Greensboro City Manager Denise Turner Roth’s reasoning behind TREBIC president Marlene Sanford’s hire as a lobbyist to fight the Jordan Lake Rules:
Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small asked whether it would be a conflict of interest for Sanford to work for both the city and Trebic.
Roth said in this instance, the city’s interests and Trebic’s interests are the same. The city staff has already been working with Sanford on these issues.
A lot of people here in Gboro think the city’s interests and TREBIC’s interests are always the same. It will be interesting to see if council members get an earful. Meanwhile, the N&R’s Doug Clark offers another reason why the city doesn’t need a lobbyist to fight the Jordan Lake Rules:
The second reason is more basic. Greensboro doesn’t need to pay anyone to argue on its behalf regarding the Jordan Lake rules. The legislature is already very friendly toward the city’s position. Phil Berger, the powerful leader of the state Senate, represents Greensboro and has already indicated his support for amending the rules. When you have Phil Berger plus most other Guilford County legislators on your side (Pricey Harrison and Alma Adams excepted), you’re throwing money away to hire a lobbyist.
The N&R’s been hard on Berger over Medicaid expansion spike; interesting to see that “in this instance” Greensboro’s interests and Berger’s interests are the same.
