June 27th / 29th, 2008
"Time to Reign In Government Bullies"
“Time to Reign-in Government Bullies”
Earlier this year, State lawmakers introduced a bill that would require
local school districts to stop bullies from terrorizing their victims. What
they failed to do is introduce a bill that would extend that edict to local
governing boards. That’s because bullies come in all sizes and ages, and the
worst of them aren’t found on school grounds. Right now, for example, the
biggest bully in Forsyth County is Commissioner Ted Kaplan.
He has bullied his fellow Commissioners. He has bullied his colleagues on
the Tourism Advisory Board. He has bullied TDA staff. And, most of all, he
has bullied the President of the TDA, Bob McCoy.
Finally, after months of threats and abuse, McCoy has decided to take a
medical leave of absence rather than endure one more moment of harassment by
Kaplan.
McCoy who underwent a liver transplant less than two years ago, had bounced
back from the operation and managed to bring millions of tourism dollars into
Forsyth County. His fourteen-year record of administration is spotless,
and his file is bulging with letters of thanks and support from all over the
country.
But neither he nor his doctors ever imagined that McCoy would have to return
to work and endure a barrage of bullying and harassment day in and day out.
After all, why would anyone in his right mind attack Bob for doing a superb
job? And why would any governing body or advisory board stand by and allow a
bully to operate with a free hand?
Kaplan’s motivations now seem to have been personal because as soon as McCoy
announced the medical leave, Kaplan backed off his threats to seek an end to
the local hotel occupancy tax which funds tourism marketing. Some insiders
speculate that Kaplan will soon bully the TDA Board into naming a new
President who will bow to Ted’s every wish. That would be a mistake.
In the meantime, County Commissioner Walter Marshall is none too happy with
possible abuses of power that have occurred, and could continue to occur.
Following last week’s briefing session, the Winston-Salem Journal reported
Marshall as saying that proposals for changing TDA’s operations should come from
the authority’s board, and not one member (Kaplan) who is also a county
commissioner. Said Marshall, “I don’t think we need elected officials sitting on
(the TDA) board”.
Clearly, Kaplan’s recent strong-arm tactics were not only an abuse of power,
but they unnecessarily stained the reputation of McCoy and his fine staff,
and led to the TDA President having to take medical leave so that he and this entire
mess could enjoy a much-needed rest from the limelight.
At some point, though, Forsyth County and the TDA Board need to heed
Commissioner Marshall’s warning about abuses of power, and then act on them
accordingly. A summit should be held between the commissioners and the TDA board
(and staff) in which the goal would be to initiate reforms that would guard
against the kind of one-man crusade that caused so much damage.
The summit should be held immediately upon Mr. McCoy’s return to work, and
the facilitator should be a neutral party who is well respected (Mayor
Joines, Sheriff Schatzman, WSSU Chancellor Reaves are possibilities).
Hopefully the joint gathering will prove cathartic for attendees, and result
in their coming away with a unified purpose, which includes embracing Mr.
Marshall’s concerns by removing all elected officials from the TDA board.
This would signal to Kaplan that his days of bullying are over, and that
cooler heads can prevail.
If, however, the summit produces no results, and if County Commissioners and
TDA Board members are still afraid to stand up to Kaplan, then the Mayor
should appoint a School Resource Officer to patrol the halls of government and
expel anyone caught bullying.
Short of that, we’ll just wait for State legislators to pass an
anti-bullying law.
I only hope they make it retro-active.
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