'Computergate' gives us a meeting to remember

And he huffed, and he puffed and almost blew the house down.

Augusta commissioners were still stinging late last week over things that were said and done at the Marble Palace on Tuesday when six commissioners voted to censure Commissioner Calvin Holland, despite his voluble and vociferous protest that he had done nothing wrong when he asked Assistant Information Technology Director Gary Hewett to give him the hard drive from City Administrator Fred Russell's computer.

Afterward, the two commission factions withdrew into separate camps to lick their wounds, gnash their teeth, draw themselves up in righteous indignation or celebrate, as they saw fit.

Mayor Deke Copenhaver clammed up, communicating with City Ink only by e-mail, sending a short, terse message saying the meeting made him more committed to work to "overcome our past history of divisive politics." (Past history? Who's he kidding?)

They say his annual prayer breakfast Thursday was a little tense.

WHY CAN'T THEY JUST GEE HAW? To tell you the truth, I've never seen anything quite like Tuesday's meeting. Commissioner J.R. Hatney jumped down General Counsel Eugene Jessup's throat when Mr. Jessup tried to say something before Mr. Hatney had finished making a point. Mr. Jessup also drew Commissioner Marion Williams' ire when he kept referring Mr. Williams' question to Commissioner Jerry Brigham about whether it was legal for the school board president to serve as an ex-officio member of the planning commission.

"How can the lawyer refer the legal question to a tax man?" Mr. Williams asked.

Mr. Brigham, an accountant, had put the item on the agenda because he wants the school board to have input on joint city-school board projects. In other words, he wanted them to "gee haw and work together," he said.

"Madam Clerk, please notice this is the first time I've ever heard the word 'gee haw' used in one of these meetings," Mr. Copenhaver said.

And poor Russell Thies, an assistant director in the Utility Department, there to speak against the merging of three pension plans. Mr. Hatney jumped on him for holding a meeting of members of the 1998 pension plan and two other commissioners.

"Why you didn't invite nobody else?" Mr. Hatney asked. "Make up your mind. If you want me to work with something, you don't invite selective individuals."

To top it all off, Mr. Russell had to come between community activist Woody Merry and Mr. Williams to prevent what could have gotten physical outside commission chambers.

I wish I had space to recount the three different versions each gave of what happened. But there Mr. Williams was calling for Mr. Russell's help when he had been pillorying Mr. Russell over Computergate just minutes before from the dais.

I'm sure Mr. Russell was just waiting for fisticuffs to start so he could use his former policeman's technique to deck both of them.

Ah, the un-civility of it all.

NOBODY KNOWS WHAT ANY OF IT MEANS: I've been saying for years that about 95 percent of Augusta Commission discussions are a waste of time. Now I have proof.

The latest brouhaha over Mr. Holland's attempt to get Mr. Russell's hard drive caused commission meeting minutes from bygone years to surface.

Some involved long-winded discussions about the commissioner-employee role, which in light of everything that's been said in recent weeks are both comical and prophetic.

For example, according to the March 2001 minutes of the commission's Delineation of Responsibility Committee, an ordinance was discussed that limited contact between employees and the mayor and commissioners. It passed on a 7-3 vote, but not before everybody got thoroughly confused over when a commissioner could ask an employee to do something on behalf of a constituent and how he should go about it.

"When do you step out of the role of the commissioner and become a private citizen?" asked Commissioner Richard Colclough.

"When you get defeated," Mayor Bob Young said.

Commissioner Willie Mays said he was a "little leery" of passing an ordinance that included censure with the punishment section to be added later.

"It's kind of like saying, 'If you walk out that door, it's going to be a violation,'" he said. "But if you walk out that door, is it going to mean that you have to turn around and walk out the other door? Or does it mean that you get executed if you walk out the door?"

Mr. Mays said that "it could be the beginning of something that could get real crazy."

LITTLE DID HE KNOW: Then, on Sept. 2, 2003, commissioners voted unanimously to require employees to provide information to commissioners upon request. But commissioners were not to give instructions.

According to the minutes, Commissioner Bobby Hankerson said he wanted to discuss the ordinance regulating commissioners' contact with department directors because some were afraid to give him information he'd requested.

Mr. Hankerson said he couldn't see why employees had been told not to talk to commissioners or give them information unless it goes through "certain people" - the administrator or department head.

"And the ordinance does not read that. Am I correct?" he asked.

"Yes," said then-City Attorney Jim Wall.

Mr. Mays said he thought it was a problem that any member of the media could get public information but commissioners couldn't.

Mr. Williams said a letter should be sent to department heads and the administrator telling them that commissioners had the right to discuss situations and ask questions. Mr. Hankerson put Mr. Williams' suggestion in the form of a motion.

Commissioner Andy Cheek said, "We have the ability to get the information based on this. That's very clear. Anybody that would stop that from happening is in violation of the codes of the city of Augusta and should be dealt with accordingly."

Mr. Wall was then supposed to send the letter and include a copy of the 2001 ordinance, but he apparently never did. There is no record of it at City Hall, and Mr. Wall said he doesn't remember whether he did or not.

I guess how you interpret all of this depends on whose ox is being gored.

CONFISCATION AND EXONERATION: Mr. Jessup, who started it all when he confiscated the hard drive from staff attorney Vanessa Flournoy's computer and insisted she be fired when he found she had been doing real-estate closings on the computer, is said to be close to being fired himself. Commissioners Hatney, Williams and Holland are angry over the way he handled the situation, especially with his asking Sheriff Ronnie Strength to investigate, sleuthing which seemingly will come to naught.

Meanwhile, Ms. Flournoy has resigned and will receive a severance package. Mr. Jessup and City Attorney Stephen Shepard have been exonerated of accusations that they created a hostile work environment for Ms. Flournoy's secretary, Meschery Powell, and violated her civil rights.

Mr. Jessup contended Ms. Flournoy was the real complainant, determined to punish them for having confronted her with the evidence she was running a real-estate business on city equipment.

The city had to hire an out-of-town attorney to examine the evidence and report to commissioners in closed-door meetings.

THE OLD BAIT AND SWITCH: The idea of the Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine expanding to a campus in Athens in partnership with the University of Georgia is about as popular in Augusta as warm beer and cold french fries. This was evident at The Rotary Club of Augusta last week.

MCG President Dan Rahn has been making the rounds of local civic groups, still doggedly trying to sell the project. The reaction has mostly not been good, which is perhaps why Dr. Rahn trotted out this gambit as he approached the podium.

"It's time for a confession," he said. "My name is actually Bill Bloodworth."

Dr. Bloodworth, the president of Augusta State University, sat nearby laughing.

There were few laughs after that - Dr. Rahn provoked chuckles when he said they need room for more mice - but at least no one yelled or threw anything.

City Ink thanks Staff Writer Tom Corwin for his contribution to this week's column.

Reach Sylvia Cooper at (706) 823-3228 or sylvia.cooper@augustachronicle.com.