I noticed something interesting when reading this week’s Rhino. On the same front page with John Hammer’s article criticizing Greensboro Mayor Bill Knight for failing to “realize he is not president of a country club but mayor of a diverse city” is another Hammer article criticizing the city’s role as “good faith arbiter” on MWBE contracts.
Hammer cites as an example BRS Inc., which the city denied a water and sewer contract “because, according to the Greensboro Minority and Women’s Business Enterprise (MWBE) division, B.R.S. didn’t make a good faith effort to hire minority subcontractors for the job.”
Hammer adds “(i)f there was ever a system that was set up for graft, corruption and kickbacks it is the city’s MWBE policy….. millions and millions of dollars worth of contracts are dependent purely on the opinion of some mid-level employees based on criteria that is subjective.”
No kidding. But what I found interesting about the article was that the mayor wasn’t mentioned. Instead, it was council member Trudy Wade who “asked several times for the criteria that determines whether a company has made a good faith effort, and the answer appears to be, there is no objective criteria.”
Somehow I would feel better if Mayor Knight were asking the hard questions about a politically-correct government program that at the very least puts stumbling blocks in front of companies during a down economy.
Which is honestly why I found Mayor Knight’s policy of prayer somewhat troublesome. Don’t get me wrong — I believe in prayer, and I don’t understand thin-skinned liberals who fight so hard to keep prayer out of government. I’m comforted that out mayor is a person of faith, and I was encouraged by the photo of Knight praying with family and supporters at the courthouse following the election.
But I agree with Hammer that Knight is still “a novice and is making novice mistakes,” worst of which is not realizing “how racial politics are in this city.” Which makes me wonder if he’s picking the right battles —prayer and speakers from the floor during council meetings—- when the city still faces serious problems —many of them racial.
