| Forsyth County Board of Commissioners goes back to drawing board
Published Jan 20, 2007 Potential County Manager candidate withdraws name from consideration The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners will be exploring new candidates for their County Manager position after it was learned today that Randall Dowling has turned down an offer to come to Forsyth County. In an afternoon telephone call to Commission Chairman Charles Laughinghouse, Mr. Dowling expressed his deep regret at his decision to withdraw his name from consideration. Mr. Dowling had consented to have his name released as a finalist for the position on Tuesday, January 16, 2006. When questioned about his reason for withdrawing, Mr. Dowling thanked Commissioners Harrell, Laughinghouse, and Richard for their support but was swayed in the end by the negative publicity generated by the comments of Commissioners Ledbetter and Tam. Mr. Dowling said that he did not feel he could serve when two members of the board were so negative of his candidacy. Mr. Dowling, whose qualifications far exceeded those of previously-approved applicant Sammy Rich, declined to come to Forsyth County on a 3-2 majority vote, citing disagreement with commissioners using votes as political payback when making an important decision such as who will manage the county, and not wanting to come into a situation where his hands would be tied on day one without the full support of the Board of Commissioners. Offer from Brian Tam to support the candidate only if Tam's personal aide is kept on staff was rejected. Commission Chairman Charles Laughinghouse said District 2 Commissioner Brian Tam, in a discussion on Saturday, January 6th, announced that he would vote for the new County Manager, “only if you (Laughinghouse) vote to let me keep my aide.” Chairman Laughinghouse, in a statement today said, “That’s not the way I do business. My votes are not for sale. We had a highly-qualified County Manager candidate waiting in the wings in Mr. Dowling, ready to start in February, and Commissioner Tam put his personal interest ahead of the best interest of the county.” District 4 Commissioner David Richard, reached at home, added, “If you take a look at the qualifications of Sammy Rich, whom Brian Tam and Linda Ledbetter both voted for, and the qualifications of Mr. Dowling, there is no comparison. It’s a shame that any commissioner would choose his or her personal needs over the needs of Forsyth County. Commissioners have worked long and hard in trying to bring a truly exceptional candidate to Forsyth as County Manager, and to lose him because another commissioner doesn’t want to do the work we elected him to do is simply a disgrace.” Commissioner Jim Harrell, in a telephone interview, stated “I have deep regret at Mr. Dowling’s decision to withdraw and I am extremely dissatisfied with the actions of some of my fellow commissioners. I cannot understand why a man with his qualifications received such negative press from two of my fellow commissioners. One must wonder if they have the best interest of this county at heart.” Chairman Laughinghouse added, “I guess it is back to square one again, although I don’t know if we’ll ever find another candidate with as good a set of qualifications as this last one. I thought we had a real winner here, but political agendas have lost this candidate to us for good.” |