When it comes to Beaufort Co. Auditor Jim Beckert, the lawsuits outnumber the answers

In August Beaufort County Treasurer Maria Walls filed a lawsuit last month alleging that she had been stalked, harassed and secretly recorded by County Auditor Jim Beckert.

Earlier this month a second woman, former Beaufort County Chief Financial Officer Alicia Holland, filed a lawsuit against Beckert; in her suit, Holland echoed many of Walls’ allegations about being harassed and bullied by the county auditor.

The allegations made by both women are troubling.

They are disturbing.

They are alarming.

They deserve far more answers than Beckert has provided so far.

And they deserve a far more robust response than Beaufort County government has shown so far.

To this point neither Beckert nor the county government have shown the transparency that they owe the citizens of Beaufort County — particularly on a matter regarding serious allegations about a public official’s conduct in office.

That must change.

Now.

No comment

In the wake of the lawsuits by Walls and Holland, Beckert — who is not only a public official but an elected one as well — has steadfastly declined to comment on the allegations, which have raised questions about his fitness to hold the office he’s been given by citizens.

Does Beckert actually believe that he owes the public no explanations and no answers regarding the fact that two colleagues, one of whom still works in the county government, have taken legal action against him?

His silence has created a perception of entitled arrogance.

And that’s just not going to cut it.

Passive approach

Meanwhile, it’s both puzzling and mystifying that the county government as a whole appears to treating the serious allegations against Beckert with too much passivity and too little openness.

It has largely been through the assiduous reporting of Island Packet reporter Kacen Bayless and others that the public has learned most of the details about Beckert’s alleged behavior toward fellow employees — including the fact that both Walls and Holland maintain they repeatedly raised concerns to other county officials about the county auditor, but that no action was ever taken.

At the very least such complaints raise real concerns that a toxic culture has developed within Beaufort County government.

At the very least they should be spurring calls by county officials for a root-and-branch probe into the workplace environment in a public entity that should be solely focused on doing the public’s work.

But there are worrying signs that county officials still don’t grasp the gravity of these issues.

If they did, why on Earth did it take the second lawsuit by Holland before Beaufort County Council members could be stirred enough to merely take the step of relocating Beckert’s office outside the county’s main administration building?

Isn’t that a move that you’d assume would be a no-brainer to make while questions about the county auditor’s alleged behavior were under review?

Citizens deserve more

The allegations against Beckert are just that at the moment; they’re allegations that still must be proven.

But even at this early point, Beaufort County’s taxpayers deserve more than the utter silence they’ve been getting from Beckert regarding concerns about his behavior as a public official.

And they deserve more than the grudging reluctance that county government has been displaying in seeking answers to these serious questions.

This story was originally published September 22, 2020 at 7:08 AM.