Opting out of obligations

At a time when trust in government is already abysmally low, key Garland County officials again revealed what we would categorize as a high disregard for their sworn duties and obligations.

Testifying Wednesday before the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System Board of Directors, Garland County Judge Larry Williams acknowledged he did not advise the Quorum Court that Treasurer Jo West-Taylor, Circuit Clerk Vicki Rima and Assessor Brenda Short said they were considering going off the payroll for 90 days in 2008 in order to qualify for retirement benefits. He also said he did not discuss the matter with Garland County Attorney Ralph Ohm.

After those statements and comments about checking on other elected officials whom he’d heard had “similarly retired” around the state, Williams said he did his own independent investigation, noting there was “something that kind of bothered me about it” and then he admitted, “If I had it to do all over again, I probably would have said, ‘Ladies, I think for this to work properly, you need to submit letters of resignation.’”

>> read the rest of The Sentinel-Record article, October 3, 2010, Page 20 Editorial Section