That’s not an endorsement —just a play on the Greensboro mayor pro tem’s decision to jump back in the city council race.
Vaughan’s decision comes after a period in the spotlight. Most notably, she believes —as the N&R reported as recently as Sunday —– that former City Attorney Rita Danish “was forced out” even though some have questioned whether that indeed is the case.
Dr. Guarino notes Vaughan’s recent defense of “business progressivism” with her effort to restore funding to the Greensboro Partnership; at the same meeting, she made another interesting motion:
Vaughan made a motion that reserve officers continue to be paid. Police Chief Ken Miller recommended that these officers, who are mostly retired and work to keep their certification, go back to an unpaid status. For years reserve officers were unpaid, and a few years ago the city started paying reserve officers $20 an hour. Miller said that the city is looking at changing the rules for secondary employment so that reserve officers could be paid to work security at private businesses but would not be paid by the city.
Vaughan made the same point numerous times, once saying, “These are sworn officers. They are carrying a gun. To think that we are going to ask these people to risk their lives for free just blows my mind.” However, when Vaughan was on the City Council from 1997 to 2001, reserve officers were not paid.
In my view, flip-flopping is never good; it implies that suddenly you can affect change that for some reason you were unable to affect before. It appears as though Vaughan is breaking with the conservative coalition elected back in ’09; the only thing I can see her doing differently is shifting to the left.
