Cryptical Envelopment
A simple question has been asked of me. My policy for the ten years that I have held office has been to try to answer legitimate questions in a straight forward, unvarnished manner. In this instance, because I consider the question "in bounds", I'm going to answer it. However, because the complete answer wouldn't change anything and might do more harm than good, I'm going to be deliberately ambiguous and say less than I know. Stated differently, I think the public is entitled to an answer, but it serves no purpose to pick at a scab.
The question was whether I was facing an ouster action recently. The answer is this: I have it on good authority that in the wake of Joe Williams' separation from the City, there were one or more people who wanted rid of me, or at least wanted to see me penalized, politically and/or professionally, whatever they could get.
Nothing has or will come of this nonsense. Subsequent actions have (largely) made moot this ill-fated initiative.
Have at it.
posted by Alderman Dana McLendon at 7:03 PM
27 Comments:
That's all most of us are asking for Dana.
Good, open, and honest response with thoughtful dialogue.
I tend to call it a beacon of hope.
I am not, unfortunately, the least bit surprised at hearing of a personal vendetta against you.
In Franklin, DIRT is King...the kind of DIRT you develop...the kind of DIRT that self-aggrandising politicians sling at each other...the DIRTY way that politics and business in Franklin are run...the DIRT that supports the rocks that most of the public officials in this town climbed out from under...you get the picture.
I am tempted to say something like hang in there, Dana - it's hard to keep a good man down - but in Franklin, it's ALL about keeping the good folks down, while the DIRTY ones trample over the tax paying public, wine glass/beer mug in hand.
This is a litigious society. You are an attorney. Should there be grounds...use them to your advantage. Somebody needs to give those jerks some "schooling".
Does the city attorney's office REALLY have the legal authority to oust one of their bosses? They're only considered the same as a director of a department in the city organization. Shouldn't ouster be undertaken by another authority, one with authority?
Wow, just WOW! The problem is 3/4 of Franklin finds themselves ignorantly appeased with the simple joy of a Franklin address. There is no Value in Franklin anymore. You can not get anywhere when you need to because there are thousands more people in Franklin and only a few miles of additional roads city wide to accommodate them. Development quality is down, prices are going up and the poor folks that sold their sole to live here found out they bit off more than they can chew but can not sell their homes. And it all starts with the good ole buddy system downtown where the figure heads get elected, talk tough and then bow down when it is between quality of life for citizens or profit for developers. And now it seems the only folks that stood up for the citizens of Franklin keep having to fight to stay in office. Hell in a handbag I tell ya!
It is my understanding that the city attorney is one of the offices vested by statute with the responsibility to commence ouster proceedings if the circumstances warrant. The city attorney might be obliged upon receipt of information to at least investigate. If an investigation reveals a basis, the city attorney is then under a duty to file an ouster. Once the ouster is commenced, the court decides whether there is sufficient proof to justify removal. In my case, it was not the city attorney who initiated, or tried to initiate, an ouster.
I'll grant you that this arrangement creates the possibility for abuse, but I suppose it is better to have a process to remove people from office which permits abuse than to have no such process and then have to suffer abuse by an elected official immune from ouster.
From the outside looking in you were attempting to spare the city from yet another expensive, protracted, public lawsuit. You stood up to (cervat emptor) Jay Johnson for dropping the guilotine before all the facts were in. This was viewed by many as a turning point in returning BOMA to power in running the city.
Do not get discouraged,(we need you) Remember what we learned last October, people do care and the next election will reiterate this clearly.
Thanks for your kind words.
I'm still thinking Mayor.
Maybe Ernie "I will Destroy You" Bacon. He has one notch already..
Taylor's you have hit it on the head.
Dana I was in your ancestral stomping grounds of Mount Pleasant SC last week. It was the first time I have been back in about 5 years. It is quite different. What I remembered as a well landscaped town now seems overgrown, almost claustrophobic. I don't know if it is because we lived there after Hugo, and the vegetation was on the mend, or if all these years of no significant storms have caused everything to grow wildly. I was afraid going back I would miss it, and regret our decision to leave. But the traffic and new development I saw made me not regret our decision. I have always thought though that Franklin and Mount Pleasant were very similar, and I hope I don't see the same thing happen here.
