McDonough Clerk Fired for Allegedly Stealing City Funds

In local Henry County news, a City of McDonough administrative clerk who happens to be the McDonough Police Chief's wife, was separated from her job for allegedly stealing city funds.

I don't like the way the ajc article is written. The article implies a couple of things. First by making the article about the Chief and not his wife (starting with the headline), the ajc is implying some sort of impropriety or problem with the Chief with absolutely no support . Second, the article also implies that since she is the Chief's wife, there could be some shenanigans in the way the investigation is handled.

Two things:

1. I certainly hope that the Chief is not tainted by the alleged actions of his wife. Even though it is his wife, it's not him. Plus, these are simply allegations at this point. To focus on him rather than his wife is unfair at best.

2. The Henry County District Attorney's Office is extremely professional and fair. Tommy Floyd is one of the, if not the most, respected District Attorney in this State and he has an excellent staff of Assistant District Attorneys, Investigators, and support staff. I am sure the investigation will be handled accordingly. Any unsupported implication that there could be an improper investigation because the clerk happens to be the police Chief's wife is ridiculous.

So what would I have done differently than the ajc? First, I would have talked about an administrative clerk allegedly stealing city funds and mentioned in passing that she happens to be the police Chief's wife (if I mentioned it at all). Although this might be less sensational, it is the right thing to do. Focusing on the Chief and not the wife has serious implications that have, from what I can tell from the article, no support at all. Second, I would not have published anything about any alleged conflict of interest unless I had something to support it.

You may be saying to yourself: "But they didn't say there was a conflict of interest." Yeah right, the article says:

"The district attorney is handling the investigation and McDonough police are not involved, the chief said.

“There is no actual or potential conflict of interest,” the chief said."

The only reason the ajc included this was to imply a conflict of interest. It would sort of be like writing an article about a t.v. personality and quoting him as saying "I have not beat my wife." Of course in that situation, as with the ajc article, the implication is that there is something to defend. Sneaky.

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