Amid payoff scandal, Charlotte City Council looks to appoint new member (05-16-2025--Hour1)

What's going on. Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to thepeakclendershow dot com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button. Get every episode for free right to your smartphone or tablet, and again, thank you so much for your support. Alrighty, so full disclosure. I did not watch the public comments or the forum for the various people who were looking to get the appointment to the Charlotte City Council. It occurred yesterday. It occurred during the show, and at one point I thought, oh, it's starting at two o'clock, which is super convenient to you know, lots of people to go down and address the city count for two minutes right there in the middle of a work day. But I said, you know what, maybe I should take it live. And then I said, you know what, I'm not going to take it live. I'll go back and watch it maybe later. And then I just decided, you know what, I don't want to because it's not going to be up to me. You got I think there are ten people that are interested in the seat that is open, and the city council gets to pick. So there have been recommendations, endorsements that have come from like the Mecklenburg GOP for example, a couple of state lawmakers they've said they want ironically all the same person. They've all endorsed the same person. But it's up to the city council. And you've only got about six months left because you've got the election for this seat coming up in November. And this is the seat that now former Councilman Tark Bokari occupied and barely one re election two years ago and barely wanted two years prior, or maybe it was a year prior, I forget because the COVID screwed up their election cycles and stuff. But this district drawn by Democrats on city council. They Democrats have tried to make this another seat that they can flip so there will be only one Republican on council, which is what Democrats call fair districts. That's fair districts. See when they do the gerrymandering when they draw the districts, and they can shut out as many Republicans as possible. That's a fair map. Okay, those are fair maps people. Now, if Republicans do it, that is gerrymandering and a threat to the democracy. Okay. So just so we're clear, So they're going to try to in the next election cycle, they're going to try to win it again. This is the district sixth seat Southeast Charlotte area, and it has been growing more Democrat and as has the entire city. But if you actually broke down the and I did this math back when they were doing the redistricting, and I actually joined the virtual news conference and I asked city Councilman Malcolm Graham and former city attorney Mac McCarley who now works for a law firm, and he was doing the assistance they were helping to draw the maps. And I asked Malcolm Graham, like at the state level, the Democrats are always talking about the district lines being drawn to effectuate an outcome of essentially proportional representation, which would be you take all of the registered Democrats in the state and all of the registered Republicans in the state, and then you draw districts that ensure that the proportion of the registered voters by party equates to a number of legislative seats, whether it's at the General Assembly or at the national level with Congress. And of course they argue this because it is the only way that they are going to have a chance of winning power. I mean, well, unless of course they change their message. So oh, sorry, their messaging. It's never the message. It's never the policies, right, it's never their ideas and what they do. It's just they haven't done a good enough job of conveying it to everybody else. So I asked Malcolm Graham at the time, well, is that is that an ethos or you know, a philosophy that you should follow at the state, at the local level when you're drawing the maps, right, Because if it's a principled stand by Democrats that this proportional representation model is the only way to ensure the democracy, then shouldn't you be looking to do that at the local level? And by my math and I ran the numbers, and I gave him the numbers, said city council should there should be on the Charlotte City Council. I believe, if I remember correctly, it was about three seats, three to four seats I believe based on voter registration in Charlotte, but Republicans only control two and they don't win any of the at large seats, which is also, by the way, why Democrats don't want to get rid of the at large seats. The at large seats were actually a way when initially created. It was a way that well also Democrats could prevent black people from getting on city council. When you have at large, it dilutes minority representation because it's at large, everybody in the city votes, and then the top four votainers, right Painters, they top four, they win the seats. And so it's very difficult for minority populations in any jurisdiction to win a seat on the at large body. And that's why Democrats prefer that model. When they have the majority in a jurisdiction like they do in Charlotte, they get to control all four of the at large seats, they don't want to move away from that model. And then you've got seven district seats, but those should be split up if you're looking at the total body, those should be split up in a way that make it possible not you know, not likely or anybody make it possible for Republicans to win three seats, maybe four, but they don't want to do that. So I suspect they're going to pick somebody for this seat that is just going to be a placeholder, and city council has in the past preferred this option. They don't want to put somebody in a seat for you know, an unexpired term and basically give them an inside track to running as an incumbent. So they because once you get on