Looks as though the Downtown Greensboro Inc. board is ready to move on, announcing that CEO Zack Matheny —who was arrested for DWI last Friday morning—will remain in that position “for the foreseeable future.”
Rhino’s John Hammer speculates whether or not Matheny had sobered up by the time he began making phone calls Friday morning to let everyone know he had “made a mistake.” Note the comments beneath the story—defense from an unlikely source followed by a call for Matheny’s resignation, characterizing Matheny as “another terrible hire by the most politically incestuous city in the USA.”
With that in mind, we now have Mayor Nancy Vaughan, who has been deposed in the ongoing lawsuit between the city and downtown developer Eric Robert:
The city argued that to depose Vaughan before the motion to dismiss is heard was unnecessary since if the motion to dismiss is granted the deposition will be moot, and if it isn’t granted then the deposition can be held before the case is heard. The city also argued that Vaughan is in the middle of a reelection campaign and being deposed during the election would pose an undue hardship on her.
The city’s request for a protective order prohibiting the deposition of Vaughan until after the dismissal hearing was denied, reportedly in a large part because of an affidavit filed by Robert, who evidently does know why Vaughan is being deposed before the hearing.
Bottom line is Vaughan and Robert consider each other “friends”—-John Hammer asked the mayor point blank “if the rumors that she was having an affair with Robert were true”—Vaughan said no—and she is being deposed because they have had conversations about the lawsuit, which could be construed as a conflict of interest.
Needless to say claims made by the mayor’s lawyers that being deposed in the middle of a reelection campaign is a joke, given the results of the recent primary. The old saying goes you get the government you deserve, and when 4 percent of voters turn out for a primary well, you get the idea. The election probably won’t much of an improvement. The way I see it everybody might as well just stay home Nov. 3. Maybe deafening silence is the only way to get everyone’s attention in the “most politically incestuous city in the USA.”
