Thursday, January 5, 2012
Bryant mayor taps GOP boss as interim city attorney
Posted by Max Brantley on Thu, Jan 5, 2012 at 8:12 PM
- Cheree Franco
- Republican Dabbs presides over Bryant City Council meeting
You heard about it here first a couple of nights ago. Now the rumor is official. Bryant Mayor Jill "Republican" Dabbs tonight appointed State Republican Party Chairman Doyle Webb as interim city attorney. Dabbs fired the previous city attorney, Nga Mahfouz, last week. (sorry, forced her resignation.) The mayor gave no reason for the ouster of a successful official who came to the city after municipal league experience.
Shelli Russell reports on Mysaline.com that Webb accepted — how nice of him — pay of $65,000 a year for 60 to 90 days. That means roughly $5,400 a month or $10,000 to $15,000 for Webb. The mayor said Webb will not be in the office 8-5 for that money. No, course not. He'll be on KNUT (ARN) or doing other Republican mouthpiece work for which he is paid $90,000 a year. He will, of course, be continuing the extermination of political opposition in Saline County. He has experience in other areas of the law. Doing a little probate work for elderly ladies. Or straightening up personal foreclosure issues.
Some members of the council expressed concern over this appointment.
"So you appointed him as city attorney?" Council member Brenda Miller asked. "He will be complying with our job description and will be our full-time attorney and be available to the staff and the council on an eight to five basis?"
"He will be available to us anytime by phone or email. He will be in the office a lot," Dabbs responded.
Another Council member, Chris Tipton, asked how long Dabbs expected the interim period to last ("30 to 90 days") and when the job would be posted ("soon").
This one is hard to figure, except to the extent it signals more party-style discipline against those who dissent against Dabbs. But dissent continues apace. The Council tonight voted to reinstate Finance Director Gary Hollis, who was forced to resign by Dabbs last week. The announcement had mixed results among attendees—it was met with a partial standing ovation and a round of boos. Fox news hints that Hollis and Mahfouz were asked to resign because they're undergoing (unwarranted?) criminal investigation. According to sources, Hollis requested his former position, but Mahfouz refused to return under the Dabbs mafia.
More is in store by way of Council disapproval of the mayor's high-handed reign. The Council also defeated a measure to increase the tax on alcohol in Bryant to pay for police cars for Police Chief Mark Kizer's force. According to Hamid Pezeshk, owner of Luigi's Pizza, only seven businesses serve alcohol in Bryant, and the numbers don't add up. "Last meeting I asked the mayor what the total sales are generated by alcohol. She said two million. I asked where she got that number, and she had to think about it, and then she said, 'the city.' " But Pezeshk said that he's spent hours on the phone with Alcoholic Beverage Control, which claims the numbers are between $700,000 and $800,000.
"Even if this tax passes, it’ll be at most $40,000 extra revenue for the city a year, not $100,000. We found out last meeting that they’re planning on purchasing 33 new Tahoes at $40,000 each, which brings payments up to $300,000 a year for four years," he said.
Mayor Dabbs seems to enjoy the support of the police and fire departments. Daniel Weger, president of the local firefighters union, circulated a statement to press: "Mayor Dabbs has had to make tough decisions...but it is our belief that she is doing what is best for this city."
There was a large presence of police and firefighters at the meeting. The police walked out en masse after the fleet issue was temporarily tabled, so that the Council can explore more affordable options and figure out budget measures.
Time out for a Bryant political incest primer: Chief Kizer (who got his job from Dabbs) is a Saline JP with Dabbs' husband, Allan, a chiropractor. Kizer's wife, Heather "Republican" Kizer, ran for office (city clerk) with Dabbs and both went to court to get their names listed on the ballot as "Republican," lest anybody be unclear about how partisan they planned to be in the non-partisan city offices. In the first month in office, Dabbs and Kizer nabbed illegal pay raises (even a Republican prosecutor said the raises were dubious) and Dabbs was cited by the state Ethics Commission for a variety of ethical miscues.
