tony jeter dot com

Below is a sampling of questions that an enterprising talk radio host could’ve asked the Mayor in a recent show featuring the Mayor.  The purpose of the questions would’ve been in no way to impugn the Mayor’s reputation. Instead they could’ve been asked in a respectful manner giving the Mayor the opportunity to shine some light on his financial dealings with the City thus dispelling the myths that he has financially benefitted from being the Mayor. It would’ve even been appropriate to give him the questions in advance so he could be prepared. The ongoing goal is to bring transparency to the dealings of the City government and its elected leaders.

1. It has been well over 10 years since the City last had a Charter Review. It is a common practice for communities to periodically review their Charters. Why are you so adamantly opposed to a Charter review?
2. More and more cities are forming Ethics Commissions.  Why are you opposed to exploring the formation of an Ethics Commission?
3. At a Council workshop several months ago Councilman Jeter proposed letting the voters decide whether or not Council people should receive millions of dollars in City contracts.  In response to this suggestion, that you were obviously not in favor of, you stated, “the voters will approve anything”. Would you please elaborate on the meaning of this comment?
4. You purchased a quarry operation soon after you were elected Mayor. Can you tell us what your role in the day-to-day operations of the quarry was?
5. It is rumored that you recently sold the quarry operation. Can you confirm the veracity of this rumor? Do you have any sort of financial arrangement in which you are still receiving payments or royalties from the buyers?
6. Can you tell us how much revenue your company received from projects funded in all or part with taxpayer dollars.  Please differentiate between direct contracts with the City and contracts with contractors/sub-contractors working on behalf of the City.
7. During the time you owned the quarry how much revenue did the operation receive from contractors working on projects that received incentives from the City?
8. During the time you owned the quarry how much revenue did the operation receive from contractors working on State highway projects in which the City contributed tax dollars for right of way “ROW” acquisition or utilities relocations?
9. During the time you owned the quarry how much revenue did the operation receive from contractors that were working on projects on behalf of the City?
10. During the time you owned the quarry how much revenue did the operation receive from businesses owned, all or in part, by other Council members?
11. I know you have followed the letter of the law to mitigate the conflicts of interests arising from your ownership of various businesses by not voting on the awarding of contracts… But…. aren’t you at all concerned that it is a conflict of interest even to participate in discussions on projects that you knew your quarry would most likely supply materials for?

Tags: City Charter, Conflict of Interest, Ethics

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 8:02 am and is filed under City Charter, Ethics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.