Marcia Conner may not have been the best city manager Durham or any other city ever had.

But she obviously gives a great interview.

She had a three-year tenure in Durham that was marked by charges of incompetence and cronyism. She was micromanaged by an untrusting City Council. She was forced to take a humiliating pay cut. Finally, she and the council mutually agreed (as they say) that it was time for her to split.

Nonetheless, Conner managed to land a job as town manager in Atlantic Beach, S.C.

While in Durham, she was accused of, among other things, giving city contracts to former colleagues without bothering with such legal niceties as competitive bidding. Was she simply guilty of cutting corners or being crooked?

She was recently indicted in Atlantic Beach on charges of misconduct in office.

The most serious involved taking money from the police officers' retirement fund and putting it in the town's general fund.

Since it doesn't appear she was using the money to buy herself $500 Manolo Blahniks pumps, perhaps again she's guilty of nothing more serious than cutting corners.

Even if that's true, though, her disregard for the rules is troubling and, when placed into context with her problems in Durham, makes one ask, "How the heck did she get that job?"

I'm incredulous because I once got fired from an Atlanta restaurant -- something about taking "unauthorized eating breaks" -- and found myself unable to get another job even emptying trash cans at Tom & Sarah's Restaurant in Rockingham.

Tom and Sarah were known for hiring anybody who acted like they wanted to work: they didn't pay much, but they'd name a sandwich after you if you worked there long enough.

If restaurants are that conscientious about who they let take out their trash, how could Conner land such a high-profile position with a town in Durham's hemisphere?

Conner, if she doesn't get any time or after she gets out of the pokey, could always become a consultant teaching people how to get jobs. She is obviously good at getting them.

Too bad no one taught her how to do them.

That hasn't stopped her from landing two jobs, and may not impede her from getting another one.

With an Atlanta headhunting firm currently in the midst of a search for a city manager to succeed Patrick Baker in Durham, you don't think Conner would ... .

Nah, she couldn't be that good, could she?