By Rob Holbert Managing Editor

Election season means voters need to be especially vigilant, not only against strange newcomers, but also against those who have somehow already wormed their way into public office. Hanging on to the status quo isn’t necessarily the best thing, especially when the status might not be particularly quo, if you know what I mean. (If you know what I mean by that, please e-mail me so I’ll know too.)

I was reminded of just how important election time is by a couple of stories that came out in the past two weeks.

Some of you may have read a story reported in the last issue of this fine rag in which we detailed School Board President Fleet Belle’s ongoing problems with the IRS and the multitude of tax liens he and his church have accumulated over the years. Oddly enough, Belle managed to make it down to pay most of them off just about the time he filed to run for election to the school board. But we could never get an explanation about his financial troubles from the horse’s mouth because Fleet refused to answer any of our repeated phone calls.

But after our story came out, he decided to talk to WKRG and tell them how tough things have been for him. So there he was in his finest silver suit, replete with professional-length kerchief, whining about how tough things have been and how he just keeps getting behind on his taxes. He didn’t really go into any explanation about why there have also been numerous judgments against him both personally and professionally for non-payment for various services rendered, including bank loans and auto repairs. Oh well, times are tough.

But Belle and some of his allies seem to have the attitude that his financial situation isn’t relevant. Yeah, I guess it’s not relevant that a guy heading a board that controls a nearly three-quarters-of-a-billion-dollars budget can’t pay his taxes in an even remotely reasonable period of time. One of his colleagues on the board even defended him by asking me if I’d ever bounced a check.

Well sure, everyone bounces a check from time to time, particularly if you’re writing check for things you can’t afford. But getting liens from the IRS over and over again for tax payments that are three, four or five years late isn’t quite the same as kiting an occasional check at the “Crack Dixie,” now is it?

This same school board member tried telling me Belle’s financial problems are irrelevant because the board really can’t really make financial decisions. Unfortunately, another board member told me that’s not the case at all, as members can ask questions and ultimately signal to the superintendent where he should put money in order to see his budget passed. After all, they do have to vote on the overall budget. And if Belle can’t keep his own piggy bank in order – his considerably smaller and less complicated piggy bank, I might add – how can he be expected to understand the intricacies of the state’s biggest school board?

I’m just left wondering exactly what Belle brings to the table as a board member? Just a little over a year ago, we reported that he had written a letter to try to get his sister-in-law hired into a clerk’s position with the system. And Belle told Lagniappe he routinely wrote such letters for people, including relatives.

Hmmmm? Nepotism and financial problems – sounds like a good campaign slogan. It might be time for the voters to give the good reverend more time to spend working on his personal finances instead of trying to manage the school system’s.

The other point of political interest has been District 3 Mobile County Commissioner Mike Dean getting nabbed on tape apparently giving constituents an idea that he has the power, authority and desire to pave private roads for them, even though it’s illegal.

Apparently some of his constituents video-taped Dean at an event telling them he was going to pave some private roads, saying, “When we take on county roads, it’s forever.” But what really chapped the incumbent is when a woman named Angela Jones taped him during a phone conversation in which it seemed pretty evident he was not only saying he could pave her private road, but warning her that a new commissioner in the district wouldn’t get the job done.

“Ain’t dang sure going to have another commissioner who knows the law as much as I do. Another commissioner’s going to put you back two or three years,” Dean says in a recording that probably would make English teachers in the area suicidal.

When confronted by WKRG reporter Tiffany Craig about the issue, Dean essentially admitted he likes to sling the bull with constituents instead of telling them something true that might be upsetting.

“Because I do that everywhere I go,” Dean said when asked by Craig why he’d indicated he could pave private roads. “Instead of just telling people no. That’s the mistake I make is not just telling people up front ‘I can’t do it, it’s illegal.’”

As if all this weren’t bad enough, Dean has compounded his “mistake” by trying to shoot the messenger. He’s complained at public debates that he was “set up” by Jones.

“You wonder why elected officials don’t return phone calls,” he said at a debate. “It’s because they’re getting set up.”

So essentially Mike wants to promise things he can’t legally deliver and not return constituent phone calls. It’s not much of a platform for re-election, but it is different. I’ll give him that – it’s different.

It’s easy to get caught up in the presidential race this year, or to get complacent and just pull the lever for someone with a recognizable name, but the local races are where the rubber meets the road, so to speak. If we don’t hold our elected officials accountable for the things they do and say, then we’ve got as little right to whine as they do.

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Rob Holbert is Lagniappe managing editor. Contact him at rholbert@lagniappemobile.com.

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