Last night I watched Hobson's interview on WDAM. Just as I was telling the readers the other week, when speaking with Hobson one on one, he's very attentive, engaging, and well-spoken. For the most part, he gave a very believable interview and the interview also shed some light on the accusations that are being levied against Hobson. Prior to the interview, I wasn't aware of any investigation from the State Auditors' Office. I know when I attended the meeting, there was a pile of papers laid before each of the aldermen's seat. After they voted to go into executive session, the city clerk collected Gibson and Crider's paperwork. Stephanie apparently knew I was planning on reading those papers once they went into executive session, but she was a step ahead of me and took the remaining paperwork with her. One of the most intersting things that was said during the interview was the fact that Hobson acknowledged he received a call from three aldermen (most likely, Gibson, Crider and Johnson) and they called him to inform him of the allegations that were being brought against him, but later he said he was surprised by the actions of the board. First of all, wouldn't the fact that three aldermen contacted him would be considered a violation of the open meetings law? And if he was surprised, it must have been because they informed Hobson they would not attend the meeting, but Timothy Johnson apparently didn't get the memo or he's just being passive aggressive. Johnson want Hobson to know that he didn't vote to terminate him, but had Johnson failed to attend the meeting like his buddies, Crider and Gibson, there would not have been a quorum and the meeting would have been cancelled. It was also noted that there were some concerns about the Fuelman card usage/overage and accusations that Hobson was using the Tahoe as his personal vechile.
Another point of interest was Hobson's claim that "It didn't matter where you were from. . I was going to cite you if you were wrong." Now I beg to differ on this point. I distinctly remember an incident where Bobby Gibson's brother and nephew allegedly assaulted someone while this person was at his mother's house, but the person that was being attacked was the only person charged. Somehow, they were able to claim self-defense, despite the fact that there were multiple people fighting/attacking one individual. And we all know about the Owen Hale case. He had an altercation with Tarvin Dukes. The police department was ready to take Dukes to jail because Hale was allegedly beaten to a pulp. But after conducting an investigation, it was determined that Hale was allegedly the agressor, but since his bark didn't match his bite, he looked like the victim. Well, when Hales' involvement was discovered, the police department quickly back-tracked and granted Dukes and Hales a post-release instead of arresting them. Now, this favor was granted to Hale because if her husband would have been arrested, he would have been in violation of his bond because at the time of the figh, Owen was out on a bond for felony drug possession charges. There are two favors granted to Gibson and Hale because they're Team Hobson.
Hobson stated that he's seeking an attorney to see if his termination was legal since he was off for medical reasons. I don't know if he requested a medical leave or if he called/texted that he would be out for medical reasons. But I do know that if he texted that he would be out for medical reasons, he would be in violation of the new personnel policy the board adopted when Mayor Holder was out on medical leave. This is the same personnel policy that Hobson used to justify the termination of K. Johnson and the same policy that was used to issue several write-ups against D. Wilzcek. I don't know what documentation the board has to support their reason for terminating Hobson, but it must be something serious, otherwise, Rebecca Hale would have voted with T. Johnson. Hobson said that his termination was retaliation on the part of Mayor Holder because he had her arrested and because he arrested her nephew. For the record, the mayor does not hire or fire, that duty/responsibility rests in the hands of the board of aldermen.
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