Update: Reverend Walker notes in the comments below that while some of the congregation of Lawndale Baptist Church is associated with C4GC, the church as a whole is not and neither is he. I appreciate his setting the record straight.
Just so you know, while I do not share political views with C4GC I do consider some of their members to be among my friends. As a liberal I too often find myself at odds with them on national and social issues but as a fiscal conservative I often find them in agreement with me on local issues which are most often based on taxes and corruption.
Begin original post:
I know Tony Wilkins, he's a good guy. He leans a bit to my right but that's not really an issue in my book because as one of Greensboro's admitted raging liberals I voted for Bill Knight for Mayor not once but twice and Bill probably leans slightly more to the right than Tony.
I also know and like Sal Leone and have nothing bad to say about Sal who also has his name in the hat to be appointed to replace Trudy Wade. Sal is also to my right but not as far as Tony who isn't as far as Bill. Or maybe Tony isn't as far as Sal who isn't as far as Bill? Oh well, doesn't matter, it's a non partisan office and Bill doesn't have his name in the hat.
The thing I like about all three men is that they're honest men. And personally I'd rather have honest leaders than leaders who only tell us what they think we want to hear to get themselves elected. If you search the local blogosphere hard enough you might find some occasions where I spoke out against Bill Knight while he was in office. If you find them or not, they happened and as is my style I wasn't always nice about it. (Hell, have I ever been nice about it?) There were even instances where I called his honesty into question. But in the end I believe those were knee jerk reactions I shouldn't have ever made. That is, the questioning of Bill's honesty. For that I owe Bill Knight my apology. For the disagreements? Not everybody agrees and I'm sure Bill understands. Like me, Bill grew up in East Greensboro and is tough enough to take it.
I'm not going to agree with all of Tony's decisions either and Tony is already well aware that I will make my disagreements known. I hate it for Sal but even Sal already knows the decision was made long before the City Council announced they were looking for someone to fill Trudy's seat as that how politics work.
Just so you know, I've personally spoke with Tony and Sal in the last couple of weeks.
I don't fault Tony Wilkins either. If anyone living in Trudy's district has earned such an appointment it is Tony Wilkins. While Sal has some experience working his way into the political machine the rest had no business throwing their names in the hat in the first place. According to the Inside Scoop one has never voted in local elections, others have no political ties and Reverend B. Mark Walker, a member of the War Memorial Commission? Well I promise you every member of City Council is already well aware of what group his church is connected to and the only way he's getting on Council is via election. City Council is not open to appointing anyone with ties to C4GC to Council unless you can figure out a way to blackmail them. Even with a guaranteed pro GPAC vote such an appointment would be considered a political hell by our current council.
Sorry Jodi, but they already knew before I knew.
Now I could be wrong. Somebody could be leading me on-- it's happened before. But I don't think so. And if I am wrong then that's one source who's e-mails I won't give much weight to in the future.
