The polygraph sideshow
Greensboro City Council member Sandy Carmany has suggested that the News & Record put the council out of its self-imposed polygraph misery by publicly stating that we did not get the RMA report from a council member.
That could end the perceived need for councilmembers to undergo the polygraphs, remove a tremendous burden from the one who is having to endure council and public speculation, help us heal the mistrust among councilmembers, and redirect leak-detection efforts in the right direction. In other words, such a statement could put an end to this sideshow controversy that is distracting from the more troubling issues within the GPD.
Cutting to the chase, we won't issue any statement about the person who gave us the report. It has nothing to do with whether or not the person is on the council. It has to do with keeping our word. The report was given to us in confidence, and we intend to keep person's identity that way.
There is one more way for the council to put an end to "the sideshow controversy," as Sandy calls it. The council could say, "Upon reflection, we acted rashly with this polygraph business. Let's move onto the more troubling issues within the GPD."
Comments (6)
To report abuse of the comment feature on this site, please use the feedback form at the bottom of any page.
It's ridiculous that the City Council is wasting our tax dollars on this nonsense. No one cares who "leaked" this report.
And why weren't Tuesday's polygraph results made public? Wouldn't that fall under the state's public records law? If the city council is going to participate in this farce, they at least should be open about it.
John, is the News & Record prepared to fight for the release of these records? Someone has to hold these bozos accountable.
Posted on May 3, 2006 9:11 AM
Angry Taxpayer, the News and Record is the CAUSE of this waste of tax dollars.
The N&R has the report but won't tell who released it. That's why the Council has to undergo this expensive measure to insure their voters that they didn't illegally release the report.
The N&R could have stopped all this nonsense weeks ago by revealing the report in it's entirety and the identity of the leaker. After all, are liberals all about making heroes out of leakers? The N&R missed a chance to save taxpayer money and publicize a local hero.
Posted on May 3, 2006 9:41 AM
I'm pretty confident the council members will eventually release the results, Angry. We're pursuing it.
Jaycee, we disagree. We aren't the cause of the council's action. The council has no obligation to the law or to taxpayers to take a polygraph or even to pursue the leak. (Please remember that dozens of people had access to the report, not just city council members.) If you think we should have released the report, then I presume you think the council itself should have released it?
Posted on May 3, 2006 10:06 AM
I completely agree, John - you can't blame the N&R for this one, jaycee. The City Council had no obligation - or even a good reason - for this polygraph.
This is a classic case of a completely fabricated controversy. The only people interested in keeping it going are the city council members themselves. They're trying to shift public blame and attention to some "leaker" to avoid dealing with the real issues facing our city.
Posted on May 3, 2006 11:02 AM
John, this thought has occurred to me about the situation your paper may have put itself in regarding the leak. You know who gave you the info. If it is a city council member, then I think you have a problem Why? Because all of them have denied that they did it. If in fact one of them did do it, then they are blatantly lying to the public, which should be newsworthy in and of itself that an elected official is blatantly lying. Therein is your dilemna- do you report the story that an elected official is telling a complete lie to the public or do you ignore it because it would ruin your non-disclosure deal with that person?
Of course, I could be wrong, and it may not have come from the City Council, but if I'm right - you are going to have to face a whole lot of professional and ethical problems.
Also, will someone finally answer the question of whether Diane Bellamy Smalls is related to interim chief Bellamy?
Posted on May 3, 2006 12:40 PM
John,
I wrote a LTE in response to the N&R editorial asking the City Council to release the report. The letter was published, appears on the letters blog and is self explanatory. As I have suggested on several other sites , if these lie detector tests don't resolve the issue then by all means the CC members should be water boarded to determine the identity of your sneaky leaker.
Posted on May 5, 2006 1:34 AM