14 M E T R O S P I R I T N O V 6 2 0 0 3
The
LAME Commissioners DUCK F
Bill Kuhlke
Ulmer Bridges
or the past eight years, Bill Kuhlke and Ulmer Bridges have withstood an immense amount of abuse. As members of the frequently ridiculed and often denounced Augusta Commission, they have become accustomed to public criticism. Whether it’s Augusta Mayor Bob Young painting the local government as a “cesspool” of corruption or a Richmond County special grand jury conducting a nearly three-year investigation of what it called the “sorry state of affairs in our government,” Kuhlke and Bridges have come to accept such condemnations as part of their job. And at times, it was difficult for these two long-time commissioners to disagree with some of the skeptics. In 2000, after the district seats of commissioners Freddie Handy and J.B. Powell were replaced by Marion Williams and Andy Cheek — the now much-talked-about “twin brothers” of the commission — Kuhlke and Bridges couldn’t help but notice a huge power shift occurring on the 10member commission. When Williams and Cheek were elected to the local government, “the gang of six,” as it was nicknamed by The Augusta Chronicle, was born. At that time, commissioners Lee Beard, Richard Colclough, Henry Brigham, Willie Mays, Cheek and Williams began voting regularly together as a group, leaving four men out of the loop: commissioners Jerry Brigham, Steve Shepard, Bridges and Kuhlke. This power shift began what Kuhlke and Bridges once described as the downward spiral of the government. “Chaos,” Kuhlke called the local government in Nov. 2000. “I think since the first of the year, we’ve reversed the positive trend that we’ve tried to develop over the first four years of consolidation. And I think we are headed south in the situation we are in right now.” Bridges echoed Kuhlke’s concerns, telling the Metro Spirit in 2000, “I would describe the actual management of the government as being in a crisis mode.” A lot has changed since those days. Commissioners Bobby Hankerson and Tommy Boyles have replaced both Henry and Jerry Brigham on the commission, thereby again altering its makeup. And soon another change will occur. On Dec. 31, Kuhlke and Bridges will step down from the district seats they have held since elected in 1995. These two commissioners have been a part of
local government since the birth of consolidation. They’ve given eight years of their lives to the citizens of Augusta-Richmond County. Eight years of their lives that were anything but easy. “The biggest comment as a commissioner I get is, ‘How do you stand it?’” Kuhlke said, sitting in the mayor pro tem’s office on the eighth floor of the city’s municipal building. “That’s it,” Bridges responded, nodding his head. “Bill, that’s exactly it.” “People think we’re crazy,” Kuhlke said, laughing. “You know, even before I was elected to my seat, people would say things like, ‘Why do you want to do that?’ They couldn’t understand why I wanted to run for office. And the people making these comments were friends of mine.” Kuhlke currently runs a highly successful, familyowned company called Kuhlke Construction & Associates. He is well respected by Augusta’s affluent community and has strong ties to the area. Many of his friends and colleagues simply couldn’t understand why Kuhlke would want to jeopardize his personal life and professional success to become an Augusta commissioner. “My response to that kind of comment was, ‘Look, I’ve got a vested interest in this community and I’m going to be here for a long time. I’ve got family here, I’ve got a business here and I want to do whatever I can do to make this a good place to live,’” Kuhlke said. “I also got involved because I was a proponent of consolidation and had worked on it to get it passed. “I honestly felt like once consolidation passed that I ought to try and see if I could make a difference in making it work. I personally thought, and still believe to this day, consolidation was the salvation of Augusta-Richmond County.” However, Kuhlke said he soon learned that changing the government is much different than operating a business. “My first reaction on the commission was, ‘I’ve been in business all my life. Maybe I can bring some business principles to this government,’” Kuhlke said. “Well, that didn’t really happen. I hope that I brought some new ideas to the government, but I don’t think government can work like a business. It’s different. The budgetary process is different. The hiring process is different. It’s just a whole different ballgame. “And ironically, what I didn’t know, and I’ve made this comment publicly a number of times, was that I was more influential with the county commission before I became a county commissioner.”
By Stacey Eidson
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