Augusta mayoral candidate Moses Todd sits in his living room at 2441 Barton Chapel Road with family portraits hanging on the wall. JEFF JANOWSKI/STAFF

Todd battles for changes

Web posted October 11, 1998

 Todd's planks

By Sylvia Cooper
Staff Writer

They said he'd never be elected to the Richmond County Commission.

He was. And to the Augusta Commission, too.

They said he'd never run for mayor of Augusta.

He is.

Now they say he doesn't stand a chance of winning.

Maybe not, but he won't hear of it.

``I said I wouldn't respond to questions unless there was a name associated with it,'' Mr. Todd said when asked about a popular conception that he's too controversial to be elected mayor.

Meet the new Moses Todd.

Not really. Mr. Todd responds to everything, despite the best efforts of campaign manager Bill Ford who's trying his best to temper the tongue of the man who's been called ``The Mouth of the South.''

``Yes, I'm controversial,'' said Mr. Todd. ``Anyone that's for implementing change is controversial. George Washington was a controversial leader. Thomas Jefferson. Martin Luther King. John Kennedy. Yes, I'm a controversial leader. I believe in change.''

MAYORS RACE  THE MAYOR'S RACE Each week until the Nov. 4 election, The Augusta Chronicle will feature a candidate running for Augusta-Richmond County mayor. Check back each Sunday for a new profile. •Ed McIntyre •Larry Sconyers •Elmer Singley •Moses Todd •Kenneth Winters •Bob Young  Q&A The Chronicle asks each candidate specific questions about their abilities and goals. Here are their answers. •Ed McIntyre •Larry Sconyers •Elmer Singley •Moses Todd •Kenneth Winters •Bob Young  ASK THE CANDIDATES Do you have a question you'd like to ask the mayoral candidates? •Click here

And he rushes in where others fear to tread. Ten years ago, when drug dealers started plying their trade openly in his Barton Village neighborhood, he declared war on the dealers himself. He organized patrols and took to the streets, determined to drive the dealers out. He called in the Guardian Angels to help.

Four years later, he was bankrupt and divorced.

Then he went into politics with similar zeal. He got elected to the Richmond County Commission and practically took up residence in the Municipal Building until then-Commission Chairman Larry Sconyers rearranged the commission office, effectively moving him out.

He was behind in his property taxes, and the leasing company repossessed his car during a commission meeting.

He also fell out with Mr. Sconyers, who had helped him get elected and at first said he was glad there was somebody who could say the things Mr. Todd did publicly and get by with them.

Mr. Sconyers later called him a ``disgrace to the commission'' and called him a ``loose cannon.'' Mr. Todd accused the mayor of being asleep at the wheel and said the best thing about him was ``barbecue.''

They have clashed openly and often the past six years.

Mr. Sconyers tried to push through a measure to limit commissioners' debate to two minutes on each topic to keep Mr. Todd from going on too long. That prompted Mr. Todd to bring a stopwatch to the meeting to ensure that everybody abided by the same rule. The time limit went by the wayside.

In 1994, Mr. Todd proposed setting up a Moses Todd Fund, to which people could contribute to support him so he could be a full-time commissioner. He now realizes the folly of that move, he said.

He also declared war on corruption in county government and began tattling publicly about some of his colleagues' political shenanigans. He took on state Sen. Charles Walker, publicly criticizing the county's deal with Mr. Walker's temporary employment agency to build sidewalks throughout the county.

The county paid escalating wages for shoddy work. The pay kept going up, but the quality never did, and the county had to have some torn out and redone.

The commission was forced to cancel the program after it became a local scandal, but not before spending about $1.7 million of taxpayer money.

``I've blown the whistle on the sidewalk project, the engineer-firm political shakedown, the jail project, the shop scandal, the sidewalk scandal and indigent care,'' he said during an interview last week at his official residence on Barton Chapel Road.

He also became the terror of some department heads who he said were incompetent. And he accused top administrators of covering up theft at the county garage after The Augusta Chronicle reported multiple parts and tires being put on sheriff's patrol cars.

On several occasions, he said then-Administrator Linda Beazley and County Attorney Jim Wall should be fired. But over the next few years he became their staunchest supporters.

Later on, he took on University Hospital over indigent care, which cost taxpayers $5.4 million in 1994. At that time, several commissioners and city officials either did business with the hospital or had relatives working for hospital affiliates or serving on hospital boards.

He had special disdain for what he called hospital officials' practice of wining and dining commissioners.

``The hospital folks take you over there, and they serve you some damn bleu cheese dressing and a salad and a steak, you know, and make you feel important, and you forget about the taxpayers,'' Mr. Todd said at the time.

When an audit showed the hospital had been overcharging the county, Mr. Todd accused its officials of having ``both hands'' in the cookie jar.

And when then-hospital president Don Bray challenged the audit report, Mr. Todd said that was comparable to him doing a peer review on a brain surgeon at the hospital.

It was during one of Mr. Bray's visits to the commission in 1996 that Mr. Sconyers ordered a county marshal to remove Mr. Todd from the room if he did not yield the floor to Commissioner J.B. Powell.

