During this week's broadcast of Alabama Public Television's "Capitol Journal," Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed defended Donald Watkins, Jr., his controversial pick for the city's small business development director.
Reed told host Todd Stacy that Watkins and his family's ties to Montgomery and Watkins' experience as a businessman led him to the choice.
"[Y]ou received some pushback this week from the city personnel board for your plans to hire Donald Watkins Jr.," Stacy said. "Reason being, you know, he was caught up in that fraud scheme and went to jail as a result of that. What's the reasoning behind hiring him? It's a small business development job with the city?"
"Yes, it is," Reed replied. "And I think that for us, we always look for the best talent in every position, whether it's police chief or economic development director. We do usually national searches. This is one that because it's not a cabinet-level position, we didn't do as wide of a search as we would for a cabinet position. But I've known Donald Watkins Jr. and his family, I mean, probably since elementary school, known their legacy here in Montgomery, with his grandfather being the former president of Alabama State University. Obviously, his father, serving on the city council and being a very successful lawyer. But more importantly, the family's willingness and interest in Montgomery has always been there. Donald, Jr. has one of the best pictures that I wish we had taken some time ago with Mrs. Rosa Parks on our birthday that he shows quite often. And I've met Mrs. Parks, but we never had the Polaroids back then."
He continued, "I tell my sons now, we had the camera phones, I would have had a number of those. But they knew the Parks family through Dr. Watkins. And they knew them through his father. And so they have given back to the community, you know, in a lot of ways. And when I thought about the position, I said, 'Well, you know, I know somebody who started and sold two businesses at a significant profit here in Montgomery, then went to Birmingham, started their own insurance practice under the State Farm banner,' did very well, and then got into banking.' I said, 'What better person to have for small business development than somebody who has actually practiced it and implemented it? Somebody who, not just talks about it in theory or as an administrator or as a bureaucrat, not to use that word derogatorily, but somebody who's actually done it, who's got real-world experience.' And my thought was, you know, quite simply, he's overqualified for the position. He's had a significant 30-year career in small business, entrepreneurship and then corporately, and he's made some mistakes of which he's been accountable for."
"He's paid his debt to society, he's acknowledged his challenges and what he did wrong. And I believe we all serve a God of second chances," Reed added. "And I believe that we owe that not only to people who we've hired before in maybe different types of positions in the city administration who have a conviction or background there. But if we can have someone who we ordinarily could not get from the private sector to help us with small business development, why not do that? And we know that, you know, other administrations have brought in folks with a challenge in their past or on their record. And I thought that it would be a good opportunity for us to both get somebody that we otherwise couldn't, but also somebody from Montgomery who has been ingrained in the process over generations in Montgomery's progress to really bring his experience and acknowledgement of mistakes and imperfections to that position to help those that are really trying to start their businesses, understand from his successes, but also his failures."
Jeff Poor is the editor-in-chief of 1819 News and host of "The Jeff Poor Show," heard Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-noon on Mobile's FM Talk 106.5. To connect or comment, email [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @jeff_poor.
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