Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale is mired in an accounting nightmare, and now his finance administrator, John Werner, has resigned. On Thursday, Ragsdale sat with long-time friend Hallerin Hill for an interview on Knoxville’s power station WNOX 100.3 FM. Not to disappoint, Ragsdale turned testy even on his good friend Hal–much to Hill’s apparent surprise. Hill wasn’t even grilling the old boy.

And then in a move that seemed to defy reality, Mayor Ragsdale took an on-air swipe at the Knoxville News Sentinel. By his own admission, he told of how good the Sentinel has been to him. But as we’ve seen with the high-flying lifestyles of the Ragsdale administration (with the taxpayers paying the bill), enough is never enough. He couldn’t help himself.

He mentioned an area crime that was buried in the back of the News Sentinel, while the ongoing story of the misuse of county taxpayer money was more prominent in the paper. Surely the Sentinel could get their priorities right—at least that was the implication of the Mayor’s statements.

Uh-oh! Wrong move, Mayor! Mayor Ragsdale awoke Friday morning to this story, front and center headline on the front page of the Knoxville News Sentinel:

The lobster was so good, taxpayers bought two to go for the guests of the Mayor’s office! Can it be any more obvious that we’re dealing with theft?

Here’s the story from Scott Barker at the Sentinel:

The Knox County mayor’s executive administrative assistant, a then-county commissioner and another diner liked the lobster tails they ate for lunch at Regas last October so much they got two more to go.

The lobster tails cost $75.95 a pair.

And taxpayers picked up the tab.

Receipts for the meal — which cost a total of $227.56, including tip, for three people — turned up during a News Sentinel review of purchasing card records in Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale’s office.

and this:

The receipts indicate Loyd went to Regas on Oct. 6, 2006, with Jordan and an unnamed third diner. Jordan’s name is scrawled in handwriting on one copy of the receipt, along with the notation, “mtg to discuss w mayor.”

What!?! Wine, Morton’s, ball games, Smoothies…and now lobster? Is it appropriate to be buying a Commissioner lunch at Regas with a purhasing card? And two meals to go?
Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale is an old government pro. He’s lived bureaucracy. He was a County Commissioner. He knows the rules. I’m sorry, but this appears more than accidental charges. It looks institutionalized.

Do you live in Knox County? If you don’t, you need to make sure there are policies and procedures in place to prevent this kind of abuse. And I’d check into the “what happens” next portion of your county laws if this kind of abuse is discovered. Here in Anderson County, a cover-up of sorts led to County Commission instituting a policy of time demands for notifying the proper authorities when such misuse of taxdollars is discovered.

The Knox County DA’s office isn’t talking. And they should be. The only statement we’ve seen is this, from the Sentinel:

Ragsdale added that he has had “multiple discussions” with Knox County District Attorney General Randy Nichols regarding the situation.

Ragsdale did not elaborate on those conversations.

Nichols’ top assistant, John Gill, said it would be “inappropriate” for the office to conduct an investigation at this time “because the process of just gathering information is still ongoing.”

Again, Dwight Van de Vate said on our radio program that Nichols had indicated he wasn’t interested in the case as long as any monies were repaid. He had bigger things to deal with. Uh….is that how its supposed to work? The Mayor runs the investigation?