You see, until Greensboro City Councilman Zack Matheny announced his bid for US Congress he voted for every incentive package that came before the Greensboro City Council. The News & Record's Amanda Lehmert described Zack as "Mr. Economic Development" saying,
"It's rare that any council member votes against an incentive. Most are non-controversial 9-0 approvals.
Matheny's opposition to the incentive was particularly strange, since he had spoken in favor of the project in the past. He's also been an unabashed cheerleader for the council's economic development ventures."
Matheny's explanation:
"It was out of my comfort zone," Matheny said Wednesday. "It’s too much for me personally."
Funny, Matheny brought the package to Council as an $8 Million Dollar incentive deal and when it was trimmed down to less than $2 Million Matheny says it's too much.
But I knew what was going on with Zack Matheny even before the Greensboro City Council voted on the Wyndham hotel package. I used Zack Matheny's Wyndham Text Messages to prove Zack a liar because if he would lie about the little things I trapped him on there... Things like going to a party which isn't against the law or which day he left to go to Washington, DC which also isn't against the law then how can you trust Zack when he tries to deny what I'm about to tell you next?
You see, Zack Matheny is in the business of selling incentive packages and giving away taxpayer money so that Zack can profit. And I'm not talking about campaign contributions-- this is how Zack pays his bills.
One of the questions Zack failed to answer in Part 7: Two Simple Questions For Zack was,
"Would anyone like to venture a guess as to how Zack earns his living?"
Zack didn't want to answer that question so I'll answer it for him: Simply put, Zack's company, White Oak Capital, Inc. is in the business of finding money for developers to build their projects. That money could come from banks, wealthy investors or even government incentive packages. And in turn for finding the money needed to finance their projects, Zack gets a brokerage fee-- a percentage of the money he "finds.". In other words, when the City of Greensboro passes an incentive package to one of Zack's customers, Zack Matheny gets a piece of said incentive package even if Zack voted no.
Remember the Gerbling's Heated Clothing incentive deal that fell through when it became known that Gerbling's was going to have to hire 25 new people Gerbling's didn't need? Zack Matheny put that entire deal together as well.
When Gerbling's management first came to Greensboro Gerbling's wasn't looking for incentives. Their CEO already lived in Greensboro and wanted to work in Greensboro. We know that to be true because Gerbling's came to Greensboro without incentives. Being new in town, Gerbling's management approached a commercial realtor named Sam Simpson and asked Mr Simpson if he could help them locate a building somewhere in downtown Greensboro because that's what people expect commercial realtors to do.
But Sam Simpson did something that most of us would consider very unusual. Even commercial realators would consider it unusual. Instead of showing office buildings for rent, Mr Simpson introduced Gerbling's management to none other than Greensboro City Councilman Zack Matheny who then started putting together an incentive package not for Gerbling's but for developer, John Lomax. Then Zack introduced Gerbling's to Lomax.
Simpson gets a real estate commission, Lomax rents his building, the City of Greensboro foots the bills. Lomax pays Zack a brokerage fee and Zack pays Simpson a finder's fee.
Zack assured Gerbling's management that everything was on the up and up and wrote an incentive package that fell under Greensboro's real estate development rules designed to raise Greensboro's tax base without increasing employment-- something Greensboro has done many times in the past. (See Incentives In Greensboro) All would have gone just fine except for one thing: the rest of City Council insisted that if Greensboro was going to pay incentives then Gerbling's would have to hire 25 new workers. It wasn't until after the deal fell through that Gerbling's management figured out what Zack Matheny, Sam Simpson and John Lomax were up to.
Now who are you going to believe, "some blogger" who pushed the developers of the downtown Wyndham hotel to pay up $78,000 in deliquent taxes or a Greensboro City Councilman who lies about going to a party and what day he left to go to Washington, DC?
Update: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 2:40 PM. I open the following e-mail from Sarah Healy of the City of Greensboro:
"Dear Billy:My reply,
Thank you for your recent PIRT #3299 request asking for the phone records for Zack Matheny on February 4, 2014.
You had asked Councilman Matheny to provide 24 hour telephone records for February 4, 2014.
The City does not have any records that correspond to your request.
Please let me know if you would like any other records that the City may be a custodian of and I will be happy to provide them to you.
Sincerely,
Sarah"
"Thank you Sarah,
I think you can close this one as we have established Mr Matheny does not intend to provide telephone records or e-mails sent from zack.matheny@gmail.com concerning this matter. I'll update my post http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2014/03/zack-mathenys-wyndham-text-messages_910.html to reflect this news.
Thanks again -Billy"
Update 2: Thursday, March 27, 2014 Sarah Healy of the City of Greensboro writes:
"Dear Billy:
Thank you for your recent PIRT # 3353 request for a copy of Councilman Zack Matheny’s credit card receipt or boarding pass confirming a recent flight.
The flight in question was not paid for by City funds and therefore the City is not a custodian of those records.
We do not have any records that match your request.
Please let me know if I can assist you in any other way.
Sincerely,
Sarah Healy"
My reply,
"Thank you Sarah,
I will update my post http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2014/03/zack-mathenys-wyndham-text-messages_910.html to reflect this message.
You've done everything in your power, Mr Matheny has chosen not to prove himself innocent of selling incentive packages.
-Billy"
