Dear Editors:
Your August 19th
edition included an article about a recent Eatonton council
meeting during which comments were made by a councilman and the
mayor about ballot questions appearing on the Republican ballot
for the recent primary election. I was surprised to learn that
Councilman Jim Hall thought it was a “disgrace” he and “other
GOP elected officials on council” weren’t consulted about the
questions.
Georgia law allows political
parties to put questions on their party’s ballot. Those
questions were suggested by the members and governing body of
the Putnam County Republican Party (PCRP), and I freely
acknowledge it never occurred to us to run the ballot questions
by council.. Mr. Hall has never been a PCRP member, has never
applied for PCRP membership or attended a PCRP function. While
he may, as he said, be a Republican, council seats are
non-partisan and, given his lack of interest in the local GOP,
how would we know? Why would he think the local GOP should
“approach” people with no connection to the local GOP about its
potential ballot questions?
If he took a GOP ballot in the
primary, Mr. Hall had the opportunity to voice an opinion about
these important issues, so what’s his real complaint? He said
our consolidation question was “loaded,” so apparently he would
have preferred a different slant to that question. Our question
reflected the view of all PCRP members - including all local
elected officials on the 2008 GOP ballot - who expressed an
opinion about that question.
Or maybe Mr. Hall would have
preferred that we ignore the consolidation issue altogether. The
mayor said no one on council would even “entertain”
consolidation. He said consolidation won’t benefit Putnam
residents who live within the city limits, but what is his
position based on? Consolidation of Putnam County’s two
governments will save money by reducing the size of government
and eliminating duplication of taxpayer-funded services. More
than 74% of voters taking a GOP ballot, some of whom are city
residents, favor looking into consolidation.
Commissioner Foster expressed
the appropriate attitude for an elected official - listen to the
voters and consider their opinions. In these tough economic
times, taxpayers shouldn’t be denied a chance to reduce the cost
of government just because some public officials may worry about
the effect of consolidation on themselves. Now that would be a
“disgrace.”
Dorothy J. Adams
Chairman, Putnam County Republican Party
