Mixed signals
From a story on the Greensboro City Council races tomorrow:
GREENSBORO - Voters elected some establishment candidates and some outsiders to the City Council on Tuesday, sending a mixed message about how they think City Hall is being managed.Some winners - at-large incumbent Sandra Anderson Groat and former Councilman Robbie Perkins - support the status quo, including beleaguered City Manager Mitchell Johnson. Others, including former Guilford County Commissioners Mary Rakestraw and Trudy Wade, ran on a throw-the-bums-out platform.
One thing the winners share: Well-known names.
More on that theme here.
Comments (7)
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I don't recall hearing of Robbie Perkins "supporting" city manager Mitch Johnson. Did I miss something?
I also think that by putting Sandra Anderson-Groat in this category, you overlook her support for releasing documents surrounding the Wray affair -- something that distinguished her from other incumbents.
Posted on November 7, 2007 7:24 AM
From hearing Robbie talk and looking at his campaign materials, I don't really see him supporting or opposing. It doesn't seem to be something he ran on.
Nor does it seem to be an issue that Andersen-Groat ran on either. It was suggested to me last night that although she was an outsider two years ago that she's very much "of" the current council. Could you make a case the other way? Sounds like you'd like to.
But in both their cases, I don't think you'd say the Wray affair was a central theme to their campaign. Rakestraw and Wade campaigned on it and Johnson certainly had to answer a lot of questions about it.
That's my two cents. Your mileage may varry.
Posted on November 7, 2007 7:43 AM
I may well agree with your comments, Mark, but they differ significantly from your article. You wrote that Perkins "support the status quo, including beleaguered City Manager Mitchell Johnson," but now acknowledge that you don't really see him supporting or opposing. Which is it?
As for Anderson-Groat, she voted against the majoroty of the council in favor of releasing all documenents surrounding the Wray affair. She also spoke on her web site and was reported in the Rhino times to have expressed a desire to change the way council does business. Those things do not amount to opposition to Mitch Johnson, but they quite clearly indicate a rejection of some of the status quo.
I agree with you, as you state in your comment, that the Wray affair wasn't central to either candidates' campaigns, but I think you over-reached, without evidence and ignoring actions and words that are countrary to your analysis, in declaring that Perkins and Anderson-Groat "support the status quo, including beleaguered City Manager Mitchell Johnson."
Posted on November 7, 2007 8:14 AM
Roch - I don't expect you to read bylines, but Margaret wrote the article that was in the paper this morning. (I'm online-only for city council elections.) I'll let her speak to the merrits or not of what she wrote.
Posted on November 7, 2007 8:21 AM
Sorry, Mark.
Posted on November 7, 2007 8:25 AM
Hey Roch. Lemme take over for Binker.
You missed something. Robbie told me - and also said in forums and questionnaires - that he supports Mitchell Johnson. Any fault he find, he said, is with the current council. I'm at home, so I can't quote directly from the material. But he clearly supported MJ.
Robbie Perkins is about as status quo as you can get.
All 9 council members were steadfast in their support of the city manager.
Yes, SAG voted to release the documents. But that wasn't my point. That is your point.
Posted on November 7, 2007 9:07 AM
Thanks, Margaret. I wasn't aware that Perkins had made such statements.
Posted on November 7, 2007 11:21 AM