Newspaper Page Text
A Rouuc> rouoo
eCBER.TOfJ 1
Commissioner Lowry
Publicly Challenges
ACC Staff, Management
Announcing he was "taking the gloves
off," Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Doug
Lowry cast aside the prevailing civility in City
Hall at last week's commission meeting. A new
fee to support educating citizens about recy
cling became a lightning rod for Lowry's accu
sations against county Manager Alan Reddish
and (especially) Deputy Manager Bob Snipes,
who were both present. "We've seen staff over
the years ignore us, do
things that we didn't agree
with, spin issues and items
the way that they thought
was best... And it's got to
stop.
"It's all about power,"
Lowry continued. "It's about what Bobby
[Snipes] said to us back 10 days ago that he
didn't think it was relevant for us to see how
the landfill fund was spent, or how the money
from the solid waste enterprise funds were
spent," Lowry said. "Why are you even consid
ering creating a slush fund for this guy?" he
asked fellow commissioners, who nevertheless
approved the new charge by a 6-3 vote.
But Lowry's specifics didn't pan out. At the
commission's agenda-setting meeting 12 days
earlier, an audio recording showed, Snipes had
merely said it was "insignificant" which of
several accounting funds the money would go
into, and that no decision about that had yet
been made. And Lowry had already been pro
vided with details of how the recycling money
has been spent in the past. Reddish, asked to
respond to Lowry's assertions, said they were
"absolutely untrue... Any time the commission
asks for an explanation for [expenditures], it
is given to you and always will be."
Lowry wasn't backing down. "There's a
considerable percentage of our population who
are already asking for these guys' heads," he
said, referring to Reddish and Snipes. "In the
real world," he said directly to Reddish, "you'd
be gone, brother."
But are there real issues behind Lowry's
complaints? Linder ACC's charter, the county
manager takes orders from the elected
mayor and commission, and employees and
department heads take orders only from the
manager. "The mayor and commission shall
deal with employees... solely through the
manager," the charter says, "except for the
purpose of inquiry and investigation."
But "inquiry and investigation" is exactly
what Lowry feels he is being barred from
doing, he told Flagpole—and he may not be
alone. Currently, county employees are allowed
to talk to commissioners—but (at least in
some departments) the employee is then sup
posed to report the conversation to his or
her department head, who may then report
it to the manager's office. That can have a
chilling effect, fotmer ACC Commissioner Carl
Jordan said. "I think the decision-makers need
to have available every possible resource,"
Jordan said, and that can mean talking to the
employees directly involved—not just getting
information that has been filtered through the
manager or department head.
Lowry told Flagpole his job as commis
sioner "is really about watching the money.
That's all it is." And that's hard to do, he
said, without talking to employees. "How can
a commissioner really make a decision about
a budget item when we're never allowed to
understand how any of these departments
really function? We're not allowed to attend
any of their weekly meetings," he said. "[The
managers] don't even want us talking to these
guys. They're required to write Bobby and
Alan—both of them—to say that they had
contact with us, and what it was about...
Some of them are very reluctant, because
they're afraid."
Reddish told Flagpole that the commission
as a body has never raised such issues with
him (although he certainly had heard them
before from Jordan). "Every citizen has the
right, including elected
officials, to talk to our
employees," he said. But
"when commissioners talk
to employees, certainly
their position within this
government sometimes
can cause some stress to employees... What
we ask them to do is simply let us know about
the conversation."
John Huie
District Map Vote
Brings Up Race as
Factor in Elections
Is race still an issue in Athens-Clarke
county politics? Conversations about redis
tricting for local commission seats—as
required following the 2010 census to equal
ize district populations—have touched on
maintaining minority voting strength (in part
because Georgia remains under the proba
tionary eye of the U.S. Justice Department).
Some have also focused on a supposed lack
of Republican representation—according to
critics like State Representative Doug McKillip,
who told Flagpole the current commission dis
tricts "are gerrymandered to elect Democrats"
(just as state-drawn districts are drawn to
elect Republicans to state and federal offices).
Final approval of local commission districts
will be up to state legislators, but ACC com
missioners last week approved a plan that
reflects, they said, what they heard over
whelmingly from citizens at three public hear
ings: that district lines should not be changed
any more than necessary.
Despite discussions about whether the two
at-large "superdistricts" (each representing
half the county) have the effect of diluting
minority voting strength—a question that
has now been assigned for committee study-
several commissioners suggested that race is
not the factor that it once was for voters.
