Toys for Tots leader on Rep. Bearden: He didn't work for us
Carrollton newspaper says local volunteer group has no records that Bearden ever worked with it
The City of Carrollton's attempt to clear the air over a controversial "verbal agreement" it made with state Rep. Tim Bearden, R-Douglasville, nearly four years ago just might have backfired.
A recap: On June 15, a Carrollton blogger broke the news that the City of Carrollton had paid Bearden nearly $93,000 since October 2005 to serve as a "consultant." When asked to produce documents that showed evidence of the state lawmaker's work, Carrollton officials said none existed.
Now there's this from the Carrollton Times-Georgian:
The local organizer for the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program has come out publicly to refute claims by the city of Carrollton that Rep. Tim Bearden helped with the annual campaign while serving as a consultant for the city.
In a paid advertisement printed in the Sunday, June 21, issue of The Times-Georgian, Carrollton Mayor Wayne Garner listed briefly “a sampling of the projects Rep. Bearden has either solely or partially been responsible for.” These include the Police Department’s “Save a Life ... Stop on Red” campaign, the “Fans for Seniors” program aimed at helping the elderly keep cool during the summer and the Toys for Tots drive that occurs every year during the Christmas season. In addition, Garner’s letter says that Bearden has also served in “an advisory capacity on sensitive police issues that are not open for public disclosure.”
But Carlis Baker, the area organizer of the toy drive, said in a letter to The Times-Georgian that his organization has no records of Bearden’s work, and if he were to be paid for his services to Toys for Tots, it would be a violation of the spirit of volunteerism that makes the program a success.
It's one thing to say the fruits of Bearden's labor existed in the "minds of the children," as city officials recently said. It's another to screw with Toys for Tots.
(Photo by Joeff Davis)