the body, then you'll be able to start, you know, making networking connections with donors that you know, like developers and stuff. So they usually just like to go for somebody who's a placeholder. And my bet is that that's probably what they're going to do. However, there's a bit of a there. They're going to be in a bit of a bind, a little bit of a bind because one person who has thrown their name in the hat and then the hat into the ring. They've got endorsements from the Mecklimer County GOP as well as two state lawmakers, and the City of Charlotte really needs good relations with the state legislature for its transit plan, and the two people at the state legislature who have endorsed one of these applicants have a lot of sway at the state level on transit. What is a city council and mayor to do. Here's a great idea. How about making an escape to a really special and secluded getaway in western North Carolina. Just a quick drive up the mountain and Cabins of Asheville is your connection. Whether you're celebrating an anniversary, a honeymoon, maybe you want to plan a memorable proposal, or get family and friends together for a big old reunion, Cabins of Asheville has the ideal spot for you where you can reconnect with your loved ones and the things that truly matter. 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Former council member Tark Bakari vacated the seat last month representing South Charlotte's District six when he stepped down for a position in the Trump administration. Charlotte Observer story by Mary Ramsey says he was one of just two Republicans on the eleven person council, So now you've got one left, and that's at Driggs. A pair of former elected officials pitched themselves yesterday at a candidate forum as stopgap solutions who could be value able to the city on a sales tax referendum for transportation needs that could be on the November ballot. Right, So in order to get this on the ballot, they need legislative approval. The city wants this on the ballot. They want to ask us to raise our sales tax again for transportation needs. And the legislature what two years ago told them no when they last attempted this, because the plan did not have any road funding, and the legislature said, you can't do a transportation plan and not have more road funding. So they went back and they changed the formulas around and stuff, and I think it went. I think it's like a I think fifty percent goes to rail and forty percent or so goes to roads or something like that. It's a pretty even split. And then some you know, bike lanes thrown in greenways, maybe others announced plans. Oh and so these so two of the candidates for this slot say they will help sell this basically to Republicans. So pick me, we can help you with your transit campaign. I assume that would be Andy Doolin and Edwin Peacock, both of whom formerly served on the Charlotte City Council, both Republicans. They have to appoint a Republican, Okay, that's one of the criteria. Got to be twenty one, got to be a registered voter, got to live in the district, and you have to be a Republican. The appointee only will finish out the term, which ends in like the first week of December after the election, when all the new council gets sworn in. The very first person to publicly announce their intention to apply for the seat, though was not present yesterday, and that is former Councilman Tark Bacari's wife, Krista Bakari. She made her first official foray into politics last year. She ran as a Republican for the General Assembly House District one oh four. She lost to Brandon Lofton by about what eleven points. Next up, Christap Bacari was quickly endorsed by her husband, which I mean, I should hope so right. I mean, gosh, you know, I would not want to be Tark in that situation if you don't endorse your wife for the post. So she had that one sewn up. The next endorsement, though, came from the Mecklenburg County Republican Party. I have their endorsement here as well, they say. Christa Bacari is a respected community advocate with a deep commitment to the people and neighborhoods of District six. Her honesty, civic involvement and unwavering dedication to her values make her uniquely qualified to repris the district with distinction and consistency. Quote. This is from Kyle Kirby, the chairman of the mech GOP. Krista Bakari's direct approach to addressing the recent controversy involving the city Council and the CMPD chief demonstrated her dedication to public service, fiscal responsibility, and common sense leadership. We believe she will continue the work of Councilman Tark Bakari with the same energy, insight and commitment to the constituents of District six. So the Mecklenberg Republican Party has like right out of the gate, very first sentence here points to what the police chief payoff scandal that the Charlotte City Council would very much like you to ignore. Christa Bakari went onto Facebook. We had her on the program last week. We read through a lot of the Facebook post. It was a very lengthy post, so I couldn't do the whole thing. But they have cited her willingness to step forward and call this out as the reason why she should get the appointment, and that stands in contrast to the others who are going down and asking counsel for the appointment and are not trying to litigate this matter. They don't want they don't want the Council to be worried about them. That's what it seems like. So, you know, you're trying to get on the board, you don't want to agitate the board members. And I said to Christa when I was talking to her last week, I said, you know, you posting this big thing like that might actually jeopardize your chances of getting the appointment now. And she said, well, if that happens, then so be it, right, And it's really politically the strategy is smart because it's not a big deal. If she