EDITORIAL: Dougherty Commission lurks in shadows in hiring administrator

It’s time for the Dougherty County Commission to let some sunshine fall on its selection process for a new county administrator.

Hiding behind a questionable — at best — interpretation of the Georgia Sunshine Law, the Dougherty County Commission, or at least a majority of the board, have decided that they do not want the people who pay the taxes in the county and the people who voted them into office to know who the finalists are for the county administrator position.

This sort of thing happens all too frequently when elected officials, particularly those who don’t like to be second-guessed, look for ways to skirt around good government practices, usually for reasons that end up being self-serving.

The excuse that the commission is looking out for the best interests of the candidates for the job is a misplacement of priorities of the highest magnitude. What that is saying is the elected official who takes that position is placing more value on a job candidate than on his or her constituents. The best interests they should be looking out for — that they have professed to looking out for — are the interests of the citizens of Dougherty County, not an individual who may or may not someday become a part of the county government.

Also, when you are a public employee, you should realize that the people hiring you have important obligations to their constituents. If they’re not going to stand up for the people who voted them into office, as a prospective employee, there’s no reason to believe they’ll be open and honest with you either.

Admittedly, it’s easier this way, at least for the insecure and insincere politician. It’s hard to tell whether the best man or woman was hired if you make certain that no one who can criticize you has the faintest idea as to whom the other choices were.

One big problem is nature abhors a vacuum, and there’s no place more natural for that vacuum to be filled than the political sphere. Already there are rumors swirling in the Dougherty County community that the fix is in to ensure that one candidate in particular’s name doesn’t see the light of day. If that’s the case, then the commissioners who are taking this low road are placing themselves, their fellow commissioners and the county at potential risk. If it’s not the case, those commissioners who are said to be at the center of this untoward tactic have no one to blame but themselves, since it’s developed because of their secrecy and disdain for the public’s right to know.

If the County Commission wants to stand by this notion that it can’t release the names of the four finalists because of its flawed interpretation of the state Sunshine Law, then it should narrow the field to three and comply with the law. To do otherwise is to blatantly disregard the people who will have to live by whatever decision a commission majority makes. If it doesn’t do the right thing, then this commission has failed in the execution of its most basic duty — conducting good government in the open and with the needs and interests of its constituents clearly at the forefront.