Sampson County’s Board of Commissioners must have as little respect for the public they serve as county manager Rick Moorefield, given their blatant disregard for his actions, ones that directly impact those who pay his salary — the residents and taxpayers of our great county.

If commissioners did respect those who put them into office in the first place, they would not have allowed Moorefield to deny the public access to information about the upcoming budget or any other matter pertaining to the county’s business which, in fact, is the public’s business.

That’s exactly what they did earlier this week when commissioners stood by and allowed their employee to flaty refuse to discuss any issue with a reporter for this newspaper, saying emphatically and rudely, that he would not answer her questions because he didn’t like her style of reporting. And, to make matters worse, he told the reporter not to call the county offices and leave messages for him ever again, as if he had any right to order her around.

But, this isn’t about our newspaper nor Moorefield’s obvious disdain for the Fourth Estate; this is about his total disregard for the public and their right to know.

Moorefield’s refusal to answer questions from the newspaper is a direct slap in the face to the public he was hired to serve. As one reader, who called in this morning after reading the article about the county manager’s refusal to be interviewed, so aptly put it, “it’s his job, and by refusing to talk to The Sampson Independent, he’s refusing to talk to us.”

And that’s at the heart of the issue.

If Moorefield doesn’t answer our questions, we’ll find someone who will, just as we did last week when he side-stepped the question regarding who authorized the writing of letters about summer camp fee increases. We will inform the public no matter who attempts to thwart our efforts.

But that’s not the point. It’s Moorefield’s job to answer questions from anyone within this county about anything he legally can answer. It’s one of the things he gets paid to do. And given the newspaper is a vital source of that information, when he denies us, he denies them.

Just as importantly, because commissioners are allowing their employee to behave in such a manner, they are stifling the public’s right to know themselves, shutting the door on the openness they once took such pride in exemplifying.

There’s nothing open about Sampson County government right now. Commissioners have seen to that with their stamp of approval on a county manager who obviously isn’t well-versed in the freedom of the press and the public’s right to know.

They may try to stifle the freedoms our founding fathers fought so hard to protect, but we’ll do everything within our power to see that they don’t.