News-Record.com

It's always easy to criticize Skip Alston, but other commissioners are responsible for giving him the power he wields in such an autocratic fashion.

Now there's some turmoil over the elevation of human resources director Sharisse Fuller to the position of assistant county manager, in addition to her former job, with a big pay increase.

Nothing against Fuller, who's a very capable woman, but when Ben Brown was pressured to resign as assistant county manager back in December, after county manager David McNeill was forced out, Alston essentially presented the action as a budget move, saying the acm position was being eliminated.

He claimed he had the support of a majority of commissioners.

That was then. Now there aren't six commissioners who will admit to backing Alston.

He's adamant: "I know what I had. You can second-guess it six months later; I said what I had, and that's what I had."

The fact is, he had nothing ... on record. There were no public discussions, no official votes.

There were Alston and vice chairman Steve Arnold making big leadership changes -- they chased county attorney Sharron Kurtz, too -- supposedly backed by a silent majority.

Some saw a scheme from the beginning (see Allen's post about Alston and Arnold's 10-step plan. As he notes, they've just reached Step 9.)

It looks like Guilford County is under two-man rule, but of course that wouldn't be possible without the aquiescence of at least four other commissioners. If they weren't on board for any of Steps 1-8, why didn't they speak up? Waiting until Step 9 to say, "Wait a minute, I didn't go along with that," is a bit late.

Alston, particularly, has been acting in the name of this silent majority for six months. Did the voters of Guilford County really elect their own commissioners with the intent that Skip Alston would speak for them? How many districts actually would elect Alston, or Arnold for that matter?

Next election, voters would be wise to choose representatives who will speak for themselves.