Temple Mayor says challenger got the facts wrong
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Lester Harmon, who is running against Ford in the race and is a former Temple mayor himself, told the Times-Georgian in late September that since he left office in 2005, Ford — who was elected that year and took office in January of 2006 — has squandered a $3.6 million cash reserve. Harmon also makes the claim in his campaign literature. In a pamphlet titled “Vote Lester Harmon for Mayor” he says, “When I left office in December of 2005 the city of Temple had 3.6 million dollars in the bank. Yet four years later, the funds are not available to purchase necessities such as WARRS radios.”
According to Ford and recent budget numbers, Harmon’s statement is incorrect.
The city is actually operating with a similar cash reserve as it had when Harmon left office. At the end of 2008, the city had $3.1 million in its cash line item. The year before, the city had $3.5 million in its cash reserve, and in 2006, the cash reserve topped $3.2 million.
Harmon said he based his statement in his campaign literature on the fact that the city sold a trailer that was serving as a DUI command center to help pay for the emergency WARRS radio system, and he admitted he had not looked at any of the actual budgetary data from the city in recent years.
“I don’t have access to all of that,” he said. “I was only speaking about what was there when I left office, and that’s all.”
City budget documents are public information and can be obtained by any citizen for a small fee.
While the initial amount budgeted for a WARRS system in the Police Department’s budget was spent almost in its entirety by the former police chief, the city did also budget for it in the most recent special purpose local option sales tax, Ford said. While there was enough money to fund the project entirely with SPLOST dollars, Ford said the decision was made to sell the trailer to free up additional SPLOST funding for other projects, not because financing of the WARRS system would have been otherwise impossible.
Harmon’s claim in the Sept. 30 issue of the Times-Georgian that the Temple police budget had skyrocketed by 50 percent since he left office is also inaccurate. In that time, the budget has increased from $785,900 to $846,365, an increase of less than 10 percent.
Harmon’s campaign literature also says he was not guilty of a past ethics complaint.
Yet, he did in 2002 sign a consent order acknowledging that he had incorrectly filed a campaign contributions disclosure report. He paid $850 in penalties as part of the consent order.
While that’s true, Harmon said he has faced a number of ethics complaints since then, and all but one have been dropped or dismissed.
Temple should post on Craigslist: 'Free Place to Dump your Dirt and Trash!" No matter what you have to dump: Dirt, Trash, Limbs, Permits, Beer Bottles, Employees that disagree, employees that have integrity, etc... You can dump it here. Our water boy ran Public Works Dept will even send out our backhoe and dump truck at the taxpayer's expense. No need to worry with that pesky blame thing or taking responsibility for your own actions. Our boss, the Teflon Don, will see to it that you have plausible deniability and that you can claim "political extortion!" We are located on I-20, just look for the GBI vehicles lined up along with the news vans. Contact "Rick" @ ##########"
Come on citizens of Temple - wake up and get rid of these crooks! Ford could care less about the future of Temple - he is ALL FOR SELF!
It is http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/news/iteam/I_Team_Temple_Tape_101609
Anyone with half a brain can figure out what is going on. If the worst thing I did was get some facts wrong regarding some numbers, it's hell of alot better than being on the news three times in less than one year and being part of a GBI investigation. Really weak last minute effort to use an article in the paper to try to sway a few votes. Dont think Randy Travis will come do an I-Team for that. What news, challenger admits to having incorrect information regarding the budget. Woopty do... At least Harmon has the BALLS to admit when he is wrong. Ever hear FORD tell the truth? Its always we could have done this better or that is simply not true. FORD is the biggest joke for a Mayor, ever. I think everyone hates him, except a few people who actually believe his lies. No politician is perfect, but come on people, take the risk and drink the cup of water with the lint in it.