As usual, Mr. Todd had the last word.

``I'm not leaving,'' he said. Then he hushed, and the marshal retreated.

The new Moses Todd emerged briefly during last week's interview when the subject of indigent care came up.

``We've had some problems. We worked them out,'' he said, eyeing Mr. Ford, who said Mr. Todd's position on the hospital was outlined in his campaign literature.

Here's what it said: ``The health of our community is important. We will work with University Hospital and community clinics to ensure that indigent care is properly funded.''

Then Mr. Todd attended a forum for mayoral candidates at University Hospital on Thursday.

An employee in the audience asked him if he would ``go negative'' on the hospital as he has done in the past if he were elected.

``I said, `Ma'am, if University don't do something negative like put 1,500 of their employees on indigent care again, I won't go negative.'''

The crowd came close to booing him, he said.

The 1994 audit found that the hospital was billing erroneously the county for hospital employees' emergency-room treatment.

From now on, Mr. Todd said Mr. Ford can handle everything else, but he's responsible for everything regarding University Hospital.

Mr. Ford had arranged a visit to Mr. Todd's union hall last week and with officials at Paine College.

At the Plumbers & Steamfitters Union, Local 150 on Telfair Street, business manager Charles Hardigree talked about Mr. Todd being a hard worker.

``He was my apprentice when we was coming up working for Meade Company when he first started trade over at St. Joseph's Hospital, so I know he works hard,'' Mr. Hardigree said.

``Matter of fact, I used to be scared that he'd hurt himself because he'd grab those big bottles of acetylene, put 'em on his shoulder and tote 'em. I couldn't do it, but he could.

``He's a good person, a fine man, yeah he is. And he tries to shoot everybody straight, and he believes in the community.''

At Paine, he's met by Brandon Brown, president of the Young Democrats and the Democratic Society.

``We work with all of the candidates to ensure the students fair representation and get information on each candidate, so they'll know which candidate best represents their views,'' Mr. Brown said.

Mr. Todd said he wanted to visit all the college campuses in Augusta to make a commitment to higher education.

He's concerned about keeping the ``hoodlums'' off the Paine campus and wants to see its students involved in running the county's indoor swimming facility and the Newman Tennis Center.

``Right now, ASU is the only campus that participates in the work-study program,'' he said. ``We want to be inclusive and open it up to both campuses.''

In the office of Roscoe Williams, executive assistant to the president, talk turned to crime and how drugs have changed Augusta and stolen the security that once existed in its inner-city neighborhoods.

``I'm pleased with your honesty and integrity, especially your efforts to eliminate the bane of the community,'' Mr. Williams said.

He called Mr. Todd's fight to rid Barton Village of drugs ``courageous because that's dangerous business.''

Others have lauded Mr. Todd for the role he played during the past summer's water shortage. He was at the pumping station and the filter plant day and night, trying to keep the public informed.

If elected mayor, Mr. Todd said that's how he will bridge the gaps of party, place and race.

``I'll bridge those gaps,'' he said. ``I've done it before. I have the ability, and I'll do it through communication and knowing the issues.''

Todd's planks

As part of The Augusta Chronicle's series on mayoral candidate profiles, we will ask each candidate to state their promises to voters. The newspaper expects to check up on the winner's promises after the election.

Here are Mr. Todd's promises:

-- We would, first of all, by year 2003, phase out all urban service district taxes. That is bonded indebtedness and other taxes. We would put landfill capital outlay in the 1 penny referendum. And by year 2002 we would expand sanitation pickup for all of Richmond County. It would be paid for from funds the landfill generates from other counties and from the industrial and commercial accounts.

My promise is I'll put it on the table, and I'll push that issue in the 1 penny sales tax referendum, and it will be up to the voters whether they approve it or not.

-- I promise to provide leadership, work for jobs and work for safe communities. I intend to work closely with area law enforcement and prosecutors to establish an effective community-based police force that will eliminate the criminal element from the grass-roots level.

-- Figures show that 70 percent of the new jobs coming here during the current administration are low-paying service jobs. We must have an administration dedicated to recruiting the kind of high-paying, high-tech industrial jobs that will dramatically increase the standard of living in Augusta.

I would support an industry summit that will bring together all of the major industrial players in the CSRA to create an open dialogue on how we can best recruit good high-paying industries.

-- I believe strongly in support for County Administrator Randy Oliver. We should give him a two- to five-year contract that makes him safe from the meddling of any mayor or council and allow him and his professional staff to do their jobs.

-- University Hospital wants the city-county government to fund indigent care at approximately $12 million a year. That's paying for all under-insured and uninsured. The taxpayers of Richmond County cannot afford $12 million a year, and can only afford to pay for the true indigents of Richmond County. In 1994, we were paying $5.4 million a year, and we were paying all non-collectibles. I led the effort to pay for only the true indigents, and I feel that's approximately $3.5 million a year. And that's what I will support.

Sylvia Cooper covers Richmond County government for The Augusta Chronicle. She can be reached at (706) 823-3228 or newsroom@augustachronicle.com.