Thursday, December 04, 2008
Roanoke piled high in public scandals
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Shanna Flowers is The Roanoke Times' metro columnist.
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Is Roanoke becoming the most scandal-plagued city in Virginia?
Sure, we're not Chicago or even Detroit, where the former mayor is behind bars.
But six scandals in six years that touch on sex, politics, procurement and conflicts of interest make you wonder: Is there any other municipality in Virginia that's worse?
The latest investigation centers on possible bid-rigging at Valley Metro. Police are delving into whether a manager steered business to his wife's interior design business. No one has been charged, but the manager and procurement director have been suspended.
"It's another mess," Vice Mayor Sherman Lea said. "It's another black eye for the city."
This is merely the latest in a string of "messes" that have erupted in recent years.
n In 2002, the city's municipal auditor discovered a bid-fabricating scheme within the school division's building maintenance and operations department. A former school employee received probation.
n In 2005, a sheriff's deputy filed (and ultimately won) a lurid sexual harassment lawsuit that pulled the cloak off the unseemly behavior of former Sheriff George McMillan, whom the voters fired.
n In 2006, the feds came down hard on the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority for improper bidding of public contracts and conflicts of interest. The authority had to return more than $440,000 to the federal government.
n Early this year, Alfred Dowe resigned from the city council amid questions about expenses related to city business. He has repaid taxpayers nearly $6,000, and his actions are under investigation.
n Monday, a grand jury charged former Councilman Brian Wishneff with breaking state campaign finance laws by orchestrating a campaign ad in which he used a fake name.
A day later, the Valley Metro investigation hit the headlines. At this point, it's unclear how far that scandal will go.
I don't know what, if anything, these incidents suggest about Roanoke. But one thing that's abundantly clear is that such episodes fuel distrust of government and its institutions.
What's telling is that the allegations of misconduct have been directed at managers, administrators and elected officials.
In other words, bad things are happening at multiple levels of government.
If there's good news here, it's that few if any of the scandals above involved pervasive corruption. City hall is not full of cheats and thieves. The vast majority of city employees are public servants who deserve our respect.
But the bad news is, it keeps happening.
Every time a cozy relationship benefits an insider, or an elected official uses the public till for his pocket change, or somebody abuses power at another person's expense, the public's distrust grows.
And they wonder: What will be uncovered next?
