More games
Well, here we go again. Once more we see Fayette County Commissioner Angela Zimmerlink playing the blame game, trying to deflect attention away from a problem instead of taking responsibility for her actions.
We’ve been critical of the Fayette County commissioners for appointing Monty “Cash” Lilley to the Fayette County Airport Authority. After his appointment, it was learned that Lilley had been convicted in 1992 for embezzling $3.1 million from his company’s pension fund and was sentenced to 30 months in prison.
In light of that development, we asked the commissioners to rescind the appointment and for Lilley to step down.
Nothing of the sort happened. Lilley refused to step down, and the commissioners said they have no plans to rescind the appointment.
In a guest column, which appeared in the Herald-Standard earlier this week, Zimmerlink contended that she was the victim of a double standard, as we hadn’t raised similar questions about other board members with criminal backgrounds.
She didn’t identify those members, making vague references to their identities. We can only guess who she’s talking about, but the fact is that we’ve reported on many controversial board appointments that have been made by the commissioners over the years. In some cases, individuals have expressed remorse for their crimes and have turned their lives around in very public and remarkable ways.
Certainly, we hold nothing against those individuals. However, we know nothing about Lilley’s background. Has he turned his life around? Who knows? Instead of defending Lilley or explaining why she chose to appoint him, Zimmerlink lashed out at us for questioning the appointment.
It’s hard to figure, but that’s the way Zimmerlink has been operating for some time now. It’s a shame because we did support Zimmerlink when she served on the Fayette County Housing Authority. We thought she did a good job there, acting in the best interests of Fayette County taxpayers.
We also supported her when she first ran for Fayette County commissioner, figuring she’d be an independent voice on the board. But we were wrong. Her voice has been loud and clear, but all too often it’s been self-serving. She’s been more concerned more about politics and getting re-elected than anything else.
Blame and deflect. That’s her game and she’s played it very well, as she’s now serving her fourth term in office. But it’s a game that doesn’t serve the interests of taxpayers. Basically, Fayette County hasn’t progressed much at all during her tenure. We still have many of the same problems that we had when she first took office in 2004. Some are even worse. And you have to ask yourself why hasn’t she been able to make more of a difference? Maybe if she hadn’t played her political games, Fayette County would be a better place today than it was 12 years ago.
We’re reminded of a letter to the editor Zimmerlink wrote to the Herald-Standard back in February of 2014. “I was elected by the people, and I will continue to make decisions, statements and votes for the right reasons not political reasons. I will not succumb to what they want which is for me to go along to get along and to conduct county business behind closed doors or shut up the public and to go along with political hires, political board appointments, political contracts and any of their other political shenanigans.” She ended it by saying, “Their tactics will not work because truth always prevails and because the good citizens of Fayette County are paying attention.”
Well, we can only hope the good citizens of Fayette County are paying close attention to this sad saga and, more importantly, to the way Zimmerlink is conducting herself as a county commissioner. She must begin putting the interests of Fayette County residents ahead of her own agenda. It’s as simple as that.