Beazley’s Passing Recalls Bygone Days
This week’s passing of long-time Richmond County Elections Director Linda Beazley and the fact that she was widely regarded as brilliant by those who knew her is quite ironic when compared to the lesser adjectives thrown much and often at many of today’s local bureaucrats.
Ironic in the sense that to even be asked to submit a resume these days for any managerial position of consequence in Augusta government, a four-year college degree is virtually mandatory, and much higher education (masters degrees and higher) is usually preferred.
Linda Beazley, described by many as one of the most astute experts on the subject of Georgia elections, came to public service straight out of high school in 1957. No college degree, no tech school training, not even a trip to secretarial school.
After stints in clerical positions in both the Richmond County sheriff’s office and probate courts, she was selected the county’s first elections director in 1973. It was a position she held until 1993, when she was “drafted” to become the replacement for ousted Richmond County Administrator Robert Dixon.
If you think current Augusta Administrator Fred Russell has it bad, imagine how bad it must have been for Dixon, who did not have anyone in the pre-consolidation county government who cared to stick up for him, even for a minute. But that story will have to wait for another day.
Beazley came into the position to handle people, while Charles Dillard was given the task of supervising many of the technical areas of county business, dividing up the duties that Dixon held alone. It was a great move, one that Dixon did not think needed to be made (he was wrong) and I have been told by many that the combination of the two made up the perfect administrator.
The consolidation of Augusta-Richmond County governments in the mid ’90s was supposed to make municipal business operate much smoother, and much smarter, but no Augusta city administrator was ever as successful at handling people as Linda Beazley.
If I had to say what made Linda as good as she was at all she did, I would say it would be a good old-fashioned combination of common sense, hard work and her willingness to look you dead in the eye and tell you to go to Hell if you deserved it. She did not have to do that too often, but I saw her do it enough to know she could.
One thing is certain: She would not have been fool enough to give large pay raises to certain top-level county employees while many others were getting furloughed. I also doubt seriously she would fail to document the shortcomings of certain important subordinates. Such are recent well-documented mistakes that cost taxpayers several hundred thousand dollars.
Paying lawsuit settlements to clearly inferior, underperforming personnel should have gotten the current guy booted a long, long time ago.
According to his official bio, embattled Augusta Administrator Fred Russell has a masters of science in criminal justice from Nova University and a bachelors of science from Virginia Tech. He also attended the FBI National Academy.
Impressive… but Russell may want to look up the curriculum followed by the Richmond Academy Class of 1957. Whatever Linda Beazley picked up in that group was clearly superior to anything he ever ran across.
Columnist’s note: I usually don’t take the time to respond in print to the often misguided critiques thrown my way in the Whine Line, but after last week, I couldn’t resist. First, on the misspelling of the word “whither,” what can I tell you, I screwed up. I used to have a copy editors at the Spirit needlessly obsessed with political correctness, now I have one who allows me to hang myself, regardless of the type of mistakes I make. I prefer the latter over the former. (Love ya, Amy!)
And to the folks who somehow think my protest over the lack of a severance package for recently canned TV weatherman Matt Monroe signals that I am some sort of pro-labor closet socialist… oh, please. Get a clue. You are comparing apples to orangutans. A severance package for a departing veteran employee who has served a company with honor is not, and should not be, mandatory. But it is good manners, and it is good business.You Might Also Like:
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