In today’s editorial, “No transparency, no trust,” the Pensacola News Journal walks through the litany of misstatements by Mayor Ashton Hayward and his two administrators regarding the three-month (and counting) investigation of the Pensacola fire chiefs.
“Mayor Hayward should take the initiative to hold a public hearing of the investigation’s findings and a press conference that removes the shroud from the last three months by providing candid and specific answers to questions from the press and citizens,” wrote the editorial board. “If the city’s actions against the chiefs were justified and necessary, then so be it. But the mayor is obligated to explain why.”
The role of “strong mayor” demands that the mayor provide, in person, clarity to this issue that has absorbed more than a quarter of 2016. Press announcements and one-on-one conversations with hand-selected news personalities won’t suffice.
During his first three years in office, Mayor Hayward held regular town hall meetings in every district. He had press conferences and “Mornings with the Mayor” sessions. That all stopped in January 2014…and so did the last semblance of transparency.