The last two Ripp Report posts,
Comment: Are You Surprised at all??????
FAIRNESS IS THE DEFINITION OF ANYBODY THAT WE GIVE ANY OF OUR TRUST TO!!!!!!! Let me simply explain to all of you that have actually shown an interest in and am proud to say that…
Source: rippreport.com/2017/04/30/comment-are-you-surprised-at-all/
a comment submitted under
HELP – FAIRNESS IS KILLING US 
The Fairhope City Council is using the Baldwin County Political Dictionary’s definition for “Fairness”. First, the council implements a hiring freeze to punish the mayor for firing two employees. Then they side with the developer…
seem have to hit a nerve among our readership.
The bottom line is who is responsible?
Who is responsible? The city council, the mayor, the ethics commission, the attorneys? The citizens?
Many people, including me, have been critical of the Alabama Ethics Commission. Why do we even need to file complaints regarding city council members, when we have a city council? The council should look at any complaint made against any councilmen. If the complaint warrants a higher review then send it to the ethics commission.
Who’s responsible? The Fairhope City Council turns a blind eye to obvious conflicts of interest and puts the responsibility on the citizens to file complaints. Then they criticize the individual filing the complaint, or blame the Mayor. They are the council, should they not clean there own house?
Councilmen Boone and Burrell both have had allegations levied at them that should have awaken the other three members of the council to at least address the issues. Do the citizens deserve an explanation? Who’s responsible? Or do you kick the can to the ethics commission or just ignore it.
Mr. Boone’s business interests conflict with his voting on various issues. He never acknowledged those interests, then dissolved his llc’s when exposed. Further review shows some of those interests were never listed on his ethics election form of economic interests. He has been voting on these issues for five years?
Who’s responsible?
Mr Burrell has raised so many red flags over his handling of the airport that you would think someone on the council would ask for an investigation. Instead, their defense is that they know all the players and they are good people and friends. Who’s responsible? The airport authority then hires an attorney to investigate the complainant? Fairhope allocates more money to the airport than schools!
Who’s responsible?
The past council, Boone and Burrell, accepted a gift of wetlands, next to Fly Creek, under the pretense that it is land under a lift station, so instead of say 100 square feet we get four acres of prime wetlands. Never-mind that the deed of the land was filed three days prior to the acceptance of the gift and no one on the council even looked at a map or understood what the city was getting. Then duplicate, public, documents of resolution 2606-16 show Mayor Kant signing one in Oct. 2016 and the newly elected Mayor signing the same document weeks later.
Who’s Responsible?
Comment: Are You Surprised at all??????
FAIRNESS IS THE DEFINITION OF ANYBODY THAT WE GIVE ANY OF OUR TRUST TO!!!!!!! Let me simply explain to all of you that have actually shown an interest in and am proud to say that…
Source: rippreport.com/2017/04/30/comment-are-you-surprised-at-all/
Who’s responsible? Think it is a rant? Or do ya think the individual is beyond disgusted because no one is responsible? Nothing will change if no one is responsible and no one asks questions. Read it again, it is not a rant it is disgust, with those who are not responsible.
BEYOND DISGUSTING
Fairhope is a joke. Jack Burrell is its king jester. The people will vote him and the other GOBs out in the next election cycle. Stay tuned.
If we can’t count on council to be “responsible” then we hold them accountable.
We can’t sit back and allow this to continue because we have a long time until the next election! You must call, email and go to council meetings. No more special interests dammit! It needs to stop now!!
Jack and Kevin are a lost cause and will be voted out next election unless forced to step down before this.
Jimmy, Jay and Robert? You need to show us you’re the change we voted you to be. Stop listening to the old regime.
I agree that Burrell & Boone are more interested in promoting their own agendas than doing what is in Fairhope’s best interests. However, Mayor Wilson has proven herself to be no better than they are. She is hiring her old friends at ridiculously inflated salaries rather than hiring people that would be best for the city. I had such high hopes for her but she is just a female Tim Kant. She will be voted out next time and we will have her to thank for ‘Mayor Burrell’. She has actually succeeded in making me feel sorry for the Council! I hope that she ditches her ‘advisors’ and gets rid of the friends that she has hired and actually begins working on the agenda that the promised voters before it is too late. Tuesday night when she presents her ‘State of the City’, she should announce that she has let these friends go and she is prepared to act with integrity and class. That is the only way to salvage anything left of her ‘reign’.
It is time for the mayor to apologize to the individuals she has accused of wrongdoing with any proof.
Kant had at least 6 to 8 relatives and about a dozen friends all drawing a pay check. Mayor Wilson has no relatives and hired one person she knew who was qualified. In fact Sherry Lea’s resume speaks for itself. Her department cuts by Council in particular Mr. Burrell was in retaliation for the Mayor firing two employees and Mr, Burrell’s opposition to anything the Mayor has proposed. Fairhope desperately needs what was proposed, the council had no plan and no suggestions, just same ole same ole. Fairhope is who is going to suffer.
Sherry Lea is not qualified for this position, short term positions on her resume do not constitute qualifications. Anyone can have short-term successes, anyone, working for the mayor’s biggest ally does not qualify a person!
