The state has whistleblower laws that protect people when they report waste, corruption, or political patronage.
When the director of the Ferry Service in North Carolina reported some of these problems, he was fired. Now he is using the whistleblower laws to try to correct the wrong that he and many in North Carolina perceive was done to him.
This got me to thinking that maybe elected officials could use a little whistleblower protection.
Let’s look at the background:
About three years ago, the City Council underwent a major upheaval because Bobby Gupton, Lynn Harper, Ranger Wilkerson, and I did not mind blowing the whistle.
Bobby Gupton took the unfair practice of taxation for the joint ventures head-on. He blew the whistle on many inequalities to the city taxpayer. He attended civic events, wrote position papers, did research, made PowerPoint presentations, and did a grand job of educating the public. He got people’s attention. For all his whistleblowing, he was voted out of office.
Lynn Harper took on the business practices of the city and she did a wonderful job of uncovering the bad business practices. Under her mentoring, unbudgeted money could no longer be spent and budget transfers did not take place until after there was council approval along with the proper budget amendments. Bidding was re-instated, and the bottom line was watched carefully. Contracts became sound, and the city tightened the purse strings. The reserve grew, taxes were not increased, and the pilfering of city property stopped. For all of her great business sense, corrective actions and whistleblowing about our public business and the spending of our tax money, she was voted out of office.
Ranger Wilkerson questioned the nuts and bolts of city business. He asked questions like why firefighters were not getting enough training hours to qualify Henderson for lower insurance rates. He asked if the city really needed to plan for an additional fire station. He wondered if we really needed the expense of a new snorkel truck when we already had one. He asked why there were so many miles being put on the recreation vehicles. Perhaps the most incisive question of all that Ranger asked was others couldn’t see the blighted and dilapidated houses that need to be removed. For constantly blowing the whistle on common sense issues, he was voted out of office.
I took on water-related construction issues. Why were the engineering firms charging us so much money? Why did it take two groups of engineers to attend a Wilmington meeting? Why were the invoices from the engineers paid without documentation of work and ridiculous reports of hours worked? Why were plans drawn incorrectly? Why were we paying for things that could easily be obtained over the Internet? Why should we pay $60,000 for engineers to meet with our partners? Why were we looking at a water treatment expansion and IBT permit when our wastewater system was so antiquated? Why did the city not have an engineer to advise us? For blowing the whistle and raising these and other questions, I was voted out of office.
Given the events of the recent past, I can understand why the “New Direction” council went to ground. Committee meetings ended. The flow of information to the public was reduced to a trickle. At council meetings, everything was hunky-dory and everyone just agreed and co-operated. The sounds of whistles were not heard in the city.
The clock was turned back and things became shadowy once again. A cloud of smoke and mirrors covered the city. The whistles continued to be silenced. Taxes were raised. The reserve was depleted. Wheels spun, but nothing moved.
In short, the city went back to business as usual.
This is what it took for most of the council members to retain their seats.
But now we hear a small, nearly inaudible whistle giving a weak signal toward rectifying the double-taxation of jointly funded programs with Vance County. Listen closely, because that tiny note can stop at any time. After all, it only takes lies, money and hubris to silence these whistles, and there are plenty of lies, money, and hubris in this city.
Stay tuned.