During his entirely too friendly drop-by the Jeff Katz show on WBT yesterday, Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory said there was no organized effort to blunt the transit tax petition drive. McCrory said something to the effect of not having any time for that.
Contrast that with the Charlotte Business Journal story which began circulating yesterday. Erik Spanberg reports:
McCrory began work this week on a counteroffensive, asking city and CATS staffers to begin compiling budget figures and analysis on what losing the transit tax could mean. The analysis remained incomplete at press time, though the mayor hopes to offer several scenarios based on the findings within the next week.
Which is it?
It sure sounds like the mayor put on a full-court press to get anti-petition info out there. Ron Tober, after being unvailable for comment on the CATS office cost overrun, certainly became available to talk about the petition.
Here’s the twist. McCrory, Tober, and the city seem to be coming very close to using public money and city resources for political purposes. Charlotte attorney Tom Ashcraft has already filed a freedom of information request with the city under North Carolina’s public records law. The goal is to find out just how much time, energy, and money the city has already put into the anti-petition fight.
