Canny Canadian Carnegie Causes Caustic Comments

Or, if you prefer the sub-title: Revenge of the Tourism Board.

When a 30K firm of head-hunters was engaged, we held out little hope that our friend Alison Stanfield would be promoted to the position she deserved. After all, the board would say, did you really think we paid all that money just to hire the prophet from our own country?Obviously not.

Our money was on the candidate from Birmingham. We even felt there were possible, perhaps even likely, behind the scenes machinations going on there. But, no. The board in their finite wisdom hired the candidate from Canada. Let's consider this for a moment. Very little has been said about the actual arrangement, but we may infer a few things.

* Rob Carnegie, the new director, previously worked in Franklin,Tennessee, for three years. He either has or has had a work permit to toil within our country. He may even have dual citizenship—he is an alumnus of a U.S. college. The public has very little information on Carnegie outside his LinkedIn page. 

* Work visas/permits are routinely given to students, but are not usually long-term unless the individual is in a unique field. We don't think tourism qualifies for this. 

* But, wait! Carnegie is also a singer/songwriter. The next time DreamVision holds a news conference, he can be there with his original composition adding credence to the event...or at least some humor.

* What does Carnegie say, eh? In his own words: "There is definitely an attachment here, being my hometown, but at the same time too I'm excited about the opportunity ahead of me," Carnegie said. "I'm going to miss (the staff) and it's hard leaving that culture and environment. That's the part of it that's the most difficult."

* Trouble in paradise? According to Kingston news reports, Carnegie is the second similar official to resign in as many weeks. Just wait until he meets our board on their terms...snicker.

* Salary? Our fellow blogger L. Stone has indicated the 70K to 120K range is determined by whether the new director is a spouse of a board member or simply a cousin. Just how much will Carnegie's salary be? We await...

* Local knowledge? No, he really won't be standing on a street corner directing stray tourists, so we're not as concerned with his lack of local background as with other problems he may either encounter or unwittingly produce. Just wait until he realizes the depth of the Tennessee River.

* The big question? Go ahead and shoot the messenger if you wish over this one, because we're owning it. Why hire a Canadian over a U.S. citizen? Please, Alex & David & any other stooges out there, tell us why. Is it because the promised advent of Chinese Communists at UNA didn't produce any riots and you're getting something (we don't know what, but something) out of this?

We'll be discussing the treatment of Allison Stanfield at a later date. Comments solicited, welcome, and published!



Shoalanda