Mayor Won't Defuse Reports of Unsuitable Purchases Outside City

PACIFIC -- Mayor Herb Adams is declining to open his personal purchase records to verify he's making purchases in the city -- as he challenged city taxpayers to do a year ago.

Last October, Adams encouraged residents to buy their goods in the city, when possible, to support the local tax base. In June, he justified nearly $54,000 in city employee pay raises -- despite the challenging economic times -- by noting the city's tax revenue had remained steady since issuing his challenge. The lion's share of those raises went to police department personnel.

Despite anonymous reports of Adams being spotted making purchases at a retail establishment outside of Pacific -- including meat, which is readily available in the city -- he declined to allow a reporter access to his personal credit card statements, cashed checks or debit records, arguing it was no one else's business.

A spokesman with the Missouri Attorney General's Office acknowledged there's no legal obligation for Adams to open the records to public inspection. But given the context of circumstances, the spokesman, Assistant Attorney General Daryl Hylton, said he understood why the mayor should turn over the records as a matter of honor.

Informed of the spokesman's statement, Adams replied: `I don't know if it's honorable or not. I know my answer is, "No."'