I'm the guy that likes to beat a dead horse. So here we go again.
A little more than six months after the City of Fort Smith rolled the plans out for a ballyhooed "email repository" for the seven sitting directors in the wake of the ongoing and costly battle to circumvent and violate the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, citizens are no closer to having access to the emails than they were before the system was enacted.
The idea was in the wake of lawsuits, legal slap-downs and an (at the time) attentive public, the city would post access to all their too and from emails so the big bad legal system and the mean ol' blogger guy would leave them along so they could create an illusion of transparency while playing loose and fast with the actual law.
The bottom line? There was no intent from Day One to really let peons and the public in on the Star Chamber discussions by those that have wrested control of every aspect of city government from the voters. The first time they actually posted some emails that weren't completely white-washed, they got hoisted on their petard by that mean ol' "insignificant" blogger on a couple of stories.
After that, the curtain went back up. Oh, they threw a handful of emails up from time to time, but not all of the correspondence that was passing through the system. And the three directors who continue to fight for the right to violate the law-- despite having been B-slapped at every turn -- just quit using the city email server all together.
How dare I, you might ask? Well, lets just say that I have copies of emails concerning city business from several individuals to and from BOD members. I have spent HOURS scoring the "email dump' and one of these things doesn't look much like the other in a lot of cases.
Of course, maybe the emails just never made it onto the system in the first place. Free email addresses are easy to get and as disposable as business phones. Business emails are somewhat protected by privacy laws...but I find it incredulous that since June 15 until today--thirty-seven days-- that not a single email has been set to or from a BOD member. I just looked. June 15 was the last day any emails in the system are showing up in the "email dump".
Let's forget for a moment that someone had to create, facilitate and and administrate this dump of a dump in the first place. Someone in information technology for the city that was paid to do so. One would think that someone would be paid to maintain the system.
Much like a lot of what goes on "behind closed doors involving the city coffers, accountability isn't really a thing. Unless someone is trying to point a crooked finger at a person or a department in an effort to redirect the attention from themselves.
In addition the thing was ungodly and unwieldy from the outset. To just download the zip files and turn them into documents that can then be opened requires two separate software programs. If you are a computer neophyte, you are never going to be able to navigate the obstacle course.
Which I am thinking was the point in the first place.
Plus, if they did post the emails-- all of the emails -- on a timely and consistent basis, me and your are never going to see those that went to "bumblebee@yahoo.com" or whatever else these shysters are using to plot and plan with behind our back.
One would think that with admonishments from the court system and some of the best legal minds in the state -- as well as the futility of the $40,000 or so they have flushed down the toilet in a no-win situation -- would be enough to shame these lamers into submission.
But not these guys. If they had as much as determination when it comes to fixing the sewer mandate, asking for blueprints before handing over a million bucks for a sports complex and making sure we're down bogged down in "Footloose" dance ordinances, maybe life might become worth living again in Fort Smith.
This is nothing new. I've said it all before. And I look at where we are seemingly heading in these municipal elections in August and I wonder why I care. No one else does. The special interest have had their say and will have their say as long as we sit back and allow them to run amok with no checks and balances in place.
So keep you head in the sand, your wallet open, your expectations low and embrace the fact that -- like Kirk Cameron in a low budget movie -- we're all getting left behind.
Proverbs 22:8
Look it up.
The Steinbuch lettrer can be acessed HERE.