Mayor Vaughan's Failure To Disclose

Remember the big fuss I made last year when Greensboro Mayor Nancy Barakat Vaughan pushed through new voluntary disclosure forms for the Greensboro City Council. Well if not here's a video of me addressing Council the night the new disclosure form was approved 9 to 0.

And here is the text from the most recent reply for a public information request for City Council Disclosure forms as forwarded to me by Sal Leone, candidate for mayor:

"-----Original Message-----
From: Carter, Katherine <Katherine.Carter@greensboro-nc.gov>
To: blueboy210 <blueboy210@aol.com>
Sent: Mon, Sep 21, 2015 9:42 am
Subject: Response to PIRT 5066

Dear Sal,

Thank you for your public records request (PIRT # 5066), regarding City Council Disclosure Forms.

Please find the attached records responsive to your request. 

I hope this information is helpful to you.

Sincerely,

Katherine Carter, Public Records Administrator

Communications and Marketing Department - 336-373-3282

City of Greensboro

PO Box 3136, Greensboro, NC 27402-3136

www.greensboro-nc.gov"

Attachment Disclosure Forms 

Attachment Disclosure Outling"

If you'll click on the link above labeled 'Attachment Disclosure Forms' and scroll down you'll see the following businesses listed for Greensboro Mayor Nancy Barakat Vaughan and her husband retired state Senator Donald Vaughan:


VM LLC.

Donald R Vaughan & Associates

Those documents were all dated 2014. I think it is safe to assume that since the only change since 2014 in any of the city council disclosure documents would be the addition of the second document labeled 'Attachment Disclosure Outling' for newly appointed City Councilman Justin Outling. But as it turns out that may not be exactly the case.

Perhaps our Mayor's disclosure form should have included criminal records like say Mayor Nancy Barakat Vaughan's Criminal Record which includes not only traffic tickets but 4 criminal charges. After all, if she were being hired to work for the City of Greensboro or most any employer in Greensboro she would be required to disclose her criminal record before she could be hired. Why are elected leaders exempt from the same laws they force the rest of us to live under?

 

And it's not just Mayor Vaughan. Look again at their Disclosure Forms and see what is missing:

1**Jamal Fox failed to disclose he owns a house.

2**Yvonne Johnson failed to disclose her position on the board of Court Watch of North Carolina along with Don Vaughan, Esq. our Mayor's husband. By the way, our Mayor was on the board of Court Watch in 2014 and left that off as well.

3**If Mike Barber isn't still practicing law then why is his law firm, Barber and Associates still a member of the Greensboro Bar Association? By the way, the work address listed for Councilman Barber, 408 Hobbs Road is a residential address shown in the picture below. Mr Barber runs his law office from his home and failed to disclose so on his City Council Disclosure form just as he failed to disclose the in-kind contributions made by the City of Greensboro to First Tee of the Triad, the non profit he runs.

And why didn't Councilman Barber disclose the fact that his law firm is still open for business on his City Council Disclosure Form? Could it be because he's a lying sack of shit?

4**Councilman Fox wasn't alone in failing to disclose personal property. Councilwoman Sharon Hightower also failed to disclose the fact that she owned a home:

These people aren't bright enough to run a city. Everything they say can and will be used against them. And everything they don't say is something else they failed to disclose.

Update: Sunday, 9:50 PM:  From this 2013 News & Record article:

"But it is relatively weak compared with the statement of financial interest form some state officials must fill out.

"I thought our disclosure form was so incredibly watered down it really didn't tell you anything about your City Council," Vaughan said."

Even Mayor Vaughan admitted it is watered down and yet Council is still unable to comply almost 2 years later