The Rhino’s John Hammer writes about Greensboro City Manager Mitchell Johnson’s latest shell game involving release of information on the alleged GPD assault:
Assistant City Attorney Becky Jo Peterson-Buie was moving the shells, but Mitch Johnson was calling the shots. What is unfortunate is that not a single Greensboro city councilmember asked why the city had not already released the information about the criminal investigation, which by law must be released.
Peterson-Buie and Mitch Johnson distracted everyone with a discussion of personnel files, which was not germane to the discussion.
….Peterson-Buie, who is not acting or interim city attorney, but simply an assistant city attorney in a department that has no leader, continually answered the question about what information could be released from an employee’s personnel file. That was not the question. Nobody wanted any information from any of the police officers’ personnel files.
…..The answer from Peterson-Buie, who is an attorney, was about as nonsensical as every other answer Peterson-Buie gave. It would appear that all Peterson-Buie can do is read from the state statutes and repeat the questions she is asked.
With the focus on Peterson-Buie in mind (because she is basically the city’s attorney right now, unless you count the working-from-home Linda Miles), I’ll turn to the N&R’s Sunday lead editorial stating that the city attorney should not answer solely to the city council:
Better for the attorney to perform his or her duties without regard to the prevailing political mood. That’s easier if a professional manager helps insulate the attorney from the politicians.
The council still can hold its manager accountable for every decision he makes. Johnson’s selection of a city attorney ultimately will have to be acceptable to the council, and he would be wise to informally seek its input.
But no change in the lines of responsibility is needed, or possible soon, anyway. Only the legislature, having approved the city codes, can authorize a revision, and it doesn’t meet until May. By then, Greensboro should have a new city attorney who Johnson will make certain can work well with the council.
I agree with this, sort of, because the new city attorney would have as much trouble getting through the council’s thick head as he would getting through Mitchell Johnson’s. The best evidence of this was the debate over the petition to raise the minimum wage in Greensboro. Fellow assistant attorney Terry Woods did his best to explain to the council that, moral justifications aside, the petition was not legally filed and would not stand up to a possible legal challenge. For her part, Peterson-Buie tried to explain that legislative action was the best way to get the petition on a ballot. But Mayor Yvonne Johnson and council member Goldie Wells would hear none of it, and the council as a whole ended up accepting the petition.
I haven’t seen much about the search for a new city attorney, so I don’t know if any of the assistants are applying for the job. But I think it’s crucial that someone from the outside, with fresh ideas and fresh perspectives be brought in, unlike when openings for city manager and police chief were filled, no matter which thick heads they’re dealing with.
