Home > Gwinnett > Rick Badie / My Opinion > Archives > 2006 > June > 20
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
What happens in Vegas sure does reek in Gwinnett
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Man, leave town for a few days and all hell breaks out.
Well, I’m back.
So let me delve right into the political fray, starting with Las Vegas Ken. In March, Gwinnett County Commissioner Kevin Kenerly took a six-day trip to Las Vegas. He spent more than $26,000 to bring his family, friends and lawyer along. He has provided statements and records that show he paid his own way. Who paid isn’t the issue, though.
In the South, we’re used to government and big business co-existing cozily, almost incestuously. It’s practically unavoidable in places like Gwinnett where good ole boys — and those smart enough to keep one foot in the network — reign supreme.
You know how it goes. Commissioner “A” went to school with Developer “B.” Maybe they’re kin. They might be deacons in the same church. Sons and daughters play the same sports and date each other. All these things, generally, are circumstances and situations residents have learned to live with, to accept.
Then something alarming turns up. Like Kenerly’s trip.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with Kenerly’s treating family and friends to a vacation. To our knowledge, nothing illegal transpired. The developers apparently traveled to Vegas independently of Kenerly. They just happened to book the same week in March that Kenerly chose to gamble in the Caesars Palace casino.
Yeah, right.
Seeing video footage of a Gwinnett commissioner gambling alongside local developers doesn’t make for a pretty postcard. It gets one’s mind to racing and thinking sordid stories. It paints a picture of impropriety, even when it’s nonexistent. It portrays a developer-official snugness and smugness exclusive of average people and their concerns.
How could you think differently?
What kills me, though, is this worn-out explanation we get fed when elected officials are busted with poker chips in hand.
“I paid my own way,” they all say to silence critics.
It’s what Charles Bannister, our county commission chairman, said in February 2005 after he joined developers on a gambling excursion to the Golden Moon Hotel & Casino in Philadelphia, Miss. The trip had been organized by Precision Planning, a Lawrenceville-based engineering and architectural firm that had done work for the county.
Bannister, who had been in office one month, said he paid for his travel, lodging and meals.
It doesn’t matter. Participating still shows poor judgment, arrogance and abuse of a privilege bestowed upon office-holders whom we elect.
Las Vegas Ken, who faces two challengers in the July 18 primary, told AJC Gwinnett News reporter Ben Smith that the developers shown in the video didn’t pay for his hotel room, gambling, meals or other vacation expenses. He also said he lost $10,000 gambling. Chump change for a high roller.
Voters should ask themselves a question:
How much do you stand to gain by returning this man to office?