The mayor did not post the position, she wanted to hire Sherry Lea before the position was created. The mayor does not own the city, this is not her company.
All of you know better than this, measuring your ethics to Kant is not a high bar.
In the end, the mayor will throw all under the bus to save her position or her standing within the community. That is how politicians operate, everyone needs to copy this post and refer back to it in about 3 years when she wants another term.
Politicians are politicians, they will tell you what you want to hear, then do what is the best for them, that is what they are called politicians. What is needed is a leader, a statesman, someone that will make hard decisions and stand by them. Someone that is smart enough to surround themselves with independent thinkers, not friends.
Look at what happens when politicians hire friends, look no further than Clinton and Trump. The day the mayor changed her opposition from the owner of her bookstore to a politician I knew her head was in the wrong place. One-term and done!
I loved what Council Brown stated ‘if you don’t like the way I vote then vote me out in the next election.’
And you can guarantee that Brown will be voted out. It was rude what he said. Basically, he’s saying I’m going to do what I want and if you don’t like it so be it. He’s surrounded himself by people telling him how to act and what to say..big mistake too!
From what I hear the citizens will be voting a new council and keeping the current mayor. Oz has been revealed. The citizens got it right with Karen. No more good ole boys. Jay Robinson btw is the most condescending person. He thinks he is better than everyone.
LMAO
Those who think the mayor will win re-election is blind.
When you elect someone, that person speaks on your behalf, you voted them into office. Your vote was not attached with a caveat that states, before you vote you need to listen to me, then vote the way I want you to vote. That is not how this works, he speaks of his beliefs, then when he is elected, he votes what he thinks is best.
Think about, if you are capable, how does an elected official please everyone that voted for him? He can’t, so that is why can vote him out next election. You guys are so lost, you are blinded by the bliss!
LMAO
I grew up with Jay Robinson and you have it all wrong. This guy worked his way through college and is a down to earth, hardworking guy. You may not always agree with his politics but he is anything but condescending. You should introduce yourself to him, I think you might change your mind.
I totally agree Brown and Robinson are down to earth guys! Brown served this nation in combat and Robinson are great assets to this city!
I read that there was a woman from Rock Creek who is a good friend of the Mayor’s who was hired at an exorbitant salary for a part time assistant position; then when the Council nixed that position that she was moved to golf course management, despite having no experience.
I don’t see anything in Botop’s resume that would suggest that she is the best candidate for Fairhope’s needs. I don’t know what the Mayor is thinking, but she needs to understand that the optics of her actions have convinced most of Fairhope that she is either not very bright or that she is as equally corrupt as Kant. She can only salvage her reputation by firing her friends and then starting over and doing what she actually campaigned to do. She has only deepened the swamp so far.
It is impossible to be as corrupt as Kant
When and where did you see her resume??
Is this Bevis or BH
Ripp, someone could hang you with a brand new rope and you’d bitch about the rope being new!
Jack couldnt win dog catcher
Just watch – Boone and Burrell will be re-elected. The good ole boy network will keep them in the Council as it has kept other politicians in their seats.
Nobody in this town still wants to admit the corruption. Kant rigged the election for years. You know it. I know it. The fence post knows it. Stop acting like Fairhope is a utopia. It is not. We have major growing problems because we took the impact fees an spent them on lawsuits. We have no infrastructure but the gravy train rolls on…at Fairhope’s peril.
Correct
How did Kant rig the election? I’m not saying that it would have been impossible but I don’t understand how, with proctors at the election site, it could have been done. The poll workers do a great job of checking voter ID cards against the registered voter rolls and we feed our ballots into an electronic counter. I don’t see how so many believe that there was anything that Kant could have done. Would love for someone to explain.
Kant’s father in law rigged it for years. Mr. Odom. It was in the ripp report man.
We, the voters, are responsible. We have voted for the government that we deserve! We have, once again, voted for ‘special interests’. Maybe there are no honest choices and we vote for the lowest common denominator of corruption (Mayor Wilson) but now she has proven her own corruption so swiftly and smoothly.
I hope that she will fix her ‘little red wagon’ on Tuesday night by admitting her mistakes, letting go of Botop and the Rock Creek lady, and working with the Council (no clean hands there, either, other than Conyers, but at least an effort to work FOR our community). Otherwise, she is surely toast as is our beautiful city.
Fairhope will survive, perhaps better, if any of the ‘players’ decide to resign if they can’t work together. Wilson won by a very narrow margin ( I voted for her, as did most of my friends……most wish that they could reclaim those votes and give them to someone else!) I still hope that she will wise up and work for the city that she claims to care about.
What a crappy post. Jack Burrell will never be mayor. Get it through your thick heads good ole boys. He will be lucky to stay out of the penitentiary.
I think the rigging of the election is done with the machines and possibly reversing totals. Ask Mr. Odom, Tim Kants father-in-law, he was there the whole time, all day and through pulling the totals on the machines.
Odom is the guy’s name. He disappeared this last election. He did not “count” the votes. LOL. It’s a new day in Fairhope. Ripp screwed it up bigtime.