What's in a name? When taxpayer dollars are being used to construct something, you know there's a politician's name just waiting to be attached to it.

Now this is not about Bartow County Commissioner Clarence Brown, the man, but it is about his name. I personally like Clarence and think he's a decent guy. Over the years we've agreed and disagreed... I've voted for him and I've voted for his opponent... but we have a cordial relationship.

Back in 1996 Clarence asked me to serve on a focus group working on an upcoming SPLOST package. One of the items under consideration was a new civic center for Bartow County. While almost all of the focus group members agreed the center was badly needed, we also recognized that politically, county voters might not be ready for it.

Therefore the SPLOST package was broken into two parts so that citizens could vote for the civic center as a separate project. There was concern that if it were lumped in with the other road, infrastructure, and building projects, then the entire package might fail.

True to form the main SPLOST package was approved, while the civic center was defeated. Fast forward a few years to our last county SPLOST package and voters approved a project list that included a new civic or conference center (as this new one is being called), and last week the groundbreaking was held for what will be a great addition to our county, and it should provide a needed boost to local tourism and business in general. I imagine that in coming years, many of you will attend events at this state of the art facility.

So what's my beef this morning? Only one thing and this may seem nitpicky to some of you, but I am strongly opposed to naming any building, bridge, road or other taxpayer funded facility after a sitting elected official... no matter how deserving this individual may be of the honor.

Georgia is littered with plaques and signs proudly proclaiming that something is named after certain politicians, and many times these honors were bestowed upon the elected official just to improve the public stature of said official to make it a little easier for him or her to get reelected.

It's no wonder that former State Senator Nathan Dean of Rockmart served almost four decades in the state legislature. Voters had to drive on the Nathan Dean Bypass, past the Nathan Dean Recreation Complex, so they could cast their vote in the Nathan Dean Community Center with Dean's portrait hanging on the wall above the voting machines. Talking about a stacked deck!

There's just something unsettling about politicians powerful enough to take our tax money to build things and then name the things after themselves. After all it was we the people who paid for it!

If a community feels that one of their local officials is deserving of having something named in his or her honor, I have no problem with it, as long as the person is no longer serving in office and has indicated he will not seek public office again. Perhaps we need a state law mandating that nothing constructed using taxpayer funds can be named for an elected official until that person has been out of office for five years.

In the case of our new conference center, a committee appointed by Commissioner Brown decided to name the facility after Brown. Would naming the conference center after Brown be a fitting tribute for his service to the county? Yes, but not while he is still in office.

Brown has indicated he will not seek reelection again in 2012, but he stated the same thing in 2007 before changing his mind and running again in 2008. I fully appreciate the desire of those who made the naming decision, but the facility could have been given a generic name now and then be renamed after Brown has retired.

I'm not losing any sleep over this... when the ribbon cutting is held in a few months I'll shake Clarence's hand, thank him for his service, and congratulate him on the honor. And I'll push our state legislators to change the law so this kind of thing never happens again.

That's my opinion, we welcome yours... Thanks for listening and I'll see you next Monday... for a complete transcript of this morning's comments, go to NewsTalk1270.com (End of complete transcript of commentary that aired on NewsTalk AM 1270 - WYXC at 7:35 AM Monday, July 6, 2009)