Wednesday, August 7, 2002
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Wednesday, August 7, 2002 |
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Trust Wheat to bring back insider deals for buddies No, Mike Wheat, we have not forgotten. We have not forgotten that while you were mayor of Fayetteville, you were a co-owner of an expensive airplane with your good friend, Dan Davis, owner of Southeastern Engineers, the name which has since been changed to Integrated Sciences. We also have not forgotten that during the time your were mayor and co-owners in that expensive airplane, Dan Davis came before the Fayetteville City Council numerous times representing certain builders and developers with various petitions. I am not aware of a single time you identified your relationship with Dan Davis or where you abstained from the discussion and vote. I am also not aware of a single time that you denied Mr. Davis's request. Mike, doesn't this smell like an insider buddy deal to even you? We have not forgotten that another "very close" friend and political ally of yours, Robert Sprayberry, was put on Dan Davis's company's payroll shortly after Sprayberry was elected as a county commissioner. Many times during Robert Sprayberry's four years on the county commission, while he was also on Dan Davis's company's payroll, Dan Davis also come before the county commissioners with petitions requesting rezonings, etc., for certain builders and developers. Robert Sprayberry, just like you, did not abstain from the discussion and vote on these petitions by Mr. Davis. To elect you, Mike Wheat, to the Fayette County Board of Commissioners would be just like returning your old buddy, Robert Sprayberry, and Scott Burrell to the commission and bring back the double standards that previously existed. And of course, everytime we look at a map of Fayetteville city limits, we can not forget that you seldom ever saw an annexation you did not like. I believe there were 36 total annexations during your time as mayor. The map of the Fayetteville limits looks like an octopus with numerous unincorporated county parcels totally surrounded by the city of Fayetteville. And we can't forget you ran as an anti-annexation candidate the first time you ran for mayor. Everybody can see your campaign promise meant nothing. Why should anyone believe you now? And, oh, yes! We cannot forget what all your commercial rezonings such as the Pavilion did to the crime rate in Fayetteville. Mr. Wheat, in case you don't remember, the number of detainees in the Fayette County jail took a dramatic jump upward immediately upon the Pavilion opening. That was the beginning of the urgent need to build a new jail. And we can't forget that in year 2000 we took a survey of the detainees in the Fayette County jail and found Fayetteville had approximately three times the number of detainees as did Peachtree City, even though Peachtree City is close to three times as large as Fayetteville, population-wise. And no, Mr. Wheat, we don't want anything to do with the kind of public trust you would restore. We remember only too well when your were mayor of Fayetteville and your very good friend, Robert Sprayberry, was vice chairman of the Fayette County Commission, only 14 percent of Fayette County citizens trusted their public officials. Now, neither you nor your buddy, Mr. Sprayberry, are in office, and according to a recent AJC poll, 61 percent of Fayette citizens trust their county commissioners. Fayette County had by far the highest rating of any county in the metro area according to this AJC poll. No, thank you, Mr. Wheat. We the citizens of Fayette County like it much better now that we have elected officials we can truly trust than when you were mayor of Fayetteville. We do not want to backslide. Mike, I will give you credit for being a slick politician. It appears obviously you are an honor graduate of the "Bill Clinton School of Politics." You are a slick talker like Clinton, you twist the facts like Clinton, and you take care of your friends like Clinton. Fayette County cannot afford to have you, Mr. Wheat, as a county commissioner and go back to the double standards we had five to six years ago during the Sprayberry-Burrell administration and while you were mayor. Therefore, as for me and my house, we are voting for honest, dedicated, ethical, and committed-to-betterment-of-the-county-type leaders, Greg Dunn and Linda Wells, on Aug. 20. I urge all Fayette County citizens to do the same. Let's keep our current open and honest county government in place. What a rarity! Let us not lose it. Harold Bost Fayette [Bost is a former Fayette County commissioner.]
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