Having it out with the Mayor over her Office Spending!
Mayor Linda D. Thompson and I go back to 1999 when I met her at a Democratic Party Fund Raiser in Lower Paxton. We talked “off and on” about issues when she became a member of City Council. But sometimes we had heated arguments about what one or the other was saying or doing. One such argument came up on Wednesday, February 17, 2010. I was talking to one of the Mayor’s supporters who worked on her campaign in 2009. The supporter told me that she was not going to support Linda Thompson next time for Mayor. I asked why? She said because of what she has been reading in the newspaper about the Mayor’s $35,000 office. She claims that the Mayor has this big expensive office with a $300 chair and a $150 mouse pad for her computer. Other people told me about her expensive coffee maker and plush expensive rugs. I decided to put on my coat and hat and bust into Linda’s office at 4:50 PM and confront her about this stuff. As I walked into her reception area, I saw the Mayor standing at her secretary’s desk going over her appointments for the evening. She looked up and said, “Hi Mr. Williams. What brings you down here?” With determination in my voice I told her that I came to see her office. She said, “Oh, you came to see my $35,000 office?” “Yep, I want to see it!” I explained. So Linda started taking me on a 20 minute tour.
The Mayor’s office is not one office as most people would think. The Mayor’s Office is made up of eleven rooms housing the Mayor’s staff. Anyone who knew Mayor Reed knows that he is a chain smoker and his staff smoked as well. This smoking went on in this office for 28 years. Anyone who does not smoke would tell you that working in his office were like working in an ash tray. The rug and ceiling tiles had to be replaced due to the smoke. The walls had to be primed and repainted. This cost a lot of money for all 11 rooms. She showed me the second hand furniture that her staff is using. One desk came from Bob Kroboth’s office, Mayor Reed’s Chief of Staff. I examined Linda’s desk and it was taken from another part of the City (Second Hand). All the work tables and the conference tables are second hand. One room did have new fixtures in it. It was the Mayor’s bathroom. Linda refuses to sit on the same toilet that Mayor Reed used. She would not go into detail on this with me. The toilet was new.
I went through her closets. They had shelving which is the same type that I use to store my tools in my basement. I went through her desk and found nothing more than a second hand computer. The coffee maker was something that you can buy from the “Dollar Store.” I wanted to see this $150 mouse pad on her computer. The mouse pad read “congratulations on becoming our new Mayor” in white letters on a gray background. It was a gift and I have more expensive mouse pad than this $1.50 item. I asked Linda, where did someone get the idea that all this cost $35,000? Linda said it did cost $35,000 in total for all eleven rooms and hall ways to be remodeled. By the way, we are talking about one half of the second floor of City Hall. Some reporter read the invoice but did not bother to follow up on what the invoice was for.
Comparing this to when I remodeled my Dining Room, I can see why it would cost $35,000. I used Joyce Hamburg as free labor. I supplied the supervision. She stripped the room, primed and painted it. It still cost $200 plus. The City had to pay for their labor, equipment, and supplies for 11 rooms and a bathroom. It cost $35,000.
I said to Linda, “Please tell the public what you showed me today.” She said that she does not have time to worry about the obvious lies about her and her office. Then she had her secretary show me out!
Determined to solve the problem!
As I said before, my relationship with her Honor, Mayor Linda D. Thompson goes back almost 11 years. We have not always seen “eye to eye” and we had our share of arguments. She won this battle because I knew better to believe a story without checking it out first. Once I went to Linda’s office and seen it for myself, I found out that the story was fabricated by a single line on an invoice. The fabrication of a “one office” invoice lead to the media and the public creating a story of their own.
Here is the reason why I went to President Gloria Martin-Roberts with an idea to communicate with the public and the media on issues that are important to the community. She thought it was a good idea. I told the media about it on Saturday, February 6 and they seem very enthusiastic about the idea. I am going to tell the public about it on February 23, 2010. I am determined to see to it that factual information gets out to the people about the public interest even if it means me taking people on City Government tours.
I proposed to the Mayor and City Council the following;
- The Communications Director will hold a short news briefing every Monday morning with the local news services and electronic media. They will review events of public interest so that the media can report accurately on them.
- The Mayor will create a 30 minute program to air on TV-20 called “Mayor Thompson’s Corner” as needed. The show will deal with the City topic of the day.
- The City will create a 30 minute to 1 hour program on TV 20 called the “Government Round Table.” This show will include the Mayor, The President of City Council, the Chair of the City Council Committee in charge of the issue at hand, and the City Manager in charge of the daily work dealing with this issue at hand.
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