Update: Brian's blog fights back. Now, let's not go through this line by line. It's not a usenet forum. Here are my responses:
1) County HR does indeed screen employees after they are offered jobs by the "hiring authority," in this case Greg Mackay.
2) Tim Burchett is quoted as saying he supported Crilly here and is depicted as being a supporter of Mackay here and here. I'm especially certain about that second one.
3) I guess I went too far in assuming that "posted by Brian Hornback" means "posted by Brian Hornback." My apologies for that.
4) I guess I went too far in assuming that "adopted budget" means "adopted budget."
5) As for the charge that I fabricated the 2005 entry about Frith, all I can say is that it was there yesterday, and additionally, the Brian's Blog "team" may be several people but appears to be only one unbelievable piece of work. I should have taken a screen-shot, I guess. Wow.
(Note: I don't usually spend my time responding to Brian's blog, but he emailed a link of this entry to Metro Pulse as well as every other media outlet in town, so I hope I don't get any angry phone calls from him this time.)
Local blogger and former Knox County GOP Chairman Brian Hornback posted an entry last night about the recent hiring of real estate agent Scott Frith (who was almost voted into Mackay's position by the County Election Commission) for the newly created position of Deputy Administrator of Elections, a position that carries an $83,000 yearly salary.
Hornback raises some serious-sounding objections to the hire by Democratic Administrator of Elections Greg Mackay.
1.) The job was as Req. #704 and was posted for five days. It was posted July 14 - July 20, 2009 at 4:30 p.m. Because it was posted for only five days. It was not posted on the Knox County web page and was NOT advertised in the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
2.) Because it was not posted for longer than five days, the applicant pool was not screened by Knox County Human Resources. In layman's terms all resumes were simply turned over to Greg Mackay.
3.) Only four individuals applied. They are listed in alphabetical order by last name with a brief description of the material they supplied.
He concludes with this: "In our opinion it is clear that rules were stretched on this hiring and with this new day in Knox County where everything is to operate in an open and transparent process it is clear this one did not."
Let me begin by saying I completely agree that it may have been better to do this with a bit more transparency. Several people including Hornback have put forth the very credible hypothesis that this hire was an attempt to quell local Republican anger at the Election Commission's decision to keep Mackay on as Administrator.
And if that is the case, then surely it deserves attention. If there are backroom dealings here, all involved should own up. However, has Hornback really demonstrated here that the rules have been "stretched?"
In the very same blog post, Hornback quotes Election Commissioner Robert Bowman as saying "the statute gives the Administrator broad discretion, I didn't vote
for the Administrator. But, unfortunately we are stuck with it."
True. State law gives Mackay full responsibility for the hiring of his staff within the constraints of his budget, which was approved by the Election Commission and County Commission.
Mackay's office is budgeted for 17 positions. With Frith it still only has 16. Hornback objects to the fact that the salary wasn't approved by County Commission. But, unless Mackay goes beyond his $1.5 million budget, why should he have to do that?
As for the lack of "screening" by HR, that's not their job. This is:
Applications for employment shall be accepted by the human resources manager and distributed to the hiring authorities having job openings. (From Knox County Charter)
Of course, it's clear that Hornback is really pissed off at (1) Paul Crilly, the only Republican Commissioner who voted to keep Mackay on, and (2) Tim Burchett, who supported Crilly's re-election to the Commission earlier this year as well as the new election of Robert Bowman (instead of Hornback himself, who also applied for the position). Burchett was also a very strong supporter of Mackay.
The entry gets downright embarrassing when it stoops to juvenile attacks. Hornback spends a large portion of the entry lambasting Frith's experience, intelligence, etc., like here:
Scott Frith, a realtor listed on his application for employment his mother Diane Frith as his only work reference and supervisor. He listed that he was a graduate of Halls High School and the University of Tennessee. He simply listed a Bachelor of Arts. Editorial Note: It is nice to have the recommendation of your mommy.
In contrast, here is Hornback on Scott Frith in 2005, when Frith won Halls Man of the Year. The post is titled "Congratulations to Scott Frith":
I first met Scott in 1998, Scott helped Republican Cathy Quist in her campaign for Circuit Court Clerk. Scott was either a Senior at Halls High School or just out of high school and he mobilized some young people calling themselves "The Conquistadors". At the time, in the primary I managed the successful campaign of Republican County Commissioner Mike Arms and in the general election managed the county-wide campaign of Republican candidate for Chancellor Wayne Houser.
A few years ago Scott was encouraged to pursue the position of Knox County Republican Chairman, he chose not to. Scott, What was that you said to me this past January? "Have you lost your mind?"
Scott is a successful businessman with Realty Executives. He is very committed to his community, Halls and is an all around good guy. If you don't believe me, just ask him. I think I can hear him now, "it's because, I am Scott Frith."
Geez, I wonder what happened there.
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