Alright. I am going to give the Uptown Paper of Record a few more days to get its reportage together now that it has editorialized that the Marcus Jackson affair is not closed and requires further disclosure from city of Charlotte officials.
For several weeks now the paper has been doing an amazing imitation of The Durham Herald-Sun during the early days of the Duke lacrosse-Mike Nifong nightmare. In other words, accepting the official story and timeline of events without question despite quite obvious problems with those accounts. The Herald-Sun eventually morphed into a complete mouthpiece for Durham officials before the overwhelming burden of the evidence forced a change.
Now it is time to get answers from City Manager Curt Walton.
Did he know about the Nov. 5th IA memo to Chief Monroe? Walton has represented himself to city council as having all the relevant information in this matter, as having read Jackson’s personnel file and deciding that it need not be made public. If so, Walton should have known about the memo which referenced a two-day suspension and stated Jackson should have been charged with a crime by Mint Hill police in late September.
And if the city manager did know about that memo, how did Walton sit by on January 11th when Chief Monroe told the council:
Some are asking why wasn’t Jackson immediately terminated after an earlier act of misconduct, which was not related to his recent arrest. The media reports as it relates to what Jackson was charged with do not accurately reflect the circumstances of his case.
An earlier act. That is one, not two. WSOC-TV had already reported — on Jan. 5th — that Jackson had been suspended for the July speeding/false police report issue and the Mint Hill incident. Monroe was clearly telling council there was only one incident and disputing the seriousness of that misconduct, a line we know that CMPD spokesman Rob Tufano carried to the bitter, ridiculous end.
There are only two possibilities: That Curt Walton did not know about that Nov. 5th memo to the chief — or that he did and was actively assisting in helping Monroe to bury the facts.
In the case of the first possibility, Chief Monroe should be fired. Simple as that. He was hiding material facts involving a grave city matter from the city’s top executive. Monroe was deliberately downplaying the seriousness of Jackson’s misconduct as well as his oversight role in the matter.
In the case of Walton knowing about the memo, city council should fire him and the chief. Simple as that. They engaged in a conspiracy to deceive city council and public about how CMPD handled Marcus Jackson.
With those two outcomes in mind, it is obvious why the city council is absolutely intent on ducking this matter. It can only end with firing a top city official. No other out.
Except denial.
