Public must be told
If you were looking for a blueprint on how to create an atmosphere where abuse of the public’s money can occur, check out the current events involving the Fayette County Housing Authority. Here’s how you can promote and support lack of accountability and misuse of tax money:
Whenever you discover a questionable expense or contract, hide the facts from the public.
If the controversy is revealed to the public deny responsibility for dealing with it.
Shift the decision-making process to a regional government agency.
Allow the regional agency (the Department of Housing and Urban Development) to claim the controversy is purely a local matter.
Criticize and cast blame on anyone who has the nerve to reveal the facts to the public at large.
Label the board member as a “rogue,” headline-seeker and general trouble-maker.
Use the excuse of “potential litigation” as a reason to refuse to disclose further developments to the public.
Now that you’ve done all you can to suppress information, conceal facts from the taxpayers, shift the blame to one person, and deny responsibility, the blueprint is complete.
You can then say, over and over again, that these incidents are “bad for Fayette County,” and insist that the public has no right to know this information.
Keeping the taxpayers deaf, blind and ignorant of the facts can be effective. Ask John Marra, the former executive director of the housing authority, who stole hundreds of thousands of tax dollars for many years until he was finally caught.
The blueprint for secrecy in government, retaliating against those who dare to speak out, and shifting of blame is being revived.
We have learned nothing from our past.
experiences.
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