Franklin County Commission Has Money to Burn?

If a Hollywood star is involved in a scandal, it's not unusual to learn that he or she has hired a public relations specialist to repair any damage done. The same is true for a business. Look at Facebook and all the effort it's exerted to mend fences with the betrayed public sector.

How about government? How about a cash-strapped government especially? Should it attempt to repair a damaged reputation with public relations? It would seem that's what the Franklin County Commission is doing.

The commission itself doesn't have a website, but is included in the universal FranklinCountyAl.org site. That's pretty standard, and most citizens know how to find these names and phone numbers. 

But in case you missed it, the commission has recently suffered from some very bad publicity when the daughter of one of its members embezzled around a quarter of a million dollars from the government entity. The commission chair has issued several statements designed to rebuild community trust, but perhaps he or the commissioners felt this just wasn't enough.

Now you can go to the Franklin County Times website and find rotating ads for the commission and each commissioner. We've never seen anything like this for Lauderdale...or Colbert...or any other county. 

No, we're pretty sure that it doesn't cost as much to advertise in the Franklin County Times as it does to advertise similarly in the Los Angeles Times. Yet it does cost something, and Franklin County can ill afford any needless expenses at this time - especially needless expenses for the sole purpose of making the duped commissioners look less foolish.

Since the commissioners are making sure you know who they are and how to contact them, how about it? If you live in Franklin County, be sure to give them a call to tell them what you think about this needless public relations expense.