Barrett Harrison has to be one of the best pure politicians to ever hold a local public office.
He epitomizes stereotypical small-town politico -- he's cunning, slippery, says the right things, yet the results leave something to be desired.
Earlier this week, Harrison sent out a text that read: "Please go to blythevillecn.com and vote for me to keep my job."
He was referring to this week's poll on the Courier News website: "Should former Mayor Barrett Harrison lose his job as president of the BGRAA in light of the IRS crisis which began during his administration?"
As of this morning, the results are:
-- Definitely yes: 23.0% (220 votes)
-- Probably yes: 3.9% (37 votes)
-- Not sure: 1.9% (18 votes)
-- Probably not: 1.7% (16 votes)
-- Definitely not: 69.6% (667 votes)
By Tuesday, the poll participation had shattered the record for total votes, previously 507. To put it in perspective, on Wednesday morning, "definitely not" had more votes (531) than the previous record total votes. The poll ends Saturday evening.
Harrison is trying to manipulate reality and treating the poll like a campaign.
In doing so, he is presenting a mirage of support.
One can only presume he sent a number of solicitations to friends and family looking to skew the results in his favor.
To be fair, one can only vote once per machine, per browser, during a 24-hour period on this non-scientific poll, which is advertised as being for entertainment purposes only.
It's ironic that the poll numbers are basically a reverse the 2010 State Senate election. In that vote, Judge David Burnett hammered Harrison, claiming 61.5 percent of the votes, compared to Harrison's 38.5 percent. The total vote count was 4,969-3,116.
Perhaps Harrison should have sent out a bunch of text messages during his State Senate run.
Then again, those voters could only cast one vote.
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Normally, I don't respond to Letters to the Editor. I encourage different points of view, even if shots are fired in my direction.
The letters from Nancy Harrison Gurley (Barry's sister) and Floyce Harrison (Barry's mother) in Sunday's paper generated a lot of interest. If there is an easier target than a politician, it has to be a media member. I actually appreciate constructive criticism because it gives pause to consider better ways.
That said, I do want to clarify one paragraph in Mrs. Harrison's letter.
She wrote: "This newspaper's first comment on the issue was that Mayor Harrison certainly must have known about and been complicit in the non-payment. Your reporter made this statement without the benefit of all of the facts in the case, and my son had to call the paper and ask to be interviewed on the subject. When he explained how it is in fact possible for taxes to go unpaid without his knowledge, one of your reporters accused him of throwing a sweet old lady under the bus. Well, I am an old lady, too, and I ask that you not throw my son under the bus."
Moments after finding out about the IRS debacle on March 22, I called Harrison and we printed his statements. He said he had no idea the payroll taxes weren't paid, and said, "I'm as curious as anyone to find out more."
He even questioned why the city's audits didn't catch the error.
On May 16, we learned the city failed to pay $2,007,483 in payroll taxes the last two years, and later that the debt had climbed to more than $3 million with penalties and interest.
So I wrote a column expressing what I believe a lot of others were feeling. Taxpayers shouldn't be the only ones who pay for the mess left by the former administration.
I wrote: "Those in the Finance Office certainly deserve a share of the blame, but the buck stops at the mayor's desk. He was the one ultimately responsible for overseeing all operations of the city, including making sure bills are paid."
Mr. Harrison then called and requested the interview, saying that would be his only public comment on the matter. And it was, until his Letter to the Editor in October.
He maintained he had no idea the taxes weren't being paid until the IRS showed up.
"Who deserves the lion's share of the blame? I'll take it," Harrison said in May. "That's just the bottom line. It doesn't matter if I had to key it in to make it happen or not, I was the mayor. My good friend, Mayor James Sanders, is going to suffer through some of that same stuff in his tenure, whether it be four years or 20. Things are going to happen that were completely beyond his control, but he's going to have to take the whooping for it because he asked to be mayor and ran for the job and was elected. I'm not going to hesitate to tell you how embarrassing it is that this happened while I was mayor. Has anybody stolen anything? No. And I don't think anybody that really knows me or (former finance director) Faye Griggs or anybody else involved in that down there, would tell you for a second that they thought anybody had taken anything."
Hopefully, "anything" includes Blytheville's future.
mbrasfield@blythevillecourier.com