Hilton Head councilman’s antics against citizen have reached cartoonish levels | Opinion
Much like his (one presumes) idol Wile E. Coyote, Hilton Head Island Town Councilman Tom Lennox appears to have an open line of credit with Acme Co. and a pathetic habit of standing under his own anvil.
Truly, I cannot wait to see what he orders next in his mission to foil the Road Runner — pardon me, I mean Skip Hoagland, the private citizen whose opinions Lennox is trying to silence on behalf of ... constituents? No. That can’t be right.
Perhaps Lennox is doing this in the name of upholding democratic values and as a steward of good governance? Lol.
Hmmm. Who would benefit most from a tame and quiet Skip Hoagland? A Hoagland who no longer is able to loudly demand transparency in how town and county governments have been spending millions of dollars with the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce?
Think, Liz. Think.
Actually, let’s hold off on that for a second.
Let’s instead focus on the part where Lennox, a man who holds a position of public trust, is continuing to harass and intimidate a citizen.
Three weeks ago Lennox used Acme’s Taxpayer and Resident X-Ray Machine to expose that “Skip” is a man’s nickname, used in place of another moniker (in Hoagland’s case, Calvin C.; in other men’s cases, Winston, James, Theodore, Arthur, Peter, John, Warren, Phillip, etc. ad infinitum).
The machine also revealed that Hoagland, much like other wealthy septuagenarians on Hilton Head with estate planners, has no property in his name in Beaufort County.
By performing this bit of theater, Lennox appeared to be suggesting that public discourse should be limited to property owners and people who go by their given names.
I hope he left Acme a zero-star review for that one.
This week Lennox had a new toy.
After Tuesday’s Finance Committee meeting, he handed Hoagland an Exploding Piece of Paper, that is, a copy of a report from Hoagland’s 2011 felony arrest for having a loaded gun in his suitcase at the Savannah-Hilton Head Island International Airport.
Hoagland is already aware of this arrest because, as is usually the case in these situations, he was present when it occurred.
He is also aware that other people know about it.
The man’s own business cards feature his mugshot and charges. He will readily tell you the story behind his three days in jail should you be interested in hearing such details.
So I’m not sure what Lennox was up to here. But I do know it was unprofessional and unacceptable behavior from an elected official.
Of course, we can guess at reasons a person — someone who has caused great discomfort and irritation among powerful circles — might be handed a piece of paper containing what many might consider embarrassing facts about him.
Maybe it was a warning. Speak again and we will reveal this secret.
Maybe it was an outing — a cowardly way to get someone to publicize his own past. We know you’ll tell everyone that we did this to you. Now people will question whether you’re a public threat.
Maybe it was a wish. We hope you get so angry about this that you are pushed over the edge in public comment. Now we’ll have an excuse to remove you and ban you from future meetings.
Imagine the smiles on certain people’s faces if Tuesday night had led to a photo and video of Hoagland getting led out of Town Hall in handcuffs by all four deputies — yes, four — who were in attendance.
But that is not what happened.
Whatever it was Lennox was attempting backfired.
These antics have instead left us with even more and serious questions about how much the town and chamber might be hiding.
The issue is this: The chamber receives public money through its nonprofit arm to market this area to tourists; there is very little public oversight as to how this money is being spent. Hoagland is the loudest and most persistent among those calling for greater accountability.
In the simplest terms, the chamber is a business hired by local government, and there is a process in place ensuring that those in charge of public coffers aren’t awarding lucrative deals that are above market value to friends — and that the public is actually getting the services it thinks it is paying for.
This process is meant to keep everyone honest.
The chamber, citing fears about revealing its “secret sauce,” has gone to great lengths to stay outside of this process, and its deals with Hilton Head have, until recently, been the kind struck mainly through handshakes.
The most egregious part is that the public is not allowed to directly see how the chamber is spending this money. The town, instead, can send a member of council to view the chamber’s receipts.
Which means we have to trust that our council members are acting in our interest and not in the interest of the chamber.
It’s difficult to have that trust when you see the lengths public officials have been willing to go to in pursuit of shutting down what amounts to three minutes of lively, chamber-related criticism.
It’s also difficult to have trust when the antics keep getting lower.
Maybe for the next Town Council meeting Lennox should consider a catapult because when he’s done, we can use it to solve the affordable housing problem on Hilton Head. “Finished waiting tables for the day? Get on in and we’ll hurtle you home to Hampton County!”
Or Acme Grease! Lennox should cover council chambers in a slippery substance (“secret sauce”?) so every time Hoagland gets up to speak during public comment, he slides back to the parking lot, where alligator bouncers are waiting to carry him back to Florida, the other state he lives in.
Or maybe Lennox should peel himself off the side of the mountain, say “That’s all, folks” and focus instead on protecting the public purse.
This story was originally published January 9, 2020 at 4:45 AM with the headline "Hilton Head councilman’s antics against citizen have reached cartoonish levels | Opinion."
