This week, the Northeast
Mississippi Daily Journal broke the story that the city of
Aberdeen
has been giving away spendy goodies to some citizens and making the rest
of us pay for them. I speak, of course, about our City Fathers’
annoying and totally unethical habit of not collecting past due electric bills owed by their
friends, family and constituents.
Since the story came off the presses, our blog has been lit up
with commentary, most particularly from one annonoblogger whom I call
“Pharaoh.” (I call him/her this because he/she is in de-Nile.) Even
though the Journal told us this week that the local electric department has
somehow failed to collect over $300, 540.00 in delinquent bills
legitimately owed to the city, Pharaoh continues to insist that there is
nothing wrong at the corner of Commerce and Matubba streets. This person
stubbornly clings to the silly notion that the State Auditor’s office
is NOT investigating these irregularities. I suspect that Pharaoh either
works in the electric department, recently resigned from the electric
department, or has friends who have. Whatever his/her situation, I’m
here to tell you the wheels of justice are turning, albeit slowly, and
the local electric department is at the center of a really big gathering
storm.
I find it curious that not everybody sees what’s at issue here.
To me it’s as clear as the nose on my face.
We elect leaders and hire employees who agree to act in the best
interest of the City. When those city employees or elected officials use
their special powers and influence to bestow favors upon their friends,
they have breached the public trust. They have put themselves in the
awkward position of “appearing” to exchange these favors for future
loyalty, otherwise known as VOTES. That’s why we have ethics laws and
that’s why I’m particularly pleased at the shiny new ethics laws
which were passed in the last Legislative session.
The Mississippi State Ethics Commission (and the lawmakers, it
would appear) take a dim view of buying votes.
They think, and rightly so, that when a public official even
attempts to use his influence for personal gain – and the continuation
of that plush paycheck would be an excellent example – he must be
removed from his position of influence. No frills, no fancy trappings,
just ousted. It’s very,
very simple.
Here in
Aberdeen, we have a long and colorful history of these abuses. Here’s how it
typically works. During the
third week of any month, electric department employees are dispatched
with lists of folks who have neglected to pay their bills. As outlined
in our contract with TVA, the folks from whom we buy the electricity
which the city of Aberdeen
sells to its customers, the procedure is straightforward. If a customer has not paid his
bill within a reasonable time (two weeks is what we in Aberdeen
have determined to be “a reasonable time”), then the service must
be disconnected. Again, according to our promise to TVA, that service
must remain off until the bill is
paid in full and a reconnection fee is paid. And so, our
employees go to the offending houses and disconnect the service as is
their duty.
Here’s where it gets
dicey: Sometimes before the
worker even manages to get back into his truck, his radio goes off. It
seems the customer has called his alderman and the alderman has called
the electric department office and the employee is ordered to restore
power immediately. There is no requisite interruption in service, no reconnection
fee and, most importantly, no “paid in full.”
That’s how we end up with uncollected debt galloping toward
half a million bucks.
Now, I’ve only told you this about a gazillion times.
Policies and procedures are like seat belts. They are designed to
keep us safe in the event of a wreck. But, like seatbelts, they only
work when you use them. Here
we have a set of city officials who have decided that the good citizens
and taxpayers of Aberdeen
must be responsible for paying electric bills for those who choose to
spend their money on other things. The
ultimate result of this exchange, this “you scratch my back, I’ll
scratch yours” arrangement is – you guessed it – RE-ELECTION.
It puts me in mind of the old-time shenanigans of Boss Tweed and
his cohorts at Tammany Hall. (A
bit of historical background on this subject can be found at: http://www.albany.edu/~dkw42/tweed.html
) It’s graft and corruption in greasy, grimy grandeur and you and I
are paying for it. You might be alright with that, but I’m not.