doesn't get the appointment and she still wants to run for the seat, then she still can do. So it's just a five or six month delay right in getting onto the council. If she wins the election, of course, and she has you know, drawn her you know line in the stand, she planted her flag there and said, this is what I am going to run on accountability, transparency, physical prudence. Why are you know and calling into question this kind of activity, which again the Charlotte city Council, the city attorney, and the city manager would very much appreciate everybody just looking away from So she picks up amazingly the endorsement of her husband. She also, I'm just kidding. She also picks up the endorsement from the County Party that cites this scandal and her willingness to uh, you know, to speak about it and confront it as the main reason why they are endorsing her over these other candidates. She has also picked up endorsements though from state Representative Tricia Cuff, who you'll recall has introduced and we covered this a couple of weeks ago with Andrew Dunn. As a matter of fact, Andrew Dunn, publisher of long Leaf Politics newsletter, who has also thrown his name in the well in the hat and then the hat in the ring, he has also applied for this open position. We talked to Andrew about this on Tuesday, and you know, Andrew said that, excuse me, his primary focus was not going to be the scandal, which that's obviously an attractive thing for the council, and they're going to have to weigh this now. They're going to have to weigh whether or not they want somebody in there who's not going to confront them over their actions regarding the chief's payout, or do they jeopardize relations with state lawmakers. Trisha Cotham has introduced a transit plan that Andrew Dunn was on board with. He liked it. She has introduced a legislation in Raleigh that seems like the best way forward, as Andrew Dunn described it, the best way for Charlotte to get its transit plan going. So maybe he is actually a bridge builder, if not Krista Bakari, maybe he actually gets the assignment because he is a fan of Coffam's plan. But then there's another endorsement that came down, and that is State Senator Vicky Sawyer. And Vicky Sawyer is a very powerful lawmaker, particularly on transportation. She is the chair of the Transportation Senate Committee. And if you want your transportation plan to win, well, I won't say approval, but if you want the ability to go to voters to ask for a tax increase for a plan, the legislature has to sign off on that. And both of these, you know, powerful transit oriented state lawmakers have endorsed Krista Bakari and How bad do Democrats want their transit plan? How badly do they want it? That's the choice they're now confronted with, because Krista Baccari probably gives you the best chance given these endorsements. But on the other hand, she's going to be a bur under the saddle for your What I would submit is unethical at best behavior in paying off the police chief over his hurt feelings. What do you do, city council? What do you do? All right? If you're listening to this show, you know I try to keep up with all sorts of current events, and I know you do too, And you've probably heard me say get your news from multiple sources. Why well, because it's how you detect media bias, which is why I've been so impressed with ground News. It's an app and it's a website and it combines news from around the world in one place so you can compare coverage and verify information. You can check it out at check dot ground, dot news slash pete. I put the link in the podcast description too. I started using ground News a few months ago, and more recently chose to work with them as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how stories get covered and by whom. The blind spot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left and the right. See for yourself. Check dot Ground dot news slash Pete. Subscribe through that link and you'll get fifteen percent off any subscription. I use the Vantage plan to get unlimited access to every feature. Your subscription then not only helps my podcast, but it also supports Ground News as they make the media landscape more transparent. Here's a message on Twitter from good Wahoo. It's a Pete tweet. Pete with another request for higher taxes from Charlotte Mecklenberg. I think it is time the taxpayers of Charlotte Mecklenburg demand an outside Doge type audit of Charlotte Mecklenburg and all its agencies. And we should require this type of audit at least every five years. Who would object and if so, why bureaucrats would object? And so then Democrats would object. There is actually legislation moving through the state legislature called the Dave Act, which would empower a Doge like kind of examination, but it would be done by the state auditor whose name is Dave. So yeah, it lines up pretty well there. Yeah, because the audits. The audits are kind of a joke. Like I remember when I first started covering city council and county commission way back in like two thousand, and they would come out, you know, once a year, and you know, the finance department would be there or an assistant city manager and be like, oh, we passed our audit, and the auditor would come down, we looked at all your systems. There, ay a plus a plus and eh. Yeah. You know, it's like that scene from a Christmas Story when Ralphie gets the A plus plus plus plus and everybody is celebrating. And then I would see the same sort of performance unfold when I went to Ashville and Bunkham County and they got all of their audits passed with flying colors to yay yes and all this, and then of course it turned out that the county manager was siphoning money out of the county till for years, paying for trips and doing all sorts of purchases and such a couple of our assistant county managers