It must be frustrating to be an honest public official in local government in Arkansas.
All across the state, local elected leaders and public officials work hard for the benefit of their communities. Some run for the offices most residents swear they'd never hold because they don't want the headaches. Well, few good things come without a few headaches, a wise newspaper editor once suggested. For the ones willing to take on the challenges of public leadership, we'll say what we've said before: Thank you.
What’s the point?
Public officials who abuse the trust they’re given should be aggressively pursued by prosecutors.
So what's the frustration? All those good things elected leaders and public officials do can be overshadowed by the seemingly endless discoveries of public officials who overstep not only ethical boundaries, but legal ones.
Arkansas has plenty who have gone lost their jobs and gone to jail, and in recent days, Arkansans have learned of two more cases against public officials accused of abusing their positions of public trust.
Last week in Pulaski County, a 60-year-old Bryant woman was arrested on 153 charges of theft and fraud amid accusations she pilfered nearly $250,000 from Pulaski County's vehicle insurance provider since 2008.
She was a 17-year employee with the county's Public Works Department. She's accused of submitting fraudulent accident claims to the insurance company, which would pay the claims by issuing checks directly to Wyatt. According to a police report, she deposited $248,529 into her personal bank account.
Then there was the Newton County assessor and deputy assessor arrested in recent days on felony theft counts. They are accused of buying $11,504 in personal items with county credit cards between 2010 and 2015, according to documents filed in Newton County Circuit Court.
The assessor's office is an elective office. Assessor Sheila McCutcheon, 58, has worked in the office 22 years, the vast majority as the assessor. The accused deputy assessor is Desiray McCutcheon, 35. And, yeah, that last name is no coincidence. The younger is the older McCutcheon's daughter-in-law. The assessor resigned. Desiray McCutcheon is also no longer with the county.
Accusations like these crop up around local government too often. We're reminded of the Benton County Road Department fiasco in which a county employee used county supplies to build a deck onto the back of his home.
It seems government employment sometimes attracts people who believe the taxpayers can be taken for a ride. Longtime employees can occasionally reach the very mistaken conclusion that the money they're responsible for belongs to them rather than the public.
These scenarios leave a dark cloud of suspicion in the public's mind. They make it harder for honest leaders to ask taxpayers for new revenue to support worthy and needed projects. They make the public generally suspicious of government's ability to take good care of the resources it's provided through the power to tax.
The honest public officials owe it to taxpayers to take a strong stand by making sure the proper auditing and accounting procedures are in place to protect taxpayers' dollars and to ensure tax revenue is being applied to the public's benefit.
And prosecutors should pursue those who abuse the public trust aggressively.
Commentary on 06/29/2016