The soap opera in Haywood County continues. Previous posts have referenced articles about the new tax collector. Mike Matthews was reportedly added to the ballot to “round out” the Republicans’ list of candidates. After he won, scandals surfaced about his personal inability to pay taxes 3-4 times. His duties were reduced, and his salary commensurately, to a level at which county leadership felt confident. After reviewing his credit history, county leadership set his bond at $410,000, more than four times that of his predecessor, David Francis. Francis, who lost the election, not only was asked to stay on to do the work deemed challenging for Matthews, he must now continue as interim collector until Matthews is able to find somebody willing to bond him.
The beautiful part of it all is that Republicans are talking like Democrats and vice versa over this (1, 2).
