Mayor's attorney recuses himself from ethics complaint

By Joel Davis
of The Daily Times Staff

Attorney Rob Goddard, who represents Blount County Mayor Jerry Cunningham, will recuse himself from reviewing an ethics complaint against his boss.

"I have a conflict of interest in that one," Goddard said Wednesday. "I can't represent him as the county mayor and render an opinion to the ethics board."

The Blount County Ethics Committee on Tuesday voted to refer five ethics complaints against officials, including one about Cunningham, to Goddard for evaluation. Linda King of the Citizens for Blount County's Future alleges that Cunningham violated the county ethics policy by pressuring the South Blount County Utility District to begin fluoridating the water treated at its plant.

In a Dec. 5 letter to District Manager Henry Durant, Cunningham wrote that he would not be willing to appoint an individual to the utility's Board of Directors unless he was sure the person would support fluoridation. The board ultimately voted Jan. 2 to begin fluoridation as soon as possible. King alleges that this amounts to an exchange of gifts.

On Wednesday, Cunningham said he will waive legal review and ask the Ethics Committee to directly rule on the complaint.

"Not just to get it resolved, but to save the expense and keep the cave people, the citizens against virtually everything, from fussing about whoever (reviews the complaint)," he said. "Sometime before I retire, I hope I hear one of the cave people say one good thing about Blount County. Just one."

Philosophy professor David Reidy, who chairs the legal studies program for the University of Tennessee Philosophy Department, said that executives generally have the discretion to appoint people who agree with them on policy.

"As a matter of general principle, those who are authorized to make political appointments -- executives at the federal, state and local levels -- are authorized to appoint people who satisfy various sorts of substantive criteria that they deem politically appropriate. "When President George Bush decides to appoint somebody to the Environmental Protection Agency, he is perfectly entitled to appoint people who he believes will support his substantive policy positions ... if he has a director of the EPA who does not ... he is perfectly free to ask for that resignation or not to renew the appointment."

There are currently ethics complaints against Cunningham, Commissioner Mike Lewis and Commissioner Wendy Pitts Reeves, who chairs the Ethics Committee. There are also two complaints filed against District Attorney Mike Flynn and Circuit Court Clerk Tom Hatcher on Monday.

In the complaint about Lewis, King referred to the status of shares of stock that Lewis once held. In a 2007 opinion, Tennessee Attorney General Robert E. Cooper Jr. indicated that Lewis, under the letter of the County Purchasing Act of 1957, could face possible ouster from the commission because he held shares in GreenBank, which provides financial services for the county.

In response, Lewis transferred ownership of the stock to his wife to remove the possibility of a conflict of interest. King, however, alleges that the ownership swap doesn't resolve the conflict.

Blount County Sheriff's Office Assistant Chief Deputy Jeff French filed the complaint against Pitts Reeves, alleging she made false accusations toward him at the Feb. 21 commission meeting.

Wendy Gail Roseburgh, 45, LeConte Drive, Maryville, filed the complaints against Flynn and Hatcher. Roseburgh and her husband, William Albert Roseburgh, 57, Montgomery Lane, Maryville, are accused of operating a plant nursery at 510 Montgomery Lane, Maryville, without proper state certification. They were indicted on multiple charges in February.

In her complaints, Roseburgh alleges that registered mail sent to Flynn's office, apparently addressed to grand jury members and others, was not delivered. As for Hatcher, Roseburgh alleges that he illegally entered a "scheduling order" on March 10, when she did not attend a hearing until March 11.