common knowledge that Welcher has been placed on leave with pay while the bean counters try to figure out how he managed to mismanage such a large sum of money.
The term “administrative costs” can be anything from purchasing office equipment to hosting fine dining events, if Augusta’s history is any guide.
This was the same entryline on a financial ledger that got former Mayor Hardie Davis Jr. and Augusta Land Bank Director Shawn Edwards in trouble; that is, thinking that taxpayer money is found money and a swanky dinner could be chalked up to the costs of “doing business.”
Unlike Welcher’s colleague, Edwards, he has never been accused of misusing taxpayer funds and while some say Welcher despises the fact that the Land Bank has pretty much taken over the functions of the HCD, past texts between the two men show more than just a cordial relationship.
In the past, Welcher has been accused of knowing of Edwards’ various schemes and turning a blind eye, such as Edwards’ dream of building a strip club on city-owned land and the other eyebrow-raising land deals that, to this day, make no sense.
More: Area leaders say Augusta Land Bank documents and text are “troubling”
Of course, there was that text message from Edwards to Welcher thanking him for his support, “We disagree on some work s***; approaches and outcomes. But I wouldn’t let that f*** with the bond. You helped me in my career and I won’t forget that. You’ve trusted me with my radical ass black power thinking.”
I have tried to contact Welcher so that he can confirm or deny that he is on paid “administrative leave” and he has yet to return my phone call. The mayor and all of the commissioners I have spoken with refuse to elaborate on Welcher’s status with the city, other than there is a “personnel matter” afoot.
Before anyone leaps to conclusions, the action of the feds demanding the money be returned has nothing to do with Elon Musk of DOGE. The first letter sent to Welcher was sent back in September when Biden was still in office. Welcher has had lo those many months to come up with some type of accounting, but he has failed to do so and citing “administrative expenses,” that is, expenses that are already covered in the annual office budget and none of his excuses pass muster, I am told.
Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson, along with commissioners, is sticking to the party line, for now, issuing a “no-comment”, due to it being a personnel matter. However, when pressed further on whether the missing money should trigger an audit, the mayor concedes, “The feds may demand it, they may have already started an audit for all I know.”
For now, Welcher deserves the benefit of the doubt and the presumption of innocence, but his association with a known squanderer of taxpayer funds may have already swayed the jury of public opinion.
Who’s the dictator?
Even though Commissioner Jordan Johnson came out of nowhere, politically speaking, he was once considered as someone who might be able to parlay his local political activism and charisma into state or even national office.
Many people shook their heads when Johnson did not step down as head of the Richmond County Democrat Party when he won his commission seat, but Democrat party politics ruled even though the commission is supposed to be non-partisan.
During the “abstention era,” Johnson was able to, for a brief time, wield enormous influence and he turned that meddling behind the scenes in an art form, after all, he was supposedly working for non-profits bankrolled by gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, so cash was not an issue.
Even though Abrams was a perennial loser at the polls, she could raise money and discover grant funding like no one’s business.
Then Abrams imploded like the sub that a bunch of amateurs took down to the Titanic wreck (Is it too early?).
Johnson seems to be getting desperate for attention now. Garnett Johnson now runs the show at the Municipal Building and has the citizens at-large in his corner. The days of commissioners bullying department heads to get friends and family hired on and city contracts routed past the procurement process to go to associates, wink wink, are over.
Not that Johnson ever participated in the corruption, he has certainly benefited from the institutional corruption that was the rule of the day before the Garnett Johnson era.
Meanwhile, some of Jordan Johnson’s “look at me” antics are getting quite comical.
Recently, one of those traveling caravans of freaks put on a “protest” in front of the Judicial Center. Instead of carrying the polished and professional looking banners, the “protestors” tried to look like a group that just spontaneously decided to raid CVS for poster boards and markers and go stand on a street corner and protest.
The only attention that the protesters attracted were from the television media and Jordan Johnson.
For the TV reporter’s, it was just a slow news day, so why not cover some protesting freaks. For Johnson it was an opportunity to grandstand in front of a crowd of “voters,” even though most of those “voters” were actually not locals, but from Atlanta and elsewhere.
Johnson, who clearly did not know what the protesters were protesting, gave an impassioned “off-the-cuff” speech that soared above the Ruffin Courthouse and disappeared into the strata as just a bit more hot carbon dioxide to float below the ozone layer.
Johnson definitely used up his carbon credits for the month with that speech and it wasn’t even delivered to his own constituents!
When ego thwarts common sense
Grandstanding in the commission chamber is time-honored tradition, but has become largely passe now that the meetings are streamed online and citizens can see the antics for themselves. Some of the more image conscient among the commission have found it wise to avoid soapboxing and issuing attacks against colleagues and department heads.
While commission meetings have become more civil since Bobby Williams left, a few commissioners missed the memo reminding them that people are watching what they do.
Johnson was one of those that did not get the memo and, last Tuesday, he unintentionally displayed how uninfluential he has become, on camera, for all to see.
When the city placed its ad to replace former Finance Director Donna Williams, the advertisement read “Chief Financial Officer Wanted,” and that wording somehow stuck in Johnson’s craw.
Johnson demanded to know from Administrator Tameka Allen why he, and the rest of the commission, were not told of the title change so they could vote for it.
With all the patience of a kindergarten teacher, Allen explained that, just like we no longer refer to administrative assistants as “secretaries,” people are not looking for a job as a finance director; if they are uber-qualified, then they want CFO as their title.
Allen explained that the classification did not change, nor did the salary and benefit offerings, as Johnson scowled.
If was funny to me, and a bit sad, that Johnson accused Mayor Johnson of trying to create a dictatorship for himself, but then goes and struts like Mussolini over the wording of a want ad.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter, Editorial Page Editor and weekly columnist for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
