Lesson learned. The more people you put under Gov. Robert Bentley the more people get ...

Well you know.

Take Alabama's two-year college system (take it, please). The Alabama Legislature, in its infinite wis-dumb, last year gave Bentley the power to appoint all members of the community college board of trustees, stripping the elected state board of education of its oversight.

Bentley picked a yarn maker and clothes dealer. He chose a hospital marketer, a retired head of a health center, a chamber of commerce type, a business development sort, an HR manager and a civil engineer.

And out in the hinterlands they called it writin' on the wall.

The days of community colleges that allowed people an affordable second chance to make up for learning they did not acquire in high school were numbered. Business interests - and Bentley's selections, made it clear that general education, the arts and sports and all that came with it - was as welcome at the cocktail party as Bentley's ex-wife. Technical training was the new girl in town.

And she was purty.

And that's fine. The world needs technical expertise, and Lord knows Alabama does.

But let's just say there have been issues of trust on those campuses. And it only got worse.

The first order of business for the new board was consolidation. It immediately set out to merge four colleges in south Alabama and three in the eastern part of the state. And hey, in a state with 25 different community colleges, it was hard to argue with belt-tightening.

But it has not gone well. At least in east Alabama, where the system is merging Alexander City's Central Alabama Community College, Phenix City's Chattahoochee Valley Community College, and Southern Union State Community College in Wadley.

Cities are fighting to hold onto administrative offices and residents. Politicians, residents and students are scrambling to save their school names and courses.

The concerns roll out like the waters of the Chattahoochee itself. Meetings behind closed doors left whole cities wondering what is truth and what is lie. When CACC interim president Susan Burrow seemed to bypass a national search and claim the role of the presidency, folks in Wadley and Opelika and Phenix City snapped.

Gov. Robert Bentley

It was rigged, they said. It was home cooking. Southern Union, after all is far bigger in enrollment and has operated with a healthier budget.

There are valid complaints, and there's a little paranoia, too. It happens when schools close, when communities think they will lose the institutions that give them identity, and strength, and pride.

But it's real to people like Southern Union advocate Carol Knight. Decisions have been made "at breakneck speed-behind closed doors," she said.

"I pray that I'm wrong. But every day I witness unbelievable acts of greed, dishonesty, and lust for power that seem unstoppable."

That sums up the feeling of many. Consolidation itself is not the problem. It's the speed, and secrecy, and the feeling that decisions are made before answers are sought.

Alabama Community College System Chancellor Mark Heinrich said the system has worked to focus on transparency, "although we've apparently failed to address all concerns."

He's right about that, because east Alabama is coming apart at the seams.

Heinrich said he has gone "the extra mile to be absolutely certain all interested parties have had an opportunity to express their recommendations," and concerns, but will "continue to adjust and improve the process used for consolidations."

He better. Because as Rep. Bob Fincher, a Republican from Wadley put it, the whole thing "seems fishy."

"If this is the first of many consolidations they fumbled the ball right out of the gate," Fincher said.

Yep. If it starts in the dark, it will end in a dark place.

Just like Bentley and his hand-picked board.