We believe: The hiring of David Eicks as a dispatcher creates a serious conflict of interest and reeks of political payback and cronyism.
David Eicks emerged from four years of obscurity last year to win a spot on the Anderson City Council as part of the Democratic wave that washed the Kevin Smith administration out of office. For 16 years, he had served as Mayor J. Mark Lawler’s building commissioner. During the Smith years, Eicks worked as a bail bondsman and owned a beauty salon.
On July 8, Eicks, despite being a council member, was given a city job as a service dispatcher at Anderson Municipal Light & Power. He will make $20.22 an hour, which is $42,057 a year. He will also be a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
The city’s hiring of Eicks is wrong on several levels. Foremost, a sitting city councilman shouldn’t seek or be given a job by the city. There are just too many conflicts of interest, and such hiring raises suspicions about favoritism and about the councilman’s motivation when voting on anything remotely related to budgets, raises and the like.
It seems wrong for a sitting city employee to be voted onto council — such as in the case of councilman Rodney Chamberlain — but it’s not illegal and lacks the blatant cronyism and political payback on display in the hiring of Eicks. In Chamberlain’s case, voters decided to overlook his employee-status. In Eicks’ case, the administration of Mayor Kris Ockomon decided to overlook the conflict of interest created by Eicks’ hiring.
Greg Graham, the deputy mayor and chairman of the Board of Public Works, told a reporter for The Herald Bulletin that 50 people applied for the job, but Eicks was the most qualified because he used to serve as building commissioner. Huh? Are we missing something here? How does that experience qualify him to be a dispatcher?
The fact that Eicks sued the city in December 2003 when he was about to be replaced as building commissioner is another red flag. (The suit was dismissed by a U.S. District Court in October 2007.) Why would the city hire a former worker who had sued Anderson? If he were highly qualified and not a member of city council, perhaps it would make some sense. In this case, it does not. We wonder how many of the 49 other applicants have filed lawsuits against the city.
Steve Priser, city personnel director, said no other IBEW workers applied for the dispatcher’s job. Where did the other 49 come from?
Eicks told a reporter, “Politics need to be set aside.” That’s usually the first comment from someone involved in political shenanigans up to their ears. He wants the public not to be concerned about political maneuvering, but that is what this is about.
People of Anderson should be outraged at this bald exercise in political payback. It’s obvious we’re dealing with an administration that has no shame. The Herald Bulletin has pointed out several less-than-honorable posts to city positions since Ockomon became mayor. This one may be the most egregious.
Every time, the mayor and his appointees have explanations about why they are taking care of their friends and friends of the Democratic Party. And every time it reeks of self-serving protection of cronies.
Come on, Ockomon administration, it’s way past time to focus on serving the city by adopting hiring practices that are fair and targeted at finding the best public servant. To now, the focus has been on catering to political allies.
Opinion
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