Back in April, after the Greensboro City Council spiked coliseum director Matt Brown’s plan to build an amphitheater, the Rhino’s John Hammer wrote* “political powerhouse” Brown isn’t used to hearing ‘no’ from the City Council.

Evidently Matt Brown gets what Matt Brown wants, as the council pulls a fast one and redirects money from food vendor Ovations toward the amphitheater.

I was busy last night but had the council meeting on in the background as Brown was pitching his VIP lounge. But when council member Robbie Perkins got in on the discussion, I could it was going to take an interesting turn.

The vote redirecting the funding was 4-3, with Mayor Bill Knight and council members Mary Rakestraw and Trudy Wade voting no. Fellow members Zack Matheny and Danny Thompson were absent. No doubt Matheny would have voted ‘yes,’ and, if memory serves me right, Brown told the council that Thompson had contacted Brown asking if money from Ovations could go toward the amphitheater. Kudos go to Rakestraw for speaking out about the way the council “did business,” urging her fellow members to “think about the way they voted tonight.”

Guarino weighs in, calling the process “total sleaze.”

*I’m not sure what’s up with the Rhino’s archives, which stop with the March 4 edition.