It is said that having a loyal opposition is vital to good government and even to democracy itself, and most of the time that adage has proven true in my experience.
I have long felt that Columbia County has suffered when it comes to exercising political power in Atlanta because the Republican Party here continues to be so dysfunctional.
Columbia County does have a Democratic party, but they will never have the resources and support that the Republicans could muster if they were united; and since those Republicans have no real opposition party to fight with, they fight amongst themselves creating what I call a vortex of apathy.
When people see headlines where party officials are pouring coffee on one another and getting into fisticuffs at party conventions, they are turned off from the entire process itself. This leads to lower voter turnout, fewer people willing to campaign for candidates or even run for office themselves, and they become apathetic out of frustration from watching the infighting.
The entire process suffers because of some people’s need to have an enemy to fight.
Things are different, though, in Richmond County, but only slightly. They too have their own version of the circular firing squad. The county tends to identify more with the Democratic party, but it tends to elect at least 50%, but more lately 60%, individuals that are clearly conservative aligned.
It is a weird demographic dichotomy, I know.
It seems that when a largely conservative, “hands on” mayor tipped the liberal/conservative balance, he became the defacto enemy. Instead of the loyal opposition having issues to debate over, in Richmond County, they go after personalities, with the mayor being the chief target as they hope Stephen Kendrick is merely in a cocoon and not adjusting to life as a political exile.
There is also clear evidence, in my opinion, that the “loyal opposition” among the elected class can find themselves in a position where they have little or nothing at all to oppose and it causes them to act, well, kinda crazy. Rather than place loyalty to the public at the top of their agenda, they spin their wheels looking for ways to prove that Garnett Johnson is Augusta’s version of Donald Trump.
Commissioners Jordan Johnson, Stacy Pulliam and Tony Lewis have lost their loudmouth in Bobby Williams, but they are acting recklessly anyway in their attempts to make Johnson out to be a power-driven dictator.
This time, they are launching public queries at people who have been nothing but generous benefactors to the city.
It has gotten down to the pared-down Gang of Five feeling they need to have a public inquest over anything Garnett Johnson does as Pulliam proved yet again this week by pulling an item from the consent agenda and demanding an accounting of $11,925 proposed to be spent along with the documentation showing the proper procurement protocol was followed.
The outlay was referred to as part of the “Augusta Beautification Program,” and so it must have reeked with Johnson’s involvement, in the minds of the opposition.
Pulliam’s first question at last Tuesday’s Augusta Commission meeting discussing the topic she pulled from the consent agenda was, “What is the Augusta Beautification Program?” This was the first indication for anyone paying attention that Pulliam was going to launch into a campaign of proving that Johnson can’t play by the rules, whether it is managing a credit card or planting a tree.
As it turns out, a fellow by the name of James Story, who owns Palmetto Storey, LLC, approached the city years ago, before Johnson was mayor, and offered to maintain the gateways into the city for free. All the city had to do was pay for ½ of the cost of the materials and they agreed to those terms, with the exception of trees.
Of course, the city didn’t want to pay for trees.
Being a man with a big heart and a whole lot of pride in his city, Storey went ahead and sprung for the trees as well.
Over the past near decade, Storey has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars out of his own pocket maintaining the corridor areas on Wheeler Road, Sand Bar Ferry, the airport and others.
Unfortunately, many of the trees Storey planted years ago fell victim to Hurricane Helene and so Storey replaced 41 of the trees out of his own pocket again, but went back to the city and asked if they would reimburse him half the cost of the labor, which was in his original Memo of Understanding to create the landscaping in the first place.
At last Tuesday’s commission meeting, once it was explained to her, Pulliam didn’t back down and instead demanded the interim city attorney go digging through the procurement files and prove to her that the entire thing was “bidded out properly.”
That really was her rationale.
Perhaps there were other companies out there wishing to bid on the privilege of supplying the labor and paying to maintain the city gateways. If that is the case, then the city needs to send out more RFPs immediately!
While it didn’t make the news headlines, Commissioner Catherine Smith-Rice had enough when Pulliam began parsing the MOU like she was Perry Mason, basically claiming that since Storey paid for the trees the first time that he had an obligation to replace them himself after the hurricane.
As soon as she could get a word in edgewise, Rice immediately called for a vote, after briefly taking Pulliam to task reminding her that people were going to be less willing to donate their time and money to the city if they are going to be placed under such needless and unreasonable scrutiny.
The measure to reimburse Storey passed with Tony Lewis absent, meanwhile Jordan Johnson showed his solidarity with “the cause” by voting against it. Way to go Jordan! No good deed should go unpunished, way to stick it to ’em!
Pulliam abstained in a huff.
“I’m gonna let this rest for now,” Pulliam said as she finally gave up.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter, Editorial Page Editor and weekly columnist for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
