This is pretty bold even for Teflon Jenny.
Last February Mecklenburg County Commissioner Bill James starts asking county officials about the ethics implications of commissioners receiving $800 worth of CIAA tourney tix from the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority in exchange for the county’s $200K “sponsorship” of the tourney. News14 does a story about James’ questions the other day and — bam! — Jennifer Roberts declares James is on an election-year fishing expedition.
But as soon as the Uptown Paper of Record gets on the story Roberts essentially affirms James’ concerns by declaring she’ll give her tix to the United Negro College fund. And it gets even weirder.
County Attorney Marvin Bethune says the tix are given to the commissioners by the county manager with no strings attached, while CRVA head Tim Newman asserts they are not meant for resale. In other words, more basic confirmation of James’ concerns about the acceptance and handling of the tickets.
And here is the best part: Suppose a ticket or two to the county’s CIAA skybox wound up in the hands of a campaign contributor to a commissioner? Might there be some election-law implications of such a thing?
In other words, Roberts’ election-year meme has the issue twisted sideways.
Bonus Observation: Wonder what the city of Charlotte — another $200K “sponsor” of the CIAA event — does with its “free” tickets?
