Our Troubling Time

Halloween is coming and as the witches in Shakespeare’s play say—“Double, Double Toil and trouble” and troubles are evident in politics nationally, at the state level and certainly at the county level. Mud slinging in the Georgia governor’s race seems especially vicious this year. Unfortunately, this isn’t confined just to Georgia. Whether you consider the electorate justified in its apparent anger, I often wonder if that justifies the antics of candidates

As I write this we are about a week out from the November 2, 2010 General Election Day. I hope you to found candidates you could support and voted for them. Elections most certainly have consequences.


Gwinnett County has been rocked by public unrest about many of the Board of Commissioners’ decisions. Most of the unrest seems to center around the “mystery” of decisions made with limited or no public input. Then there is the resignation and the indictment of board members. Take that with the election of two new members to the Board of Commissions, and I think the public has reason to be wary—and angry and double troubled.

Job ONE of the Board of Commissioners is to win back the confidence of Gwinnettians. They must make board decisions open and accept public input about those decisions. Now don’t take this wrong, but sometimes the public is off-base and wrong too. Then the Commissioners must make the case that their decisions are based in fact and not just opinion.

The person who wins the race for the unexpired term of the chairman must be ready for critical observation in season and out. That person should have thick skin and be prepared for oblivion at the end of the term.

To win tax-payer confidence and to provide transparent government, this leader must opt to set aside some of the past practices adopted by the Board of Commissioners. The chairman, when elected and seated, should suspend the practice of “consent agendas” and bring all decisions to the full board for discussion and open vote. The chairman should suspend, even the idea, of “district courtesy”. District courtesy is the practice of voting "AYE" and with the district commissioner on every item the district commissioner wants passed or "NAY" if the person wants it killed. This practice in effect disenfranchises three quarters of the public. It leads to decision-making by one person rather than the whole board.

The election cycle will soon be over, and we will have some idea of how our country, state and county will be affected and fences nationwide will begin to mend. Those who are serious about running for chairman will be on the campaign trail shortly for the Chairman post.

If there can be an upside to this troubling time, it is in the fact that the general public will be better served by its Board of Commissioners in the future.