This week's column: Swimming with the sharks
County managers don't last beyond one election in Guilford County! ... Guilford County politics is rough!"
— Anonymous e-mail sent to a county manager finalist in 1993
In one of the more ironic quotes of the year, County Commissioner Skip Alston lamented last week that "you don't play politics with people's livelihood."
Alston was referring to the successful gambit last week by a coalition of Democrats and Republicans to fire County Manager Willie Best, which he characterized as dirty pool, motivated by racism, revenge and political ambition.
Best was the first African American county manager in Guilford County.
Yet Alston seems to forget that it wasn't too long ago that he was playing a similar game of hardball with County Tax Director Jenks Crayton.
That was different, Alston said, when reminded of his concerted efforts to fire Crayton, which included charges of racism and culminated in an SBI investigation — that found nothing.
"He was not doing his job," Alston insisted. "It's documented."
Then there were the firings over the years of county managers John Witherspoon, Hector Rivera and Brenda Jones (who survived all of 16 months), not to mention attempted firings of former County Attorney Jonathan Maxwell, who is now retired.
Of course, Alston's short memory about the county leaders' clumsy managing of personnel matters does not make the Best debacle right.
And it does not excuse the commissioners' decision to give Best a raise, then give him the heave-ho.
The major complaints against Best were mainly anecdotal or vague: He was not aggressive enough. Interestingly, when Rivera was fired in 1996, he was deemed too aggressive.
This isn't to say that Best shouldn't have been fired. It's hard to tell, given the conflicting reports of closed-door discussions from commissioners.
But it seems obvious that the process was unfair to Best and the taxpayers.
For instance, Alston alleged that the machinations to oust Best were entangled with deals, alliances and power grabs.
He accused his fellow Democrat, Paul Gibson, of conspiring with Democrats Kay Cashion and Kirk Perkins and the four Republican commissioners to fire Best out of anger that Gibson was not elected chairman of the commissioners.
"It's all about Paul, all about race and all about payback," he said.
Gibson fired back: "I don't care if I'm never chairman."
Meanwhile, Perkins said the county needed a more dynamic, take-charge CEO and Best was not that type of person.
He added: "County managers serve at the pleasure of the commissioners."
He's right. County managers know it's their vocation to swim with the sharks.
That's why they usually negotiate generous severance packages as part of their contracts. No matter how good a job you may think you're doing, you might be only an election away from the unemployment line.
But the Best episode is beyond ridiculous and only adds another reel to the fast-growing archive of Guilford County Follies.
"We must find a way to work together and do so in a respectful manner," Gibson said in a prepared statement Thursday night.
They're still looking.
Last week's meeting was possibly the most painful and most disheartening. Ever.
"It got totally out of hand tonight and I'm ashamed of it," said Republican Linda Shaw, who voted to fire Best but argued he should have been treated better.
Later that night, Mecklenburg County Manager Harry Jones, a good friend of Best's, joked over a beer that all you had to do if you're recruiting for a prospective new company against Guilford County is just "send 'em a tape of the Guilford commissioners."
Best added that he'd once told an old friend, Hector Rivera, that he was coming to work in Guilford County.
"You'll get fired," Best says Rivera told him.
"I thought he was joking."
Comments (13)
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"For instance, Alston alleged that the machinations to oust Best were entangled with deals, alliances and power grabs."
But isn't that the very nature of local politics?
I'm not surprised at the mechanics of it, but the "public display of disaffection" last week was pretty ugly.
Posted on July 2, 2006 9:55 AM
Just curious - has Guilford County ever had a female county manager?
Posted on July 2, 2006 7:03 PM
Allen watch your self,Skip may get mad at you.
Posted on July 2, 2006 9:19 PM
I spent the better part of an hour Sunday night listening to the audio of the commissioner's meeting and came away disgusted at the empty rhetoric of Alston, Davis and Coleman.
I am not a resident of your fine county, but knowing the racial history of Greensboro and Guilford County, find myself lured in to the continued divisions of your community at a time when so many other places large and small have found ways to come together and work toward building community.
Alston, Coleman and Davis showed their true colors during that meeting. First, Alston went straight at Mr. Yow to pull out the worst in a volatile personality. Alston then attacked Mr. Gibson with innuendo and smears that in no way could he back up, and then turned on Cashion with the same.
