Gov. Tate Reeves would not be the first manager to try to let a wayward employee leave gracefully and paint the departure in a less than truthful light.
It happens all the time in both the public and private sectors.
So, it would not be fair to go too hard on the Republican governor for the way he handled the pending separation with his chief economic development officer, John Rounsaville.
Rounsaville resigned following an internal investigation into allegations that he sexually harassed three subordinate female employees in the Mississippi Development Authority. The inappropriate behavior allegedly occurred on July 9 during an annual business conference at one of the Gulf Coast casinos.
Initially, Reeves’ office issued a brief but complimentary press release that Rounsaville was stepping down at the end of August to pursue another unspecified opportunity. As anyone knows who is used to these kinds of announcements, these are code words for “There is more to the story than I am telling you.”
When that more to the story came out a few days later, thanks to the digging of Mississippi Today, the terms of Rounsaville’s departure changed as well. Reeves announced through a spokesperson that Rounsaville would complete his state employment on administrative leave and would have no more dealings with the agency he ran for the past 15 months.
If Reeves erred, it was in waiting too long to act after an investigation into Rounsaville’s alleged misconduct deemed the accusations as credible. The governor should have put the agency head on administrative leave immediately at that point, while Rounsaville’s fate was being determined. Instead some two weeks passed before there was any official indication that the problem was being addressed.
Reeves has a habit of dragging his feet. He did it earlier this year on making appointments to two critical education boards. He has done it in dealing with this latest wave of COVID-19. He has done it on calling lawmakers into a special session to legalize medical marijuana and restore the state’s initiative process.
He too often lets matters get to a crisis stage before responding. That’s not a great trait in Mississippi’s chief executive.
- The Greenwood Commonwealth
