"They had their say ... now we have ours": Erskine Smith/Town Voice

“They had their say … now we have ours” is a collaborative column that will appear periodically in the Report, offering a critical analysis of a comment made publicly by a government official or employee. If you would like to participate in a collaborative column, send me an e-mail, including the comment (it must have been made publicly) and sound reasoning for why you took issue with it. If it’s something I think we can develop, we’ll work together via e-mail on writing the column. Readers whose viewpoints are eventually printed, as always, have the option of remaining anonymous.

***

“Dissent is the highest form of patriotism”
(Howard Zinn, often attributed to Thomas Jefferson)

After reading the section in May’s Town Voice titled “From the Office of the Town Manager,” I sat in disbelief over what I had just witnessed.

I had witnessed the desperate grasping of a public official (Interim Town Manager Erskine Smith), under fire, attempt to free himself from the watchful eyes of the community by shamelessly using the memory of a remarkable young man to disseminate his frustrations against his detractors.

And I had witnessed the blatant abuse of power by this man when he gave himself permission to use public resources to vent his anger and frustration – for surely the silencing of public dissent is not included in his job description and substantial salary.

In his letter to the citizens of Mooresville, Smith began by recounting the untimely and tragic death of a young man in our community, Griff Lyerly, and by reminding us of the majestic words of Marc McClure, one of Griff’s professors.

Unfortunately for us and for Smith, he did not stop there. He went on to conspicuously transplant these ominous words into an otherwise seemingly loving and compassionate piece: “Many men and women have given of themselves to strengthen, serve and protect Mooresville from forces of negativism, intolerance and doubt.”

Smith failed to expound further on these “forces of negativism, intolerance and doubt,” and he failed to tell us who the “men and women” are who, according to him, are valiantly “protecting” us against such menacing forces.

We can only assume that the “forces of negativism” to which Smith refers include the Report and its many readers and supporters, as well as any local activists and outspoken citizens in our community. This assumption is bolstered by the fact that Smith’s name has appeared in various exposé pieces, the most recent being his involvement in a questionable $237,000 “commission” given to his lifelong friend, Jimmy McKnight.

Smith’s vitriolic, unfortunate and awkwardly placed statement was clearly aimed at those who would dare question him and his actions. And it was specifically designed to attempt to squelch opposition and dissent by local citizens and free him from the firm grasp of scrutiny and accountability.

It stands to reason that Smith would like nothing more than for everyone in this community to remain “positive” and “tolerant” as he goes about his business comfortably and without being scrutinized, questioned and exposed. Unfortunately for him, that scenario is not likely to happen, and his wishful thinking has not materialized since the Pandora’s Box was first opened several years ago.

Perhaps most disturbing is an attempt, however subliminal, by Smith to domesticate and indoctrinate the young minds of our community, falsely insinuating to them that a “good citizen” is a quiet and obedient one, even when faced with public officials behaving in self-interest rather than in the interest of their community.

While from one side of his mouth Smith scolds dissenters, from the other side of his mouth he claims to “encourage all citizens to get involved and make Mooresville a better place.” The caveat, we assume, is that we are only invited to “get involved” if we agree to remain quiet about his and other public officials’ misconduct.

For is Smith not in fact telling us that we can only “better” this community if we remain silent to that which is unjust, unfair and improper? Is he not telling us that for us to be better citizens, we must remain tolerant, for example, of his giving away one-quarter-of-a-million dollars of our tax money to his childhood friend, McKnight? Is he not telling us that doubting and questioning our local government constitute the sinister term “forces of negativism”?

Ironically, held within Professor McClure’s words were these: “But like all societies, there are counter forces within and without that seek to erode what you stand for.” It is ultimately up to us, not up to a public official under fire, to decide what our values are, what we stand for, and what exactly we consider the “counter forces” that threaten those values.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

(First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution)

Our forefathers, in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, granted us the right to gather, protest, and question our government when it begins to go awry. There are those of us who believe that the primary duty of a “good citizen” is to be vigilant and expect accountability and honesty from the government and its officials. It is not to stroke the egos of those officials by becoming their yes-men or yes-women. It is not to become blindly loyal and unquestioning, and it is certainly not to allow our silence to be bought with political favors or worse.

At the end of the day, Erskine Smith surrendered to a deeply ingrained sense of self-indulgence and used public funds as well as Griff’s memory to espouse his own brand of good citizenship, one that would conveniently “tolerate” and presumably “trust” government, of which he is a part.

Smith’s soliloquy was a poorly veiled attempt to silence, disparage and discount his dissenters and to stop the tide of exposure that may be coming his way.

But to give the devil his due, he managed to end well with this: “The Athenians were right. Let us leave it better than we found it.”

Unfortunately for Smith, there are many in this community whose idea of leaving it better than they found it may drastically vary from that of his.