I noted with interest John Hammer’s assessment of at-large incumbent Sandra Anderson Groat’s term as Greensboro’s mayor pro tem:
Groat is very nice but she doesn’t seem to realize that she is a part of the problem. She is talking about the need to solve problems that she could have solved at any time in the past four years. As mayor pro tem she has sat beside two mayors while the city hid documents, denied that it had documents and lied about the documents it did have. On the third try she did vote to fire Mitch Johnson, who was at the root of a lot of problems, but he wasn’t the only problem at city hall. If Groat actually believes what she is now saying she should be endorsing a candidate who might do what she thinks should be done, because if she can’t get it done in four years, there is not much chance she will get it done in six.
Her statements would be sad if they weren’t so frightening. She is trying to run like an outsider who will come in solve problems, when she is as big a part of the problem as anyone.
Funny, but I thought the pretty much the same thing could be said about Mayor Yvonne Johnson. I realize Johnson’s not running as an outsider —- her years of experience on the City Council before becoming mayor is the basis for her reelection campaign —- but the bottom line is Johnson had the opportunity to solve problems that she could have solved at any time, but failed to do so.
In a letter to the editor in this morning’s N&R, Greensboro’s Ruby Binder addresses the main problem Johnson failed to address —- former City Manager Mitchell Johnson’s “locking out” of former Police Chief David Wray. With that in mind, Binder urges Greensboro residents to vote for Bill Knight for mayor.
Guarino transcribes Binder’s letter because —- strangely enough —-it’s not available online.