also went down with the bust, and a former county commissioner and a current county commissioner and all of this, and it's like, how did we pass all of those audits then? Right, because they don't go that deep. These aren't forensic audits. So yes, I'm all for actual auditing of expenses, going in there and looking for now feasins, going in there, looking for systems that are obsolete, identifying things like well why are you doing it this way? You know? And I mean I don't think the local and state governments are nearly as bad as the federal government because the federal government doesn't have to comply with like any kind of accounting laws apparently so and also the states and the local jurisdictions they're actually required to balance their budgets. But as far as like rooting out the waste, fraud and abuse, yeah, there would. I think there would absolutely be a role for the state auditor to play, and they do actually, Like if you know of something in local government that's that's corrupt, you can file complaints up to the state auditor and at the office will then you know, look into these tips. That's how they you know, that's how they get their their audits and some of their probes initiated, and then depending on what they find, they can refer it for you know, criminal prosecution or something like that. A tweet from the Hellion who says counsel wanting to do the Chuck Schumer move on, Let's move on, which is really the that's really the Bill Clinton move on strategy, right, I mean, yes, yes, yes, I know everyone's talking about all of the the affairs that I've had, but I think it's time we just move on. That's actually an older Bill Clinton. That's like a seventy year old Bill Clinton impression. I used to do a better, younger one, but I was younger and he was too, so I don't do it anymore. But yeah, that's just that's just the standard deal with the Democrats is like, okay, okay, scandal erupted, we got cawed, let's just move on. Now we have to move on. And Democrats are doing this actually with the whole Joe Biden and you know, was cognitively impaired, they're still trying to get past all of that. And the media is too, so they're roll in the same boat. And it's hilarious to watch that happen. Did you hear, by the way, regarding that, did you hear that Jake Tapper has hired a crisis public relations firm for his book rollout. So you know it's going well when you have to hire a crisis PR team to come in and handle your book launch. Yeah. Oh, it couldn't happen to some nicer guys. But now the Democrats are saying, we need to move on from all of this the Democrat Party. I saw Martha McCallum was interviewing some Democrat lawmaker. I forget who it was, and you know, she keeps trying to point out, like, what did you know? When did you know it? You kept going on all of these TV shows and news programs saying that Joe Biden is fine, and you look at it now, do you want to like apologize for any of that? And he's like, the Democrat Party's got bigger problems right now. We need to focus on moving forward, and we need to focus on winning the next races and stuff. Yeah, they don't want to talk about any of the behavior before right now. You know that's the nice thing. It's the Democrat privilege. You know, Democrat privileges. You get to move on very quickly from any kind of a scandal, and a scandal that involves a single Democrat is never tainting any other Democrat. That's just that one guy over there. Don't ever ask me to defend or disavow him. That's the game you play with Republicans. One Republican in you know, Sheboygan does something disgusting or legal, and every Republican across the nation has to now get a mic stuffed in their face and there is a demand that they defend or disavow this, you know, deviant or criminal from Sheboygan. So again, Democrat privilege. You don't have to do that as a Democrat. Now, that may seem very beneficial to Democrats and at first blush it is the problem though, is that resistance to pressure builds strength, and Democrats by not having this kind of pressure really ever applied to them, they've gotten weak. They've gotten weak. They're intellectually flabby. They cannot debate right. You don't see them engaging in debates, and if you do, it's it doesn't usually go very well for them. They like to protest right, they like to do press conferences and such with compliant media, but when it comes to actually debating the policy and the philosophy that animates that policy, they've grown intellectually flabby because they are never pressed to do so, so they get to just say things like I'm for reproductive justice, and the media says, oh, okay, all right, I'm for reproductive justice, and that's enough. That's all that goes into the news story. I read the other day wral piece and all it was was just quotes from Democrats without any kind of pushback, without any kind of you know, fact checking or anything. When they held their silly little bill funeral performance, and it was just quotes and quotes and quotes from Democrats lamenting that they're in the minority party basically and they don't know how to work with the majority to get anything done. That was it. So again, Democrat privilege right now, the Democrat privilege is to select a Republican to fill the unexpired term on the Charlotte City Council. Oh and also to try to repair some processes to improve council process. Because that was really what happened when they decided to pay off the chief of police when he said he was considering a lawsuit. No lawsuit ever filed. An ethics complaint violation that was filed was dismissed for lack of merit, but for some reason, the same facts warranted a three hundred thousand dollars payout. Oh and also them not telling other council members about the ethics complaint being dismissed. It's the process, you see, all right. So Spring is here a time of renewal and celebrations. You've got graduations, weddings, anniversaries and the special days for mom and dad. Your family's making memories that are going to last a lifetime. But let me ask you, are all of those treasured moments from days gone by? 