Before Stan Watson, newly elected District 7 Commissioner (who ran unopposed) takes office, he asked his buddy Larry Johnson for $15,000.00 dollars of taxpayer money for his "transition effort" into office. Little Larry only gave him $5,000.00. Watson called it "pittance".
Explaining his actions, Johnson said "We have a $30 million deficit, the pension, furloughs and all kind of problems. This is an imperfect storm and we’re trying to get him acclimated.” Acclimated to what, sticking his hand in the till?
Little Larry Johnson also said no vote was necessary because it was under $100,000. A spokesman for the CEO said the county does not have a policy governing transition money.
So there you have it, a big ol' bag of taxpayer cash money for the commissioners to stick their hand into anytime they want.
AJC article
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
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14 comments:
Lets see DOUBLE DIPPING LARRY thinks 5000 taxpayer dollars is no big deal.
Have you ever look at Stan Watson record as a state rep.
These two will be fighting when they both decide to run for CEO.
Then you have to decide those two and Little Vernon. This county is in a no win situation.
Well our current command staff supported Stan Watson. They working on their on-line degrees.
Waiting to be appointed Chief one day.
Whose is they that are working on ON-LINE degrees? You people want quit with personal attacks will you.
Transition teams:
I remember setting up CEO Ellis's transition spaces at the old building inspectors spaces. It was a bare bones setup, dirty walls, folding chairs and tables, and staffed by unpaid volunteers.
As much as I dislike CEO Ellis, his transition team was done on the cheap.
It was only when Ellis came into power that we saw the huge waste of money moving the CEO into his new "temporary" but strangly permanent spaces occupying the entire 5th floor of the Ponce bldg. I have never understood why Wendy S. and the rest of Atlanta's local media have never investigated or reported the issue. 20 staff occupying an office space that can hold 200 employees? No wonder the county is fracken' broke.
I have no idea who Stan Watson is but with him asking for 150 grand for a transition team raises some obvious questions as to his ego and sense of entitlement that seems to come with being elected to the BOC or the CEO positions.
To Mr. Stan Watson. Here's a hint on the current situation facing the county. The county is flat broke and getting broker by the second. Take a look at your new office. Beautifully appointed with a big flat screen on the wall so you can watch yourself in the news and scandals.
Now take a trip over to the Claudia Lawson building across from the Camp Circle complex. Notice the dozens of overhead tarps in place because the BOC refuses to pay for fixing the roof. Compare the CL building to your beautiful new office and ask yourself, would 150 grand be better spent on your "transition team" or fixing the roof of the CL building? If your answer is the money is best spent on your transition team then do DeKalb citizens a big favor and resign immediately.
You are not the solution to DeKalb's issues. You are the problem.
Sharon Barnes-Sutton once again shows off her assets by reducing this necessary dialog and examination as "petty politics".
She's priceless.
OPMitis (Other People's Money) is deadly disease that affects Burrell's Brigands and the members of the BOC
LoFlyer,
The amount he asked for by Watson was 15K not 150K, but your point is still square on, just a decimal point off. He ended up getting 5K which was about 5K too much.
It was Ellis who asked for and got the 150K for his transition team.
JW
To Anonymous 10:57 - Based on your spelling and grammar, you are obviously not one of the officers working on his/her on-line degree.
JW, I should of had my glasses on, Doh! I misread the story, my mistake and thanks for the correction.
Best of luck, guys!
A word on spelling and syntax on this blog. I have watched my managers and directors with college degrees and professional certifications send out county wide emails that were frankly embarrassing to the department because the manager relied on spell-check to correct their lack of understanding of the English language.
This blog does not have spell check and we are not all rocket scientists or English professors. What we are is a group of anonymous individuals that care deeply about DKPD, DeKalb government and the school system.
We can all agree that all three are supremely fracked up and getting worse.
I can easily overlook a misspelled word or the wrong syntax because your heart is in the right place and your trying to set DKPD or DeKalb government straight on important issues facing the county citizens and the employees. I will be the first to admit that I am probably dead wrong on about 10 percent of the stuff I write on this blog. I just got schooled on some aspects of the county pension system yesterday.
Flaming an individual over their spelling or syntax is counterproductive and just petty. We have bigger fish to fry around here. Let us save our arguments for our real opponents. The unethical and incompetent BOC and CEO that are running the county into the ground and continually screw their employees at every opportunity.
LoFlyer- expecting someone to spell correctly and use proper grammar is not petty. How can you take one's argument seriously if you have to read their statement multiple times just to understand what they're trying to say? Most often I believe it is not a lack of education but laziness. Is it really that hard to proofread what you have typed before clicking submit? I agree we need to not lose focus on the main objective; however, it would be nice to get on this blog and not see comments that have been constructed by the baby mama from the 87 you handled the other night. My point- if you want people to take you seriously when holding a debate you must be articulate, write legibly, and carry yourself professionaly. If you lack any of those components your argument will not and should not be taken seriously.
Well said LoFlyer, well said. I think I spelled everything correctly!
Loflyer...if you have some accurate information on the pension, please post it. God knows we will not get any pension anywhere than from this blog....Thanks
Anon 12:41. I understand what you are saying, If you can't spell correctly or use proper English how can you be relied upon as credible source?
It's easy. I did it every day at DeKalb government and probably so do you. I know hundreds of DeKalb employees that can't speak proper Enlish much less write it. They were foreman, engineers, supervisors, laborers and so forth. From Sanitation to Water & Sewer to Finance and Risk Management. Everyone of them knew more in their field than I and was willing to talk about it. That is why I know so much about the county. I had unlimited access to just about anywhere and would talk to anybody.
Just because an individual can't spell perfectly or use the correct nomenclature doesn't mean they don't know exactly what the heck they are talking about.
This space is just an informal blog to express our views on the abysmal state of our employer, DeKalb County Government, and hopefully make some corrections to make this a better place for DeKalb citizens and employees. The blogs major success so far was bringing down Terrel Bolton.
I don't expect to make DeKalb County into a utopia of unicorns and rainbows.
But we can expose the intrigue and ethical challenges facing DeKalb leadership so that the citizens can find the motivation to offer viable, ethical and honorable candidates to lead the county out of the long shadow of Vernon Jones that today still perverts DeKalb county leadership.
I am willing to accept some syntax and spelling challenges from my fellow employees who share the same goal.
Best of luck, mates. We are all on the same side here. We just have different targets.
Anon 7;30. I have zero contacts with pension board. Can't help you on that one. As I am being asked by this blog to run for the pension board as retiree rep, and have foolishly accepted. I will contact a reporter I pissed off and see if she can provide any info on the subject.
Keep the faith!
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