Livingston’s comment out of line for a public servant

Morgan County District 2 Ken Livingston’s action in a public meeting last week was unprofessional and showed another side of his character.

It’s a known fact that lame duck District 4 Commissioner Stacy George is good at needling until he sparks fire from his colleagues, but that was no reason for Mr. Livingston to call him a liar during a budget meeting.

Those are cruel, sometimes fighting words.

The two started feuding during a discussion about giving the Decatur-Morgan County Chamber of Commerce a $50,000 appropriation the commission pledged for the Base Realignment and Closure recruitment effort.

Mr. George and District 3 Commissioner Kevin Murphy said they were against giving the chamber money because they don’t feel the entity represents the whole county. Mr. Livingston questioned Mr. George’s motive. He wanted to know if the outgoing commissioner’s opposition against the chamber was political, which was an appropriate question.

The chamber publicly endorsed Mr. George’s opponent, Greg Abercrombie, who won the GOP primary to take the District 4 seat from the two-term commissioner.

Mr. George responded with an accusation that Mr. Livingston planned to run for chairman of the commission and would do anything the chamber wanted him to do. Mr. Livingston called him a liar and said he did not plan to run for chairman in 2010.

An appropriate response would have been to note that more than half of the county’s population lives in Decatur.

As usual, Mr. George did not rebut with inflammatory language, but continued fueling the flames.

Mr. George stands to be chastised as well because he’s being vindictive against the chamber and he is wrong. It’s not his place to take vengeance through the money strings he and four others hold for organizations that get allotments from the county.

Mr. Livingston did not question the opposition by Mr. Murphy, who also lost his GOP primary to former District 3 Commissioner Don Stisher. Mr. Murphy said he didn’t believe the county is getting the “bang for the buck,” referring to money for the chamber’s BRAC recruitment efforts.

After reading about the fight in this newspaper, Chamber Executive Director John Seymour sent each commissioner and the chairman a letter defending efforts to attract newcomers to Morgan County. Mr. Seymour included information about promotional materials the chamber developed to promote the county.

In the next couple of years most of the BRAC residents relocating to the Tennessee Valley to work at Redstone Arsenal should be in place, according to Mr. Seymour. Then, the commissioners and others should see results from the chamber’s labor.

Meanwhile, Mr. Livingston needs to get a grip on his temper because some people probably wouldn’t have taken the words “you’re a liar” as easily as Mr. George did.