This morning’s N&R reports that Guilford County Commissioner Steve Arnold is weighing whether or not to resign:
Arnold said he’d make a decision within the next month. He is the board’s longest-serving member, having been a commissioner since 1990.
“The public deserves to have an elected official be able to have total concentration and abilities on their job and their responsibilities,” Arnold said, “and I have been weighing whether or not I’ve been able to do that appropriately.”
Arnold said his thoughts on resigning arose before the events of the past two days, when news broke that a Superior Court judge had ordered him arrested and jailed in connection with a long-running development dispute in Archdale.
The judge, John O. Craig III, stayed the order Thursday, giving Arnold until Oct. 1 to pay a development company and its lawyers $6,250, as well as providing information and documents the company had requested.
Lingering over this is the possibility that Arnold’s company, Arcon, might soon declare bankruptcy. It indeed strains credibility to believe that a county commissioner can manage the public’s money when he can’t manage his own. Then again, Arnold’s philosophy regarding taxpayers’ money is pretty simple: the government needs to quit spending so damn much of it.