Kid's sports take a lot of time, especially if you are a volunteer in addition to a parent. Life is definitely a juggle sometimes. Keep it up. Thanks for the post.
PS This is franklinbootgirl. I can't post correctly for some reason...
That is just amazing. Being an elected official in Franklin has got to be the only job where you get praised for not showing up for work instead of getting your a__ fired!
A guy takes some time off to be with his kids over the summer and that somehow is going to change the makeup of the vote for the budget???
Dont fool yourself.
After the number of years Mclendon has served there will be inevitably some missed meetings.
Get over it.
9:00 it's not like the people that DID show up did anything of value besides put you and me on the hook for more money.
Don't fool yourself. Anyone who has worked with McLendon, elected or not, knows he does diddly squat. He's got the worst attendance record of any elected official for the last several years. He occasionally pontificates on camera for a good 20 mins.
Sorry but Mclendon is one of the best aldermen we have. The fact they went after him to oust him only proves that if you are trying to do the right thing they will try and get you any way they can.
Keep up the good work Dana!!!
The only person pontificating aroud here is Barnhill with his double tongued DUI speech from the pulpit. Theres bull hockey coming out of both ends. Only his frineds are allowed to drive drunk.
There were 3 aldermen missing from the budget vote. At least one of them has the guts to put up a page. What th excuse from the other 2?
I guess I'm guilty of letting this trickle out, but I want to eliminate any confusion about this. It was not an elected official who attempted to initiate ouster or professional sanctions against me.
If anyone needs me tonight, tomorrow night or Saturday, go to Jim Warren Park and wait. I'll be there soon.
Dana the last person who has to explain theirself is you.
The ouster stuff, who cares, its overwith.
The only outcome is that those people only showed what they were really made of.
Forget all of that crap and enjoy the ball park.
I'm still thinking Mayor.
wetmore or JJ is my vote
Just a general comment regarding the state of the budget.
It's a shame that the police department has to give up all of its new cars next year. Especially when there's several approaching 9 years old with over 100,000 miles on them that sound like they're about to fall apart. It's probably a good thing that they're so short staffed, otherwise there wouldn't be enough cars even with the junky loaners they keep around.
I could go on about the wasteful millions spent on other projects and other ridiculous cuts, but what's the point really...
7:27 you get the police and firemen behind the right people next election instead of those stupid question sheets and you might be surprised who will go to bat for you. Otherwise shut up. Maybe you should give a ticket to one of the drunks leaving carnton mansion next time to make your point. Otherwise shut up again. I dont care if the police are riding horses by the time this is all done if they arent going to do any thing.
While I appreciate your eloquently stated rebuttal of "shut up", I should point out that the police department does not currently "get behind" anyone in the elections nor does it hand out questionnaires. You may wish to differentiate between those vehicles that have blue lights versus those that have red lights.
And, assuming you live in Franklin, you may appreciate cars more than horses if it's you or your family who needs assistance quickly in the future. Though horses may not break down in the middle of the road on the way to a call, I doubt that they can trot across the city with the same speed when you need them.
Yaaawwwwn. Oh, excuse me. I got sleepy when I read the same old "drunks at Carnton" argument that gets brought up (probably by you) repeatedly. Your lack of knowledge about who gets arrested in this city renders your argument moot and undeserving of a reply (by the way, you get arrested if you're drunk...not a ticket).
well, the police that are without vehicles could always hitch a ride on the trolley. Put a blue light on top and you are good to go
That would increase trolly occupancy by 10,000%.
5:40 I'm still LMFAO!!!
The truth can be funniest of things!!
Come on Dana although Ive enjoyed the tit for tat above give us a good insightful post that tells us something about the city and what problems you perceive and what needs to be done to fix them.
I have been following the Joe williams case on PACER for sometime. Recently, a protective order was entered by all parties due to some items uncovered in the discovery process. What was uncovered appears to be "porn" on the other defendants computers. Guess Joe was correct, it was SPAM..
So how much will a jury award???? Hope all defendants have "deep pockets"
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