News-Record.com

John, just curious, did Mitch ask you to run this spin or did you do it all on your own?

I'm sure many of your readers are thankful. Sure wouldn't want Mitch doing things behind closed doors out of the public's view.

Also, it was maybe a little mis-leading today in your page one story, again referring to "Wray resigned after allegations of targeting black officers" etc., implying to maybe people not familiar with the story, like from out of town, that there was a causal link. You are right, the statement is correct in the temporal sense, but Wray resigned because he was refused access to the workplace and could not get along with his manager, so you're maybe, inadvertently of course, misleading people like propagandists might do, and Lord knows, the people at the N&R don't deserve to be accused of that.

Yes, it's high time for everyone to be nice and open, don't you think?

"Johnson released the memo to the News & Record when he transmitted it to council members and it became a public record under North Carolina law."

So it's the law that Ms. Anderson-Groat is unhappy with and not the City Manager, you suppose? I mean, she wouldn't advocate breaking the law, would she?

Come on, Savage, you don't think the N&R would miss a chance to rewrite history by once again pounding the "Wray resigned" thing into our heads, do you?

To answers Sue's question and the first part of Savage's: I was the editor for that story last night (yes, I do other things than blog and chase candidates about the state) and I suggested that we put the open records line in. I did it out of fairness to Mr. Johnson for this reason:

He's being asked to make his bosses (the city council) happy. Releasing his memo clearly made his bosses unhappy, an reasonable reader might have asked why he would do something like that. However, if he had not released it, we would have (rightly) complained that he was violating the state's open records law. So it seemed worthwhile to explain that although the early release of the record irritated a council member, it was required by law.

The proper procedure should have been for Johnson to submit his report to the council and then have the council release it to the public. I could, nor would, never have submitted a project report to the Director of Research bypassing my Departmental manager.
But of course Johnson doesn't do things in proper order single handedly forcing the resignation of the then Police Chief David Wray, but of course the Mitchster knows he has an ally in the N & R that will come along and justify his actions. By the way, talking about the N & R, will somebody, "JR", get my name off the damn telemarketers call list! They've called me numerous times over the past week and it seems always at the wrong time. Thanks.

Mitch was following the letter of the law, which, I'd think, you guys would demand. The council doesn't have that great of a history when it comes to releasing information about these sorts of things.

Again, boondoggling. The dude RUNS your city guys, why don't you look more deeply at what THAT entails instead of hairsplitting these piddly things. Greensboro residents have to be some of the most small town small minded group of individuals I have come across in this life.

Get some VISION for Greensboro having a future. Stop thinking like you live in small town USA. It makes this a truly tiresome place for the rest of us to exist.

Not sure to whom the Inside the Snake Pit fella is directing his ire or if this is meant to be another "stuck in the mud" thing.

Are you suggesting people should just resign themselves that the Boro is Mitchland and get over it? You then add we should get a vision for the future???? These two statements seem contradictory.

Could you please clarify?

He must be talking about me because I think that I'm the only commenter in this thread who actually lives in the city of Greensboro. The others are wannabes.

It's too bad Mitch Johnson doesn't always follow the public records law.

Come now, Mitch is damned if he does or doesnt. Skeet would you ever admit that he did anything right. I concur with John and Beau. He was right to release it but perhaps he could have waited just a bit to make sure his bosses were on board with this plan. But how would he do that? They dont want small groups anymore, so was he suppose to visit all nine members and have one on one conversations with them before releasing it....and if he did do that, how do you corral the members with differing views. Some will then complain that they may have heard a different version from the other etc. etc. I also agree with Snakepit, the closed mindedness (Small town USA) of some Greensboro residents is what is problematic for this city. That is why Raleigh and Charlotte have passed us by. We continue to think small, wallow in racial issues back n forth, and never let go of things. I look forward to the day we really can move forward---not just with the Wray thing, but all of this endless negativity.

Obama on Page 7. The N&R has given up on national news. It is sad.

The Obama story saturated the television yesterday. Everyone knew what he said before they read the newspaper. Publishing news everyone knows already and which we can add little no longer makes much sense in the newspaper business.

People who wanted the Obama story could find it, as you did.

Nick, whether one thinks Mitch is right, like anything else depends on your vantage point. If you're a race-player then you think he's the man. If you think race-playing is the lowest form of political sleaze going, then you probably feel differently.

I think Johnson should have waited and let the Council release the "plan" if they approved.

If my boss gave me 30 days to put any kind of plan together, and I released it to everyone else before giving a copy to him/her - my guess is I'd be cleaning out my desk shorthly there after.

Seems to me that Mr. Johnson didn't really want to give the council the opportunity to give a thumbs up, or down to his plan.