Says who? Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan, when asked about the International Civil Rights Museum’s e-mail to black journalists which claims that City Council member Zack Matheny has hampered fundraising:

Said Mayor Nancy Vaughan: “It was not a smart thing to do.”

“The civil rights museum is making it harder to support them every time we turn around.”

She also disputed the charge that Matheny had hurt the museum’s fundraising by criticizing it to benefit his congressional campaign. “Their fundraising has been tanking for years,” she said.

Ouch. Will be interesting to if any national media parachute in and how they would spin this issue. The museum’s transparent alright when they can control the message. Interesting how they talk about how transparent they’ve been with the city, yet they don’t want the city to publish it on their Web site. If it’s good enough for the city to see, it should be good enough for the public to see. At least you’d think.

Bonus observation: I don’t know if it’s good or bad for the museum that last Tuesday’s City Council meeting ran too long, postponing council’s “planned discussion” until Monday at 1:30, when the majority of the world is out earning a living.