The amounts showing unpaid at our Clerk's office begins with 1999 followed by '04, '05, '06, and '07, all totaling over $ 4,647. Also Mr. Nesbitt's public record shows Federal Tax liens for years 2003 and 2004 in excess of $5,500. These amounts total a whopping $ 10,147.00.
The Federal tax liens show he was released on March 16, 2009, almost four and a half months after his election to the board. However, Mr. Nesbitt swore on his Declaration of Candidacy and Affidavit he was not a "defaulter for any federal or state taxes" on April 30, 2008, as shown by the public records at the Board of Elections.
How you do feel as a citizen of this county now that we elected a man who neither owned a business or even worked at a local business but was instead a renter and not even a home owner. What ties did this person really have to our community - None.
Mr. Nesbitt may wish to turn to his friends for help. C. Roland Vaughn III gave $1,000, yes that's a "1" followed by three "zeros" to his campaign as noted in the public records at the local Board of Elections. That was the largest cash contribution. And by the way that was AFTER the election according to the public records. Boy, I truly do not understand this political business. You give money after a winner is declared? Maybe one of the really smart folks can help me out with that one.
We all have the right to defend our actions and hopefully Mr. Nesbitt will be able to resolve this issue to our individual satisfaction.
Once a sworn oath was the highest form of person's character, and if we allow this conduct to prevail, then you have relegated the value of sworn oath to that of a used hamburger wrapper.
Change the course of our county back to the one that made us choose it and raise our families here; call now and, yes, write a real letter demanding this commissioner be remembered for his lack of payment of his fair share while the rest of us toiled into the night to pay his share for him. How many families in our home town were foreclosed on and their monies ripped from their bank accounts by the Georgia Dept. of Revenue and the IRS while our commissioner Nesbitt enjoys the good life working at the new KIA dealership as the Community Relations Manager and constantly telling the rest of us to Shop Rockdale so that our tax dollars can pay his salary?
But this discussion is far greater than one commissioner and one election. Instead we have a political process here in Georgia that needs mending.
Before, individuals were known locally almost from birth and deep investigations were not really needed.
Today we have candidates pouring into our county from other states and even countries. We are completely out of touch with these new arrivals, and before we know it, they just jump up and say all the right things and without further review our local ballot carries their name.
This can no longer be acceptable. Assumption of one's character without verification in today's world is too dangerous. The person cleaning the toilets at the local nursing home has to go through background checks as well those in many other fields of endeavor. Then why do you, sitting there on your sofa this morning, feel safe without the bare minimum checks on our candidates. Yes, we are told the local parties check out their candidates, but if that were true how did we end up with this commissioner with these open public records. What about those records we cannot see or know about without a properly setup review process?
The days ahead will be challenging enough and now is the time for all parties to join together and formulate a better process to ensure when we see a candidate's name on the ballot we can rest assured all the pertinent facts are revealed for all to see and vote accordingly.
Don Meyer
Home Owners For
Better Government
Editor's Note: When asked about the liens, Commissioner Oz Nesbitt responded: "Yes, once upon a time I owed money to the federal government in terms of back taxes. Do I owe any taxes currently? No." Supervisor of Elections Cynthia Welch said candidates are eligible if they have made arrangements to pay the taxes. The term "defaulter" means a court has ruled the person was in default, such as a lien, she said. Besides confirming voter registration and residency, the BOE requires candidates to sign an affidavit swearing they are not, among other things, "a defaulter for any federal, state, county, municipal, or school system taxes required of such officeholder or candidate if such person has been finally adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction to owe those taxes, but such ineligibility may be removed at any time by full payment thereof, or by making payments to the tax authority."
