Sweetheart deal: a car for Kathy, courtesy the mayor with blessings of the Advocate

During all the time Kathleen Barch has been employed by the City of Newark as safety director, never have I had, nor have I heard a bad word about her performance. She has a professional demeanor, is articulate, rational, congenial, has a good appearance and, by all accounts I've heard, she is a good leader and a valuable asset to Newark City government. She would probably make an excellent mayor.

Young mayor Bob Diebold wanted someone else as safety director and has appointed Kathleen as service director, a good move. But here's the rub: Kathleen lives in Grove City and during old mayor Bain's tenure she commuted in a city car purchased with safety-levy funds. This is a practice of which young mayor Diebold was critical when he was a councilman and mayoral candidate, so it's said.

Well, guess what? Under young mayor Diebold (who has for practical purposes already taken the reins), that car - the one purchased with safety levy money - has been transferred "as an asset" to the city service department within recent days.

Not only is Kathleen permitted to drive the city car - the one purchased with safety levy money - back and forth to Grove City, but she's also getting free insurance, $1,000 for maintenance, and $1,000 for gas. Because she has full authority to transfer funds, when that $1,000 runs out, she will be able to slide more money over from some other service department account. It's a perk said to be valued at $10-$12,000.

Maybe that's what citizen-taxpayers would want, but I doubt it.

And I'm sure they wouldn't welcome the knowledge that the Advocate didn't report it. The Advocate, or maybe just the Advocate reporter, Kent Mallett, who wrote a glowing article on the city finance committee's approval of the new budget, maybe likes Kathleen and young mayor Diebold too much. Why stir a fuss among friends, right?

Well, try truth in government and truth in reporting, for beginners.

Mallett described how efficiently Newark City Council Finance Committee zipped through its approval of next year's budget. He told how the $94.2-million expenditure of our tax dollars took committee members only 15 minutes for which to give unanimous approval, and that council is expected to bless it Jan. 8.

The unreported auto perk has been, so far, a sweetheart deal between young mayor Diebold, finance committee members (Doug Marmie, chair; Don Ellington, Carol A. Floyd, Irene Kennedy, Ed Houdeshell (substituting for David R. Rhodes) and with the blessings of the Advocate.

It is not a sweetheart deal for mega-milked city taxpayers, not a sweetheart deal for citizens who might have hoped for an honest, above-board new city administration, not a sweetheart deal for folks relying on city council to work from the top of the deck, and not a sweetheart deal for folks who think they're buying an honest news report when they shell out money for the Advocate.