COMMENTARY

MILT THOMAS

Appearing yesterday  (August 28) on the Bob Soos Morning Show on WTTB, Professor of Political Baloney, Charlie Wilson again claimed the series of articles I wrote about him last month contained “more than 40 factual errors.”

Soos finally asked him to name one and this is what he said in response: “He said (referring to Mark Schumann although I wrote the story) that i met with Fran Adams on the Tourist Development Board and I never met with someone at the Chamber. I did meet with the Chamber and Fran Adams was not on the Tourist Development Board, it was her daughter Susan Adams. I never met Fran Adams in my whole life.”

Wilson went on to say we (never mentioning InsideVero by name, only Mark Schumann) don’t cite sources and just use the term, “people say.”

Well, for Mr. Wilson and Mr. Soos’s benefit, here is a section of the transcript from that Tourist Development Council meeting I referred to in my story:

“Ms. Hunt agreed the TDC should do their homework prior to doing an RFP, and felt further discovery should be done before proceeding.

Councilwoman Adams wished to go on the record as saying she was leary of going down the path since she had been approached by a gentleman to educate her on the RFP process and was told by him he had been offered a job to oversee the RFP process. She was concerned about the intertwining of the process and the current discussion.

Chairman Wheeler asked who the gentleman was that approached her and who offered that person a job. Chairwoman Adams replied it was Mr. Charlie Wilson and he did not clarify who had offered him a job to oversee a RFP process.

Chairman Wheeler explained the only person having the ability to hire any employee for the County was Mr. Baird. Mr. Baird interjected he did not offer Mr. Wilson a job adding he does not have a budgeted position for that job.

Mr. Charlie Wilson clarified he did not ask for a job with County, and Mr. Baird did not offer him a job. He wished to state for the record he did not want anything to do with a RFP. He did do the report that showed if the committee wanted to do an RFP, it could be done under the current contract because you could still declare the Chambers as the official tourist bureau and RFP’s with the advertising agencies directly reporting the TDC.  He reiterated he did not work for the County, he was not going to work for the County, and he would not accept an invitation to reply to any bids.”

As to his assertion I wrote that he “Never met with someone from the Chamber,” I could not find that statement anywhere in any of the three part story I did about Mr. Wilson.

Mr. Wilson’s affirmed strategy of “delay, deflect and deny” only seems to work when he speaks in generalities. Mr. Soos should be commended for pinning Wilson down on his “40 factual errors” claim, to which he was only able to respond with statements that were patently untrue.

We should certainly expect more from a public figure and civic activist, but not from Charlie Wilson himself. More troublesome is if he was incorrect with these “facts,” how many of his other facts are also incorrect?