Dear Editor: I am a newcomer to the Covington area, and I am baffled by the city and county funding the local Chamber of Commerce. It seems to me this action could constitute both unethical and unsound economic behavior. In Newton County, the chamber seems to be placed on some type of pedestal while in other parts of the country where I have lived, they are referred to as "the $3.35 an hour boys." It should be noted that at a recent job conference President Obama didn't even seem fit to invite the national chamber.
Neither the city nor the county has the economic resources to fund this club whose members are referred to her as "movers and shakers" and are rich in assets. Are any of the council members or commissioners or their businesses or their sub-governmental department's members of the chamber? If they are, what we would have here is elected government officials taking tax money and giving it to a quasi-private club in which they would have a viable and vested interest. Under this same analogy, it would be acceptable for an elected official who might be a member of the KKK to send tax money to the KKK. In Newton County, politics have strange bedfellows.
Neither the city nor the county has the economic resources to fund this club whose members are referred to her as "movers and shakers" and are rich in assets. Are any of the council members or commissioners or their businesses or their sub-governmental department's members of the chamber? If they are, what we would have here is elected government officials taking tax money and giving it to a quasi-private club in which they would have a viable and vested interest. Under this same analogy, it would be acceptable for an elected official who might be a member of the KKK to send tax money to the KKK. In Newton County, politics have strange bedfellows.
