Walter's getting a raw deal from media
Inside Liberty Watch Today - Dec. 9, 2005

I've watched, listened and read as my friend Billy Walters has been generally trashed by the media in the past few months.

Yes, I consider Walters a friend.

If you live here, you should, too.

There are very few individuals in this community who have done more to help those who cannot help themselves than Billy Walters.

Walters' crime is that he's a whole lot smarter than the bureaucrats with whom he negotiates at the city and county.

That doesn't make him a crook. Just a whole lot smarter.

Actually, the image of Walters negotiating a deal with almost anyone employed by the city or county brings to mind the Roman Coliseum and, trust me, Walters is not leading the Christians. (And, that's known as hyperbole—not an insult.)

Walters is, in his chosen field, a lot like Michael Jordan or Jeff Gordon are to basketball or stock car racing.

Jordan's greatness was not in his physical superiority. He had that, but so do a lot of other athletes. His ability was complimented by his skill at seeing the game develop and anticipating the next five plays. Same with Gordon. There are a lot of great drivers in NASCAR. However, Gordon's success is in not only being a great driver but anticipating what will happen as the race unfolds.

Walters knows the business of developing golf courses inside and out.

Back in the 1990s, we needed golf courses and Walters specialized in buying or leasing tracts of land and developing those courses. In most cases, that land was not—at the time—useful for anything else. He didn't do anything that city or county officials didn't ask him to do.

As time has gone on, that land became more valuable for other purposes.

And golf courses are now plentiful and overdeveloped.

None of that is Walters' fault.

But when he wanted to make the appropriate moves on land which he already owned, those people who sometimes think that the world owes them a living got jealous. 

They thought Walters was making too much money.

Maybe he is, but now is not the time to correct narrow thinking on the part of previous administrations which were simply out-negotiated.

Walters' situation differs completely from the situation of, say, Scott Gragson where there appears to be a pattern of simply stealing land from the public, aided by complicit government employees and an appraiser, all making money at public expense—whether or not the law was actually violated.

Walters made deals, those deals were made in public and he complied with those deals. Now the chattering class wants to change those deals.

Changing deals after the fact is exactly what people occasionally go to jail for.

Walters' deals appear to be perfectly legal. Further, Walters is the kind of guy who, if asked nicely, will gladly do the taxpayers a favor—even if he doesn't have to.

So, my suggestion would be to spend our time going after the deals in which the public out and out got screwed instead of simply out-negotiated.

And, in the future, hire Billy Walters to negotiate for the public.

Then, everybody wins.

FRED WEINBERG