SOUTHAVEN, MS (abc24.com)-- Are you interested in hearing what Southaven Mayor Greg Davis has to say? Would you believe him?
Davis is being investigated by the state and the FBI for misusing taxpayer money. He's also been asked multiple times to resign.
Davis has remained silent through it all. Until now. He's granting media interviews, but only under his terms. And only if he and his lawyer approve the questions ahead of time.
Voters are curious about what the mayor has to say, but say they wouldn't believe a word of it.
"Do you think the public is interested in hearing from him? Absolutely," says Sherry Holton.
"Basically it sounds like he's planning everything he wants to say," says Latasha Walton.
"He's not prepared to answer straight-forward questions," adds Roy Foster. "Just what he wants to say."
If that's the case, can you trust his answers?
"He has time to rehearse answers if he gets the questions first," says Holton. "Maybe run it by close friends and see what they think the public's reaction would be."
"I'm uncertain that you would get the answers you need," says Rhonda Stark.
"He's going to work around what he says. He's just trying to make himself look better," Robert Barrentine tells abc24.com.
Davis is all people in town are talking about lately.
"At the grocery stores, every place," says Debbie Hinson. "Nobody trusts him right now."
He's lined up the media. Selecting TV reporters and newspaper writers who are all eager to talk with him, and doling out interviews. What Davis has planned sounds more like well orchestrated publicity, a free stage on your TV screen.
"He's trying to do damage control," says Hinson. "It's too late for that. There's too much under the bridge."
And what seems lost in all of this is accountability.
Davis is not acting like a public servant, accountable to those who've voted him into office over and over again since 1997.
"I just want to see integrity in our leadership and I'm not feeling the least bit confident that we have that integrity in our leadership at this time," says Stark.
For abc24, those terms aren't acceptable. As long as he's demanding pre-approved questions, we won't interview Mayor Davis.