My question is who died and made Skip Alston so smart that he can read every motive and instinct and then parry denials with even vaguer rhetoric and smear?
That man is a disgrace to your county and the black community he claims to represent. He used such blanket terms as "we this" and "we that" as if he could possibly represent the thoughts of every black in Guilford County.
Given the consensus of opinion on Mr. Davis, I will not comment on his actions. Ms. Coleman displayed the weakest rhetoric of the three with her closing statement and continued baiting of Mr. Yow. The sad truth is that politicians who lack a true progressive agenda for the people must rely on fear, uncertainty and doubt to justify their service on a body politic. When someone uses the term "hi-tech lynching" to describe a series of political actions, their mind is truly devoid of capacity for logic and any credible ability to shape public policy.
The final observations I will make regarding the audio is that Arnold and Gibson came across as true statesmen. I have a renewed respect for Steve Arnold and thought he acted as a pure diplomat. When, in reserved tones, he called Alston's accusations "a damnable lie", the conversation should have stopped. Mr. Yow would be wise to remain quiet when the I-Threes attack him. Their allegiance to empty race baiting discredits them so badly that Yow only repairs the damage when he opens his mouth.
Lastly, I do not understand what goals Guilford County leaders hope to attain by destroying the race relations in your city in the ways observed during the David Wray/James Hinson saga, the reopening of the cataclysmic wound that is Nov. 3, 1979, and the continued toleration of the attempts by Skip Alston, et al, to divide the community along racial lines. It does serve to make many of us glad the only time and money we spend in your county is on our short trips to the Friendly Center or the Coliseum, leaving the sad divisions and lingering malice between the races in your county behind like a plague on both your houses.
So many of us in other communities live and work together, watch our children play together and learn together, hold the door for each other and let each other in to a long line of traffic, while in Guilford County mastodons of a by gone era continue to cling to fear and mistrust.
Posted on July 3, 2006 1:31 PM
Race politics gets people elected, keeps them there, and gets 'em paid. Fat chance it will be going away soon.
Posted on July 3, 2006 2:21 PM
Well said, Allen and Jeff.
It's WAY past time for Skip and Entourage to drop the "Agenda First" attitude, and act as if they have the best interest of Guilford County as a whole for their primary concern.
Posted on July 3, 2006 8:10 PM
The non-thinking led like sheep voters in their districts keep putting Alston-Davis-Coleman back in office. It is so sad that these people who vote for egocentric haters and racists can not seem to understand how much harm these people are doing our city and county. The city council has it's share of these divisionists also. And, Mr. Sykes we are embarrassed by our representatives. All that you said is so true, and more.
Posted on July 5, 2006 12:01 PM
Would you add Billy Yow's voters to that list?
Posted on July 5, 2006 12:11 PM
At least Billy almost got booted out as a commissioner in 2004 as a result of many of his prior supporters sending him a message that he needs to mature and stop acting childish (t-shirt issue, etc.)by voting for the other guy.
I don't see the Alston & Davis voting bloc sending them a message as a result of their poor behavior and habit of playing the race card against anyone who might challenge or disagree with them.
Posted on July 6, 2006 2:24 PM
Good point. Their districts have done a poor job of mustering serious competition, if any at all.
Of course, by all rights, Yow should have been booted, based on his performance and the quality and experience of his opponent.
Posted on July 6, 2006 2:34 PM
Yes, Billy should have been booted in 2004 as a result of many of us in this district feeling his behavior was unbecoming and had been embarrassed and letdown by the juvenile behavior of our elected county representative.
I will say this, as a result of the closeness of the contest, Billy was sent a message loud and clear that that type of behavior wasn't going to be tolerated anymore and I do believe his behavior had improved, until.....this recent tirade by Billy, though primarily instigated by Skip who relishes pushing Billy's hot buttons, reminded us of the pre-Nov 2004 Billy.
Old habits are hard to change. Well, there's always 2008.
Posted on July 6, 2006 4:21 PM
Yup. I'm not all that hopeful, but who knows?
Posted on July 6, 2006 4:29 PM
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Posted on November 7, 2006 11:27 AM