If only one thing could be said about George Bailey, it would certainly be that he never seems to make up his mind.

The councilman of District 3 lists Dorchester County to be his home, but pays residential property tax on a house in Orangeburg County. He’s told voters he has a college degree, but had to tell a judge he never graduated high school. He’s claimed to be a Marine Corps veteran, but later admitted he only attended a military summer camp as a kid. And he even once tried to run in both the Republican and Democratic parties for the same one office in the same one election cycle.

And Bailey’s trend of indecision continues in another circumstance facing the county right this very minute.

Despite being very subject to hurricanes, despite the presence of a fault line within its borders, despite the onset of hurricane season over one month ago – even despite state law requiring the county to have one – Dorchester County is without an Emergency Preparedness Director.

But Bailey doesn’t want to fill that position the county is required to maintain.

Oh, wait a minute… yes he does.

Huh? What’s that? No, he doesn’t.

But – wait one more time – now he does!

He originally stated the position of Emergency Preparedness Director should be eliminated.  He then changed his mind after catching some flak from constituents in North Charleston, according to a July 10 article in Summerville Patch, stating “I fully realize now we need a full-time emergency management director.”

Yesterday, just seven days later, Bailey told the Post & Courier he still intends to eliminate the position, though, and through a variation of his first proposal that merges the emergency director position with that of the county fire coordinator.

But today, he changed his mind again. According to the Summerville Patch: "In a telephone conversation this morning, county Councilman George Bailey has said he will recommend council hires a full-time emergency management director."

Now nobody - not even the same Patch reporter, who summarized that this most recent update now leaves the the circumstance "unclear" - knows what Bailey is trying to pull.

He might actually want to fill the position of Emergency Preparedness Director; he could want to completely eliminate it; he might simply want to merge the two together.

And no matter which option is actually valid, Bailey is likely to say he was telling the truth all along in each and every variation of the story he told.

He’ll have ample opportunity to say just that at tonight’s County Council meeting, the agenda of which includes this same topic.

The 7 p.m. meeting will be held at council chambers in Summerville.

Former Emergency Preparedness Director Dennis Clark resigned earlier this year.

Bailey’s District 3 extends along most of the eastern border of Dorchester County, and includes parts of St. George, Harleyville, Ridgeville, Summerville and North Charleston.

The more time Jay Byars spends at his new job as Dorchester County councilman, the more evident his hypocrisy becomes.

He campaigned for less regulation and smaller government, which he described on his campaign website to be “overreaching, overspending, and over regulating(.)” He even said that current government operation is “Orwellian” in over-extension of its authority.

But now he’s complaining that he can’t regulate enough.

In the middle of his very first council meeting on January 31, Byars commented “It’s exasperation, really, with what you can’t control,” according to the Post & Courier.

He made the comment in reference to county budget cuts that are needed, and due to an anticipated $4 million drop in state funds for Dorchester.

And just what are the cuts that Byars can’t make? As the article specifies, they are a lay-off of personnel in departments not overseen by County Council, a trimming of basic public services required by the state, and federally-required funding of the benefits for county employee retirees.

In other words, it’s the programs that County Council doesn’t control that Byars seems upset about.  And for someone who campaigned for smaller government and lesser government control to now complain that his government office can’t control things that operate under other government authorities – right on the first day of his new government job, not to mention – is nothing but hypocrisy.

Big Brother Byars needs to learn a few things quickly: County Council doesn’t have authority over every single county office. County Council can’t overrule state law. County Council can’t supersede federal regulations.

And if there’s anything “Orwellian” about government, it’s folks like him. He campaigned on a platform of less government and supposedly more freedom, but on his first day wanted to extend authority of government to unreachable extremes, and to restrict offerings that help folks maintain freedom.  And now he's complaining that he can't.