"I think people haven't looked at race in
a long time," said Commissioner Kathy Hoard
(who is white). Commissioner George Maxwell
(who is black) agreed. "I think we have moved
beyond that," he said. "I no longer would say
I represent the black people in District 3...
When I ran, I ran to represent all the people."
And many blacks have left the district since
then, he added: "They moved out."
"We should not worry aoout whether our
race will keep us from occupying a seat,"
Maxwell said. Doug Lowry added, "The right
candidate, whatever race he or she may be,
can win in any of these districts."
OM DAtJG \
|T
^6 A IK) It
ev/eRv vrafc i forgetabo«/t
*rHe <fcB6gTO»J Co<M>TV FAIR
I REAC.CV. JUST UJAUT TO CAT
A(_c THAT Fair FooP
y>j t>Aw>acu.
But Commissioner Ed Robinson (who is
white) demurred: "The fact is, people tend to
vote for people like themselves." Blacks were
"very, very seriously held back until 40 years
ago," he said, and "we do need that voice...
Statistics say we're not there yet. We've still
got a lot of work to do."
John Huie
Citizens “Occupy”
UGA Azch in Unity
with Wall St. Protest
Last week, the Occupy Wall Street move
ment touched down in Athens. The protests
began on Sept. 17 in New York's financial
district as a response to increasing wealth dis
parity and big banks' control over Washington
politics. It became an "occupation" when the
protesters established a permanent encamp
ment in the financial district's Zuccotti Park.
Before long, the movement had spread to
dozens of cities under the banner of "Occupy
Everywhere."
On the morning of Oct. 6, Athenians joined
in the growing movement, establishing the
Arch as their camp. The Athens organizers
planned the local demonstration as a show
of "support and solidarity" with the New York
protest. That sentiment struck a chord with
many on campus and off, and the protest
maintained a steady presence of 40-60 par
ticipants throughout its first day, according to
the organizers.
Like its New York counterpart, the Athens
protest is multitudinous and varied in its par
ticipation and message. Ron Paul supporters
stand next to socialists, young students next
to elders, homeless Athenians next to well-off
students, anti-capitalists next to Terry College
students. The organizers say that the rallying
cry of "We are the 99 percent" aims to call
attention to shared struggle and concerns.
"We're all in the same boat," says Rose Dasher,
one of the initial organizers. The protesters
envision a movement which minimizes the
internal differences of the "99 percenters"
“Why are you even
considering creating a
slush fund for this guy?”
THE CASTJIrtZ t- u)e#JT TO A FAIR,
r SAuJ'THE *SlJAKE lOOlMANJ*
AMD TRX TO STAU&OO THE UJACC
R»PrV6 the G TR.QAJ
UJSA/LO. VWoiJKEV Fl.*J6T
in order to call out the inordinate politi
cal power held by the wealthiest 1 percent
of Americans—the "economic and political
elites," according to the protest's literature.
The protesters are expressly non-violent
and friendly in their approach. Much or the
discussion at the first day's general assembly
meeting was dedicated to ways of engaging
the public in a friendly and conversational
manner. Protesters urge each other to address
the public and passersby with friendliness,
despite potential disagreements. Likewise,
relations with the Athens-Clarke County and
UGA police departments have been mutually
respectful.Tarter Adams, the initial orga
nizer of the protest on Facebook, describes
the police as "polite and cooperative,"
maintaining an open and active channel for
communication.
Troubling to some of the protesters,
though, is the attention paid by Department
of Homeland Security-associated elements of
the Athens police. According to Adams, he
ACCPD used a department Facebook account
to investigate the protest during its planning
stages, and approached the organizers unso
licited. The Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) began in the wake of the 9/11 attacks
as a means to investigate and prosecute
potential terrorists. It is odd, say some, that
the group of concerned citizen protesters was
deemed a potential threat to the "homeland."
However, the police presence has been charac
terized by organizers as congenial, despite the
DHS element's possible overreach.
Some observers and passersby are under
standably puzzled by the demonstration. The
lack of readily deployed demands sets it apart
from most protests, and the multiplicity of
messages can be disorienting. Protesters stress
that the action is intended to be, at this early
point, more of a conversation than a typical
demand-oriented protest. Participants say
they're more concerned with drawing in more
voices than with presenting a carved-in-stone
set of demands. The demonstration is planned
to be sustained as long as the New York pro
test continues. Police have granted the pro
testers a permit which lasts until January.
Matthew Pulver
OCTOBER 12,2011 FLAGPOLE.COM 5
