Wednesday, December 31, 2003

Harris car use violates county’s ethics code

I read the letter exposing Solicitor General Steve Harris’ unethical use of a county vehicle for personal use and am simply dismayed at the corruption which seems to permeate our elected officials at every turn.

I found it equally hypocritical that on the same page in the newspaper where Steve Harris has a long-winded letter trying to justify his unpopular prosecution of a doctor by citing the State Bar of Georgia’s ethical conduct rules, his own unethical behavior is revealed in a separate letter under Harris’ one.

What is quite astonishing is that he is committing an unethical act which violates our own Fayette County Code of Text of Ethical Considerations.

It states that an employee of Fayette County shall “Never engage in other conduct which is unbecoming to an official/employee or which constitutes a breach of public trust.” It also prohibits employees of the county from receiving gifts or favors, which the free use of a county car would easily constitute such a violation.

The private use of police vehicles by public safety officers is widespread in many counties in order to assist in deterring crime by having police cars visibly parked in neighborhoods at night rather than locked up in a county parking lot.

For other county officials to have the free use of a vehicle to and from work is totally unacceptable and constitutes a “breach of the public trust” and perhaps even criminal fraud charges.

So, even if the car has legitimate work-related uses during the day, it is his personal use of the car for local commuting to and from work that is what is really at issue here.

Steve Harris should voluntarily surrender the car back to the county where a good use for it should be found. If he does not, the Fayette County Board of Commissioners, acting on behalf of the public trust, should repossess the car forcefully if necessary.

Furthermore, the solicitor general should be forced to pay back to the county the depreciation on the vehicle for the entire period in which he used it for his own personal to-and-from-work car.

This would serve as a stern example to all elected politicians to think carefully about the ethical choices they make every day. This would help them remember who they actually work for and who actually pays for their salary before they choose to further financially burden the public with their actions.

Debbie Singleton

Fayetteville, Ga.