Remember the story “The Emperor’s New Clothes” about the emperor who had no clothes?
In Augusta, we have a mayor who had no receipts.
Everybody, from employees to commissioners to the administrator and the mayor’s imported staff were afraid to tell him the truth–that this is not an acceptable practice, potentially bordering on the criminal.
But The Augusta Press, like the little child in the story, is not afraid to tell the mayor and all people in power they cannot abuse taxpayers’ hard-earned money. And just as Davis was once accused of plagiarism in a newspaper article he supposedly wrote, he is apparently plagiarizing from the well-worn Politician’s Playbook as he tries to cover for his greedy, selfish, wasteful, profligate, unaccounted-for spending of $236,000 taxpayers’ dollars on meals, trips, toys and websites nobody in Augusta has ever seen since he took office in 2015.
More from Sylvia Cooper: Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire
When The Augusta Press first raised the issues of the mayor’s extravagance and lack of receipts and invoices, Davis ignored the paper. But the Press persisted and people started demanding accountability, a few receipts trickled out. And when the newspaper’s open records law requests just kept on coming, Davis scheduled three meetings with the newspaper’s publisher but canceled them all.
Then, he minimized the whole thing by calling the publisher and pretending he didn’t know his office hadn’t submitted all of the records the newspaper had requested and promised to have them the next morning.
Last week, he moved on to the next chapters in the playbook, those of deflection and attack.
In response to The Augusta Press’ story about Davis beefing up his staff with four employees, including a chief of staff from Florida and an assistant chief of staff who worked as the managing political director for the Missouri Democratic Party before coming to Augusta, Davis went on the offensive with an Op-Ed in The Augusta Press.
“In my time as the city’s Mayor, state representative, and as a forty-plus year resident, I have never witnessed the attacks that are currently being lobbed at my staff. This is disgraceful, unfair, and, in my opinion, bordering on libelous,” he wrote.
It most definitely is not disgraceful, unfair or bordering on libelous to point out the truth. But then Hardie has always had a problem with the truth. As the politicians who knew him in Atlanta said, “If he told you he was going north, you could look for him to go south.”
Granted, they were Republicans who lie, too.
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Despite Davis’ dudgeon in his op-ed, The Augusta Press article about his staff gave him an opportunity to deflect the spotlight away from his wasteful ways.
So, now he’s gone from ignoring to minimizing to deflecting to attacking and blaming The Augusta Press.
In most cases, the Politician’s Playbook eventually calls for the politician to accept the reality of the situation and apologize for making a mistake.
In the mayor’s case, we can’t expect an apology because he’ll never admit he was wrong. So, the next step in the playbook is for the politician to hire a lawyer.
Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!
He’s already done it. Well, not him personally because he’d have to pay the lawyer himself. But believe it or not, the city has brought in a big gun to shoot down The Augusta Press’ open records requests for Hardie’s spending.
The city has hired former Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens who was elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2014.
Olens is a partner in Denton Public Policy Practice and a member of the firm’s State Attorneys General Group, based in the Atlanta office.
In 2020, James Magazine ranked Olens as part of its “Most Influential Politically Connected Attorneys in Georgia.”
Can you just imagine how much it’s going to cost Augusta taxpayers to pay Olens to help straighten out Hardie’s mess and try to put a good face on it when they’ve already paid $236,000 to keep him in the style to which he’s become accustomed? And the price is skyrocketing every day.
You’ve heard of Double Dipping. This is Double Fleecing!
Petty Payback and a Nagging Question
Administrator Odie Donald was on Tuesday’s Augusta Commission agenda to give an informational update and overview of the fire chief process, but the meeting ended without the update and no mention of it. The update was almost certain to be a version of the self-serving letter full of lies and half-truths about the fire chief’s hiring that Donald emailed the commissioners the week before. The same letter I wrote about last week, which might have played a part in convincing him to let sleeping dogs lie.
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In his letter, Donald stated, “It has also been inaccurately reported that the Administrator placed a candidate in the pool. This is also incorrect. All candidates, with the exception of two, applied solely via the agency. The two exceptions include one candidate whose credentials were hand delivered by the District 10 Commissioner. The candidates’ credentials were provided to Human Resources to allow the candidate to join the recruitment directly through the processes of the procured vendor. In a review of the emails recently released by local news station, one other candidate appears to have contacted staff outside of the normal process. It should also be noted that of
the array of candidates, I have only met and have professional experience with one. …”
First of all, it was not inaccurately reported that the administrator placed a candidate in the pool. Donald sent an email to the city’s HR Director Anita Rookard on March 26 confirming four “candidates of interest.”
“I was also interested in the following although not included in packet. Antonio Burden (DeKalb County, GA) Adam House (Sacramento, CA),” Donald added.
I could be wrong, but neither I nor District 10 Commissioner John Clarke think I am, about Donald’s motivation for identifying Clarke as hand delivering an application someone had given him to Donald.
We think it was petty payback and an attempt to embarrass Clarke in retaliation for speaking out against Donald’s handling of the fire chief selection process.
“This is just another ploy that the commission uses when their hand gets caught in the cookie jar, they deflect,” Clarke told WJBF-TV Reporter George Eskola.
Now, since Donald was so forthcoming about the resume Clarke hand delivered, we want to know who or what brought Burden to his attention.
More from Sylvia Cooper: It All Comes Out in the Wash
The Great Pretender Oh, oh yes, I’m the great Pretender Pretending’s what I do so well My need is such, I spend too much I’m greedy but thought no one would tell Oh, oh yes, I’m the Great Pretender Adrift in a world of my own I’ve played the game, but to my real shame Truth has left me to grieve all alone. Too real is this feel of a dip in the till Too real when I feel what PayPal can’t conceal Oh, oh yes, I’m the Great Pretender Laughing and gay like a clown Gaily swiping my card up and down Racking up bills all over town And pretending the receipts aren’t around I’m so full of deceits, I tore up the receipts. Knowing they’ll never be found Oh, oh yes, I’m the Great Pretender Pretending’s what I do so well But when they criticized my bloated office staff It caused me to cry foul and speak out on their behalf While diverting attention from being a big spender All the while becoming my staff’s Great Defender Instead of remaining Augusta’s Great Pretender. Oh, oh yes, I’m the Great Defender Just laughing and gay like a clown I seem to be what I’m not, you see. While defending my invoices ever being found.
Sylvia Cooper is a Columnist with The Augusta Press. Reach her at sylvia.cooper@theaugustapress.com.
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