The fun clearly has only just begun for the Bryant Barracudas (also the name of the swim team on which Dabbs' daughter has swum and which the mayor targeted for a little city help at the municipal pool early in her tenure.)
Can Arkansas mayors be recalled? Or do people in Bryant like this kind of leadership?
Note to Bryant dissidents: As city attorney, Webb enjoys no attorney-client protection under the FOI law. You may request his documents, e-mails and other communications with Da Mayor.
- Cheree Franco
- CAR PLEA: Chief Kizer arguing for new Tahoes
- Cheree Franco
- POLICE SUPPORT: Cops attended the meeting hoping for a new fleet
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Comments (22)
Showing 1-22 of 22
The people in Bryant will vote how they're told to, no matter how bad the electee actually is.
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I hope the City Council continues to oppose this crazy, power-happy bitch, and that the cirizens throw her ass under the bus come election time.
that up beat in bryant person on Mysaline is police chief kizer this week.
Knowing how short that little pimple Doyle Webb is and seeing the dominatrix-looking queen Dabbs at the same height (or lack thereof), they would both need stepladders to pick strawberries.
The Mafia may find a new business model in these Rethuglicon Tea Pot Heads.
"Dabbs fired the previous city attorney, Nga Mahfouz, last week. (sorry, forced her resignation.) "
I don't understand this conclusion since city attorney is an elected office and not appointed.
Rowdy is almost correct.... Doyle is a sack of shit, and appears sawed off, but it is an incredibly dense sack of shit. Three years, and its a diamond sack of shit (and I may have allowed for too much time, but atomospheric pressure being as it is......)
just clicked on to the above:
"State GOP chief’s business in foreclosure
Posted on 10 September 2009
By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — A Saline County business owned by Arkansas Republican Party Chairman Doyle Webb and his wife is in foreclosure, court documents show.
The proceeding, first reported today by insidesaline.com, says that as of July 31, Doyle and Barbra Webb, owners of Webb’s House of Flowers in Benton, owed more than $660,000 in principal, interest and late fees to First Security Bank in Benton for the business they purchased in 2006.
The Aug. 5 filing in Saline County Circuit Court seeks immediate possession of the property for sale at a foreclosure sale by the county clerk.
Doyle Webb declined comment Thursday and referred questions to his attorney, Peter Heister, who did not return calls to his office seeking comment. "
-----------------------------------------
Another of several reasons Repubs should never run an economy....
eLwood, that could explain why Doyle Webb is picking up any job he can find. If he'd behave I'd hire him to rotate my tires.
she is giving Bryant a bad reputation,,,,,,she's trying to bribg BIG GOVERMENT to what once was a great place to live,,way to to go dictator Dabbs......
They get elected by saying government is not working and then they prove themselves right.
So glad to see the Council FINALLY stand up to this woman! It's about time!!!
I have to say the situation in Bryant is what America is like in a fish bowl. Of course the cops will support Dabbs; she is going to give them new toys to play with. Is it too far fetched to imagine people who disagree with Dabbs being hassled by Dabbs and her $40,000 Tahoe driving Bryant cops. Police state in Bryant? Seriously, this IS the Republican Party of 2012. These people make the County Bosses and Sheriffs of old look benevolent.
I much preferred last night's picture. It must be a Madonna/whore complex I have....Republican women Viagra me thru the air or something. How can I face my family knowing I'd buy naked pictures of Jill Dabbs if they were available. If there is a hell......I'll glow like the sun. I feel so dirty...
Next thing you know, Webb will be telling the less fortunate to "get a job".
Dabbs is acting so much like the good ol' boys, that I wonder if she had to start shaving a couple times a week. Too much testosterone does that to you.
Cato, City Attorney doesn't have to be an elective position. The City Council can make it an appointive position, if there are no attorneys who run for the position in the city. If some attorney who is a resident chose to, he or she could make them put it on the ballot.
mysaline.com might want to change it's name. Mysaline was an experimental drug for epilepsy in the 1960's. Later, it was found to cause brain damage. Maybe that's the reason for all the funny behavior of the mayor.
Mysaline.com is a joke anyway... the people there are clueless and are very mis-informed along with Mr. Henley
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