Editorial: Frank economic development talk is good thing

Sure, it's worth paying attention when the CEO of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce says the bickering between Athens-Clarke County commissioners and the Athens-Clarke County Economic Development Foundation could hurt the community's chances for attracting new businesses and industries.

As reported Thursday in this newspaper, Georgia Chamber CEO Chris Clark told an Athens Rotary Club audience that such infighting "sends a very negative message (to economic development prospects). You think 'That's just our local conversation,' but it spills over everywhere."

Well, maybe it "spills over everywhere," but there's a contrarian viewpoint hat says such bickering might not necessarily send "a very negative message." In fact, that sort of thing might send a very positive message to any prospects who take even a moment to look beyond the mere fact of that bickering to discover the reasons behind it.

As noted in Thursday's story, the current unpleasantness between some county commissioners and some members of the EDF board began when three commissioners - Andy Herod, Mike Hamby and Kelly Girtz - began raising questions about the EDF's effectiveness.

Those concerns led to a 7-1 commission vote to withhold most of this fiscal year's allocation from the county to the EDF as a means of beginning to hold the EDF publicly accountable for its efforts - or lack thereof - to spur business and industrial development.

Unfortunately, the three commissioners' efforts to have three commissioners installed on the EDF board added an unnecessary political component to the perfectly reasonable effort to get some additional accountability from the foundation. Clearly, having that many commissioners on the EDF board, even if it could be accomplished, could force some unhelpful political dimensions onto

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