Gatten should change course or step aside

According to Tony Wilkins, who serves on the War Memorial Commission and writes a blog, vice-chair of the commission and former Greensboro city council member Florence Gatten distributed a document to all other commissioners prior to their meeting except for Wilkins because he is a blogger. Wilkins says:

"Vice Chair Florence Gatten denied documents to me that all other commission members were provided so she 'would not see them show up on the blogs'." [Emphasis added.]

Gatten has a history of contempt towards government transparency. Previously, she has:

• Defended an illegal closed session meeting of city council as "perfectly appropriate."

• Refused to authorize the release of her results of the lie detector tests she and eight seven other council members took relating to leaked documents. (Four Three other council members consented to the release of their results.)

• Said, regarding former City Manager Mitch Johnson's handling of a police scandal, "If you knew what we know, you would say the city manager absolutely did the right thing." Quite the opposite came to fruition: as more information came to light about Johnson's handling of the matter, council and the public lost confidence in Johnson, leading to his resignation. Gatten has never publicly explained what she meant by "what we know."

• Erroneously told the public at a press conference regarding the police scandal that Garrity rules prohibited the release of information as heard in the clip below (0:54). The city manager subsequently admitted they did not.

With a new  city council and new city manager, Greensboro is making great progress in shedding its frustrating propensity for government secrecy. Gatten's latest antics are a reminder of her role in contributing to the previous climate of hostility towards the public's right to know and of her disdain for those who exercise that right. Greensboro is moving away from that wrong and broken attitude and Gatten should change or step aside.