When we raise our kids, we teach them the difference between right and wrong. We tell them that just because you can do something – it doesn’t mean you should.
There’s nothing illegal about a preacher regularly going to a strip club, throwing keg parties or gambling in Biloxi, but is that who you want performing your daughter’s wedding or teaching Sunday school to your eight year old?
County Administrator George Touart and his supporters defend his business dealings and investments as being legal and having no influence on his duties with county government. But just because he could buy property with developers and commissioners, should he?
Without a full investigation into Touart’s personal finances, we will never really know if he has any ill-gotten gains from these transactions. In Orange Beach, the federal district attorney investigated the business dealings of then-mayor Steve Russo and found he had a real estate investment company with a developer that made him $400,000 in one day by flipping a property in which Russo put no cash. He received insurance proceeds from another deal in which he put no money. Russo was indicted and now is in jail. Read: Russo indicted. In Orange Beach, an investigation into appearances led to uncovering wrong doings.
Judge Charles J. Kahn Jr., elected in 2005 to head the 1st District Court of Appeal, resigned the chief judge’s job last year when his fellow judges became upset that he didn’t recuse himself from hearings on W.D. Childers bribery case. Kahn was once an attorney in the Levin firm and Fred Levin was a big W.D. supporter. The judges were very concerned about appearances.
I’m not accusing Touart of the same dealings as Russo, but we need to know the full facts. However, in the end, this may boil down to appearances. Do the county commissioners want a head of county government with so many side businesses and who makes investments with developers and in their projects?