July 21, 2017

Perhaps, the most damning moment for Council Member Thurman in Monday’s City Council meeting was the City Attorney’s admission that he knew nothing about the redistricting when it occurred.  Following is the video.

Why is this important?  Because the City Attorney is the City’s expert on the proper government procedures.  This includes the process for changing the City’s Charter, which is akin to a municipal constitution.  He is the first person that Council Member Thurman should have consulted when she sought to change the district lines.  It is certain that he would have advised Ms. Thurman to put the change on a Council agenda and obtain approval from Council (as Representative Jones also initially requested).  Not only was the City Attorney not consulted about the district change, he was also omitted from all communications on this matter.  We believe this was intentional.  The City Attorney appears on none of the emails we reviewed.

It was clear that when Council Member Thurman asked the City Attorney about his awareness of the change, she was expecting a different answer.  However, the City Attorney was clearly not going to fall on his sword for Ms. Thurman.  And he is likely pretty steamed about being left in the dark about this matter.  On Monday night, his answers to Ms. Thurman were short and subdued; he was signaling to Ms. Thurman that he was not going to support her in this matter and that she needed to change the subject.

Of course, you can already see Ms. Thurman’s defense in her response to the City Attorney.  Clearly, she is going to blame the City Manager (who she states was very aware of the change) for not informing the City Attorney.  This is no defense.  City councilors routinely consult and communicate directly with the City Attorney on these sorts of matters.  And clearly this was a matter where Ms. Thurman was the point person for the change, so it was her responsibility to ensure the proper people were involved.  In any case, the first documented evidence of the City Manager’s involvement was an e-mail to him on the day the district change bill was introduced into the Georgia legislature.

Ms. Thurman has cast around for various people to blame or include as co-conspirators in this debacle:  Representative Jones’ administrative assistant, Representative Jones, the City Attorney, her fellow Council Members, the previous City Manager, and the Milton Herald.  And unfortunately, Ms. Thurman is also blaming citizens . . . it’s a classic case of not liking the message, so shooting the messengers.  At some point, Ms. Thurman needs to realize that the redistricting debacle is not everyone else’s fault.  Accountability rests with Ms. Thurman and Ms. Thurman alone.

Tomorrow’s post will be about the “smoking gun” in this scandal.

Advocating For Good Governance,

Tim Becker