You would think that the rhetoric between presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton would be enough political theater to last us all for some time. But anyone wanting to binge or cringe some more can follow the drama on the Fayette County Board of Commissioners.
Ongoing tensions between David Barlow and Steve Brown escalated in January 2015 when Brown was voted out of the chairman’s chair in favor of Charles Oddo. As the county’s district voting lawsuit with the local NAACP dragged on, Brown took issue with Facebook posts in which Barlow made disparaging remarks about African Americans and “Demoncrats” (Brown’s wife is African-American). Barlow denied he was being racist, citing his friendship with then-commissioner and now-deceased Pota Coston, who was a black Democrat (as is her successor, Charles Rousseau).
Barlow accuses Brown of bad-mouthed blogging on social media sites under pseudonyms, which Brown has repeatedly denied and Barlow has never substantiated. Barlow once claimed during a commission meeting that a psychiatrist he knew “said he had been observing Commissioner Brown for a number of years, and he said [Brown] is the classic example of a narcissistic, egotistical individual.”
In August 2015, amid accusations of “backdoor dealings” regarding matters being brought before the commission, Oddo said, “If you’re going to make a statement, Commissioner Brown, back it up now. If you’re not going to back it up, don’t put this trash in public.”
Brown, and occasionally other members, airs grievances in lengthy letters to the editor of The Citizen newspaper – comments that inevitably make their way back into formal meetings regarding who’s saying what about whom outside of official channels.
Randy Ognio stays mostly out of the verbal fray even though he often votes with Brown, but the conflicts among the other three GOP members persist. County Manager Steve Rapson, and sometimes County Attorney Dennis Davenport, get pulled into repeated controversies regarding policies and procedures.
Barlow and Brown tussled again at the June 30 meeting, which involved a pointed back-and-forth regarding a pay study for county employees and raises for certain individuals. As the meeting adjourned, Barlow shouted to Brown, “You’re an absolutely miserable human being.”
A lengthy debate about a Hospital Authority appointment turned the Aug. 25 meeting into a four-hour marathon. Oddo called Brown’s comments “a thinly-veiled personal attack on my character.”
The county should invest in massage chairs if they expect residents to sit through this wordy warfare. However, that night’s fusillade prompted Rousseau to suggest a different solution.
“As a family, we are at a tipping point,” he said. “This core body needs to come to grips with where we are with our professional and our personal relationships …. A ‘come to Jesus’ session is in order.” Rousseau volunteered to draft a proposal to enlist a sociologist or psychologist for a board retreat. Brown, perhaps only half-jokingly, suggested a zoologist.
Election Day will determine who replaces Barlow; neither Oddo nor Ognio has a Democratic opponent, so their re-election is guaranteed. The days after that will determine if Fayette’s primary governing body can function without self-destructing.
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