With two weeks to go before Election Day, at-large candidates for Greensboro City Council are making their best effort to differentiate themselves from their opponents.
Nixon vs. Perkins and Anderson Groat
“I want to point out the differences between the incumbent councilman at large and myself,” said Gary Nixon, who placed fifth in the Oct. 6 primary, during a candidate forum at the downtown public library last night that was hosted by the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress. “One, I have no conflicts of interest. One council member is perceived to have a conflict of interest, and I’ll let you judge whether there’s a conflict of interest or not. Another one is uninformed and does not know even the basic operations of the city, and numbers that are given to her because she can’t understand it.”
The first shot was intended for Robbie Perkins, who finished second. Nixon has ground to make up in order to win one of the three at-large seats. The two incumbents — also including Mayor Pro Tem Sandra Anderson Groat, who finished third — are appealing targets for a challenger such as Nixon.
After the forum, Nixon elaborated: “He’s in land development. It could be perceived that he has a conflict of interest. I didn’t run for city council before I retired from my engineering firm because it could have been perceived that I had a conflict of interest. I’ll let the voters decide if he has a conflict of interest.”
Perkins seemed unfazed when I followed up with him this morning to ask him to respond to Nixon’s criticism.
“A lot of people can have conflicts of interests; it’s how you handle conflict of interest,” he said. “The state statutes are very clear that if you have a financial stake in a matter you abstain from voting.
“Anyone who’s in business in this city can have a potential conflict,” he added. “If you want business people to serve on council — and I think that’s a good thing — the question is how you handle conflicts of interest. If you want to exclude city council from people unless you’re retired or unemployed, you can do that, but I don’t think that’s good idea…. Gary is clearly trying to differentiate himself between other candidates, but I think the experience that I bring to the table and ability to continue pushing for jobs instead of learning what a council member does is invaluable.”
Groat showed up to the forum late, and did not hear Nixon’s remark. When I told her that Nixon characterized her as being uninformed, she laughed.
“It just goes to show you how much he knows,” she said. “He took his shot. He was in my group at the News & Record, and he took some shots then. Beating up on someone else might be a way to elevate himself, but I don’t think so. I think it probably comes back to haunt you.”
Hardy endorses Thompson
After the forum, candidate Danny Thompson told me he is receiving DJ Hardy's endorsement. Hardy appeared and shook Thompson's hand. I asked him if it was true, and he nodded and smiled. Thompson said a press release will be distributed today.
As the fourth-place finisher, Thompson is in the best position of any of the second-tier candidates to capture an at-large seat. Thompson performed well with voters in west Greensboro, but placed only sixth in District 1, which covers much of southeast Greensboro. Hardy garnered more votes than Thompson, Marikay Abuzuaiter and Nixon in District 1, and carried G74, a politically active precinct whose polling place is Bluford Elementary.
Thompson and Hardy took differing positions on the Greensboro Police Department gang unit during the campaign. Thompson has said on several occasions that he supports the gang unit, while Hardy said previously that the city should not continue to fund the unit unless the department can make a case for its effectiveness.
As a resident of southeast Greensboro, Hardy made a case for more equitable development across the city during his primary campaign. His choice to endorse Thompson is notable in that Abuzuaiter has the closest ties to east Greensboro of all the successful challengers in the at-large race. Abuzuaiter's husband operates a gas station on East Market Street.
As a resident of the newly-annexed Cardinal neighborhood on the city's northwestern fringe, Thompson has displayed some cognizance of the challenges in east Greensboro.
During a Sept. 22 candidate forum he said, "The city can go a long way in helping in development of under-utilized, under-growth areas by providing incentives to developers, whether it's a major grocery store chain or whatever, by saying, 'Look, we have a group of people in our city that don't have a grocery store on the east side — a large supermarket — so what would it take, Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Lowe's, for us to work with you to get a supermarket there?'"
I left a message this morning for Hardy, asking him to explain his reasons for supporting Thompson. I also left a message for Thompson, noting that I will be looking for the press release in my e-mail inbox. I'll provide updates when I heard from them.
Vaughan and Burckley
Nancy Vaughan, the front-runner in the at-large race, noted in her opening statement that "it appears that over the last few years our city has become more polarized regarding things around the police department and development issues."
I've been meaning to ask her over the course of the campaign why she is paying for the services of Bill Burckley, a Republican consultant who is a bit of a polarizing figure himself. Earlier this year, he showed up drunk at a city council meeting and got arrested for being disruptive. He lobbied council members to vote against a motion to express regret over the 1979 Klan-Nazi shootings and complained to Mayor Yvonne Johnson during a break that she hadn't taken his advice to fire former City Manager Mitchell Johnson.
Vaughan has said that she pinpoints many of the troubles in the police department to the moment Mitchell Johnson locked former police Chief David Wray out of his office, but she doesn't agree with Burckley on everything.
"It doesn't mean that I have to listen to everything he says," Vaughan told me. "He does have a good strategic mind and he's great with numbers. He knows the districts well."
The candidate continued: "I have formed my own opinions and have formed my own issues and certainly if I hired him to tell me what my opinions are I wouldn't be a very good candidate.... The main thing I want to emphasize is he is helping me get my message out — and it's my message. There are some things on which we agree to disagree."
UPDATE: Thompson sent out the press release yesterday formalizing Hardy's endorsement. The press release erroneously states that Hardy resides in District 2; in fact, he lives in District 1.
The press release quotes Hardy as saying his endorsement is premised on "Danny Thompson's ability to bring civility, common sense and a fresh perspective of efficiency and effectively running city government."
Triad Elections '09
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