red-faced and red-handed County Mayor Ernest Burgess
Republican County Major Ernest Burgess told the DNJ he doesn’t have to tell tax payers how much of their money he spent on a secret land deal made as part of a settlement with a Rockvale land owner.
Mayor Burgess is the latest in a growing list of local Republican politicians who have been caught breaking the law to serve their own private interests while using tax money.
Mayor Burgess can either uphold the law and come clean with the people he was hired to serve, or he can do it the hard way.
The county has apparently agreed to buy 1.7 acres in the Rockvale community to settle a lawsuit filed by a couple whose rezoning request was rejected by the county a few years ago. According to Burgess, the settlement terms are confidential, meaning taxpayers are left in the dark about how much money they paid for this piece of property.
We believe this is a clear violation of the state’s open records laws, and even if it isn’t, as a matter of principle, it flies against this nation’s bedrock concept of transparent and accountable government. Simply put, taxpayers have a right to know how government is spending their money.
Besides, Rick Hollow, legal counsel for the Tennessee Press Association and a noted authority on state open records law, told The DNJ that a Tennessee Attorney General determined in the 1990s that a confidential agreement is void if it pertains to withholding public records.
“The expenditure of public funds is public business,” Hollow said. “An agreement to withhold information from the public is unenforceable.”
Safe to assume that Ernie’s office will be flodded with calls demanding an explanation?
Here’s his number at the courthouse. I called:
(615) 898-7745
anyone know his cell?
here’s his official email: countymayor@rutherfordcounty.org
Here’s his home number:
(615) 896-1061
You can get more done making a formal open records request. If the DNJ did that, they would have reported that they have made a request. It is up to those who want an accountable government to use the tools available to you to demand it. If you want criminals and partisan hacks to think twice about running for office here, demonstrate the buzz saw of justice that awaits them if they choose Rutherford County.
Sandra, formal requests take all the fun out of calling him up at night or leaving funny messages on the comments section of the newspaper. I wouldn’t know how to ask the government around for anything anyways. They would just hang up the phone or if I tried to fax them my note they would say it didn’t go through so I just give up. Can you do it?