An evening with Tommy Thompson | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

    Monday night (3-19-12) was a very special occasion. "An evening with Tommy Thompson". In fact it was so special that he was the only one on the program. Is there any other county employee that can command a exclusive audience with the County Commissioners? Probably for the first time since his hiring over 10 years ago, he was actually complying with the EDC By-laws - well at least partially. He got the date right, but blew it with his numbers and facts. Commissioner Richardson politely called Tommy's attention to his failure to meet some of the basics outlined in the EDC By-laws.

    I began to wonder if the EDC Board members ever read the by-laws. Probably not. Because it's obvious from the Annual EDC Budget that allocates 2/3 ($201,373)of the total budget to salaries and related employee costs to only 2 employees - Thompson, EDC Director and the Commission Finance Controller. (Both Tommy and the CFC hold the same offices with the Beaufort County Committee-100).

    Twenty-five percent ($77,738)of the Budget goes to support the Skills Center (owned by BCC-100) Rent, Maintenance and Utilities. The EDC Budget provides for upkeep of the Skills Center (which is not owned by the County), but failed to allocate maintenance funds for "Big Blue" which we do own. That leaves 10% ($30,329) to cover office supplies, phone and everyday items.

    Essentially not one penny is allocated in the specified line items for Client Development, Eng/Survey/Etc. Industry Recruitment, Equipt.Maintenance/Repair, Legal Advertising, Equipment Purchase, Utilities-EDC. Etc. In past years these were active EDC allocations. Today they are $ZERO$.

    It appears that the EDC Budget is devoted to making certain that Thompson's salary demands are met. Mr. Thompson serves at the pleasure of the EDC Board. They have the power to hold Thompson accountable, but don't expect that to happen anytime soon. Every EDC Board member is a member of the BCC-100. He serves two masters and is compensated by both the County and BCC-100. (more about that later)

    Throughout the show I looked around at the sea of faces and gray hair. I couldn't help but overhear several FOTs (Fans of Tommy) comment that they didn't know exactly why they were there. They were just answering the "call to arms" e-mail. I have witnessed this phenomenon before. Once I was in an elevator with some BCC-100 members who kept asking each other "what are we here for". You know, the word lemming comes to mind.

    TT mesmerizes his audience and lulls them into a catatonic state with his delivery of economic details. It's not like the audience hasn't heard his spiel before. Very few changes are made from one meeting to the other. After his presentation BCC-100 members of the audience were herded to a local restaurant to celebrate on BCC-100's dime. Celebrate what you might ask? The fact that he did it again and with such aplomb and finesse is sad. The man has talent and would have made an excellent magician, one who is able to pull numbers out of the air, hide the fine details, fulfill the empty expectations and generate rounds of applause even if his news is BAD news.

    After years of the same old regurgitated presentations the public is becoming weary and distrustful of Mr. Thompson. Who wouldn't? The cheerleader approach by the EDC Board members and the GOF (Gang of Five) on the Count y Commission has done nothing to assure accountability and good stewardship.

    Commissioner Al Klemm is quoted as saying that Beaufort County has done better than most counties during the recession. If Mr. Klemm believes this, why doesn't he have enough respect for the public to document his assertion? In fact, as Warren Smith has pointed out, it has done worse.

    And is that not the essence of the story here? Where is the accountability and accurate documentation to support the assertions? The People of Beaufort County deserve nothing less.