Commissioner Brandon Garrett continued his “victimhood” tour after several news organizations began asking questions related to his new employment.
The word on the street was that Garrett would be relocating to accept a new job and, therefore, if that relocation placed him outside of Richmond County, he would have to resign his commission seat. With nearly two years left on his term, people were naturally concerned.
It was reasonable for the press to question his new career opportunity, especially when the commissioner is just back from a self-imposed, and paid, leave.
Had Garrett cooperated when the press came calling, we could have dispelled the rumors and produced congratulatory news pieces on the commissioner’s new career move.
Instead of answering those innocent questions, Garrett was evasive. When asked how long his tenure was at his last job, his response was that we should contact his former employer for that information. Why not just answer the question, “eight years and three months,” or whatever the figure was?
He acted like we were invading his privacy.
That type of evasion is always going to raise the eyebrows of any good reporter, especially when that politician openly claimed he spent four months at what essentially sounds like a religious or spiritual health spa with great mountain views while also cashing taxpayer funded checks.
Like any other employer, when he took off on his “leave of absence,” the public had a right to know what could be such a dramatic occurrence in his life to cause the commissioner to uproot his family to a residential facility in New York and temporarily abandon his job.
This is not the public being nosy or looking for something salacious to gossip about. We, the public, helped pay for that cozy little abrupt vacation, and we, therefore, have a right to know what sent Garrett into to a retreat center. Did his beloved longtime family pet die? Or was it something else?
Sorry, Brandon. You are a public figure. That means your title gets you access to free show tickets, a set of Master’s badges each year and the best seats in restaurants. But it also means you have a responsibility to the public you purport to serve.
Instead, when Garrett finished his program and returned to his chair on the riser, he delivered a sermon from the dais about how to learn how to be humble, emotionally portraying himself as some kind of victim who had to seek help.
No sooner did the latest news reports go out, all of which that I saw were accurate, than Garrett was crying slander and threatening to talk to his attorney; an act that looked a lot like a temper tantrum.
Yawn.
Garrett has to be smart enough to know that, under deposition, he would have to disclose what type of personal and spiritual trauma took him away from his job for four months. So, unless he wants to address his personal business in public, filing a lawsuit is a three-legged dog that won’t hunt.
And no, Brandon, the city is not going to loan you an attorney either, trust me.
Talk host Austin Rhodes alluded on his radio show that Garrett intimated to him that he would never run for public office again. Perhaps that is for the best.
Let’s get behind this!
Believe it or not, not all politicians hate me, in fact, over the years, many have become personal friends; they all have one thing in common: they’re honest or at least they always have been so with me.
Almost 20 years ago, when I worked at WGAC, I got together with, now former, commissioners Joe Bowles, Joe Jackson and the late Andy Cheek to create a wonderful initiative, The First Saturday Crew.
Our intention was to invite volunteers to join us on the first Saturday of each month to clean the Augusta Canal and restore Aqueduct Park at the Rae’s Creek overflow. Our ragtag group of volunteers ended up picking up over 12 tons of trash.
When we first got started, Augusta was in the grips of its “fiefdom era” and Canal Boss Dayton Sherrouse did not take kindly to a bunch of commissioners and a red-headed pipsqueak getting all up in his business.
All we wanted to do was pick up trash.
At the first event, Sherrouse had a guy from some federal agency come down to the staging point and read us a cease and desist order. I swear, the guy looked just like Walter Peck, the EPA inspector from “Ghostbusters.” He was wearing a three-piece suit in 100 degree weather.
This guy had the audacity to tell me we were intruding on a “protected federal wetland area,” to which I pointed to a clutch of car batteries littering the lagoon and said, “You mean this federal wetland that has car batteries leaking acid into our drinking water?”
I thought Andy was going to snap the guy’s neck.
The government agent then threatened to have the three commissioners and me arrested for felony trespass and taken to jail.
I asked to excuse myself to make a phone call and dialed Sheriff Ron Strength’s personal cell. I explained to Ronnie what was going on and Ronnie told me to put the guy on the line.
As the g-man talked to the sheriff, his face got red, he jabbed the phone at me and stormed off, prompting me to ask the sheriff what he told the sweaty bureaucrat.
“I told him that I just deputized you and that if he didn’t leave the area, we would send a unit out to pick him up. I also reminded him that it’s Saturday morning, and a judge won’t be available until Monday,” Strength said.
Now, I always give Dayton Sherrouse credit for creating the canal that we know today with the foot bridges, bike trails and comfort stations, and he deserves that distinction.
Dayton was the kind of bureaucrat who would eat a dead-rat sandwich if federal grant money was involved, and once Dayton saw that he could get the Canal Authority’s hands on grant money, he changed his tune and the canal became a recognized recreation area.
Mayor Garnett Johnson is bringing the idea of really living up to the “garden city” moniker by bringing back a new and drastically enlarged version of the First Saturday Crew.
Instead of being largely limited to the canal, Johnson’s initiative will be a city-wide conservation effort and the commission showed by vote last Tuesday that they are solidly on board with the plans.
Johnson’s “Operation City Cleanup” will have work opportunities beautifying the city on every Saturday of the month. Johnson will be inviting citizen volunteers and volunteer groups and he has partnered with Sheriff Gino Rock Brantley, Solicitor General Omeeka Loggins and Chief State Judge Kellie McIntyre to bring back the concept of “community service.”
Johnson said that in meeting with McIntyre and pitching his plan, her reaction was, “If they can use their hands to steal from a business, they can use their hands to pick up litter.”
The sheriff has also committed his office to crack down on those who ride around town and toss their trash out into the roadway.
Andy Cheek wanted his legacy to be that of someone who worked towards creating a clean city. He wanted Augusta to become a destination for eco-tourists, people who love interesting outdoor experiences.
Augusta’s outdoor adventure possibilities remain a gem that only needs to be polished.
Speaking of Andy, I recall that once, while he was a sitting commissioner, he had a pretty serious moral lapse that could have derailed his career in public service. This was before “The Jail Report,” but rather than deal with the side glances and whispers, he did what a real man does.
He didn’t try to reinvent himself as a victim or pitch a fit and blame others for his misdeed, Andy stood before the TV cameras, admitted what he had done and showed true and honest contrition.
Andy’s name now graces a plaque at Diamond Lakes and he is fondly remembered for his vision and leadership, not the human mistake he once made.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter, Editorial Page Editor and weekly columnist for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
