Corporal Gripweed: Do Augusta's Leaders Have Any Sense of Decency?

Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012

Augusta, GA

By Corporal Gripweed

“Have you no sense of decency sir...at long last, have you left no sense of decency?”

                          Special Counsel Joseph Welch during the McCarthy hearings...June 4^th ,1954

After watching City Administrator Fred Russell's tortured interview with WRDW's Chris Thomas this past Friday afternoon, I immediately wondered if anyone else in Augusta remembered this quote.

(Watch Chris Thomas' report below)

 It occurred during hearings led by anti-communist crusader Sen. Joseph McCarthy. It was a pivotal moment in the investigation as it effectively shamed and silenced Sen. McCarthy and led to a halt of the so-called “witch hunts” directed at suspected communist sympathizers.

 Augusta needs a moment such as this...

Is there no one besides a few “silly bloggers” and Chris Thomas, who will ask Mr. Russell and our esteemed Mayor, “Have you no sense of decency sirs?”

Will no one on the County Commission attempt to find out what is really behind this hurried attempt to get this deal done regardless of the concerns of citizens? At long last have they no sense of decency?

In light of recent events, it seems that from the outset, the insiders involved in this TEE Center-Parking Deck deal knew that it was a veiled attempt to help Mr William S. Morris III, owner and publisher of the Augusta Chronicle, relieve his crushing debt at the taxpayers expense; aided and abetted by a compliant Commission and a Mayor with ties to Mr. Morris.

If proven to be true it will go down as one of the sorriest episodes in Augusta politics in decades. As I've said in these commentaries before; I don't profess to know enough to say whether these deals were illegal or not. But, at the very least, they seem blatantly unethical.

I'll ask our city leaders once more...have you no sense of decency?

While certain areas of our city languish, these men are making deals to help the wealthiest among us prosper, all the while giving “lip service” to concerned citizens and hiding behind the tired old mantra, “Move the city forward”. Forward for whom? The connected few...that's who.

I'm sure these “gentlemen” never suspected that their machinations would be discovered. After all it's probably been done a hundred times before. This time it got a bit more complicated when “silly” bloggers uncovered the details surrounding what it took to make this deal happen on the quiet. What we see now are clumsy attempts to explain away their motives and actions.

Maybe it will take someone from outside the CSRA , media included, to mount a formal investigation into this whole debacle. For all I know it may already be in the works. Maybe then someone will ask everyone involved in this mess:

Have you no sense of decency? At long last have you left no sense of decency?***
CG
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