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Mayor Viylyles announced at the city council meeting this week that she will partner with councilmember Renee Johnson on efforts to change and improve the council's processes, which is so very Charlotte, so Charlotte. We're gonna set up a commission, a blue ribbon commission, even We're gonna have some people, maybe some breakout groups, get some stakeholders involved. Mayor said, this council has an opportunity to stop and think this is her above the fray. I'm not part of any of this. I'm gonna help. I'm to help fix the process. Now, this is kind of interesting because Renee Johnson, when she was up for reelection in twenty twenty three, she was challenged in her primary in her Democrat primary, and her challenger was endorsed by the mayor, and so Johnson said that she and the mayor do have some healing to do, quote unquote, but she is eager to help the council find a way to do things differently. I think we've done enough talking and I look forward to making some changes. So good luck with that. Meanwhile, I find myself in a very unique position. Not unique, I find myself in a very unusual position for me. I have found myself agreeing with the deputy opinion editor for the Charlotte Observer, Page Maston. The headline on this piece, Charlott leaders made a mess with the CMPD chief settlement. It's time for answers. Correct. I agree, it is time for answers, she writes. The decision to settle this threatened litigation that never was actually filed naturally raised questions, including why the city would choose to settle a lawsuit that has yet to be filed, or whether it was even right to settle it at all. The exact details of the settlement remain unclear, and council members have said they are not able to speak about it publicly. Not true, they can. Things really went off the rails when Charlotte City Council Member Victoria Watlington sent an email to supporters alleging corruption and illegal activities within city government. The accusations were vague, and Wattlington did not specify what exactly she was referring to in that email, but she wrote that she was quote ex extremely concerned with the level of unethical, immoral, and frankly illegal activities occurring within city government and accused her colleagues of brazen disregard for dissenting opinions and the rule of law. The interim city attorney after he was threatening criminal investigations for anybody who leaks anything out of a closed session, which actually that's not actually the case. You can talk about stuff out of closed session, but he then said that that could trigger an investigation into Watlington or into her complaint, like, if she has evidence, bring it forward. If not, then maybe we investigate her. Just how about we just investigate everybody just to be safe, you know, just to cover all the bases. Krista Bakari claimed that the settlement was recommended without legal grounds and agreed upon using improper procedure. So yeah, I don't know what legal grounds they had to settle this. It seems like they did not want the chief to file a lawsuit, now would he? I don't know, anybody can file a lawsuit, but the pr of it is the key. I think they did not want there to be an embarrassing pr story, public relations story of the chief suing the city if he would even do that, because I don't even know if he would do it. He had his ethics complaint that was filed via a third party dismissed. It seems from what the reporting is so far, and I could be wrong on this, right, just want to lay that on the table here, but all I'm going by is what's been publicly reported in that it does not appear as anything other than the chief coordinating with two of his his subordinates, a major and the comms director, so like a right hand and a left hand. I called them the chief's hands. That they coordinated with the local chapter president of the NAACP to file that ethics complaint. They traded emails, they worked on the language for the complaint, and then that got tossed out. The city attorney tossed it out and then told the city council pay the chief. Why would you like why would the standard of proof be higher in an ethics complaint versus litigation? That's what tells me it was just about pr Masden goes on to say that Watlington also said leaders may have misled or withheld information from council members ahead of the settlement, namely about the complaint being dismissed. It's unclear if the accusations in the post were what Watlington was referring to in her email, but it raises serious questions that city leaders must now answer. Watlington has since attempted to backtrack, sort of. She now says that her reference to corruption was figurative. That was according to a report by Steve Harrison at WFAE. Then, in a second email to supporter her she downplayed the weight of her prior accusation, saying none of my concerns had anything to do with financial or widespread corruption at all. But she did not apologize or walk back her remarks about immoral and illegal activity, but also did not provide evidence for them. Elected officials should know better than to traffic in baseless accusations and conspiracy theories that injure public trust. See except here's the difference. They're not baseless the complaint dismissal versus the settlement, like that's the base for the accusations. All right. That'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast, so if you'd like, please support them too and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepeteclenarshow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.