More on the interim city attorney's disqualifications: Important Rhino reminders

A few days ago, I posted a video reminder of the current interim city attorney Becky Jo Peterson-Buie's hostility towards transparency and public records law. The Rhinoceros Times' editor John Hammer has an article that offers a more thorough look at Peterson-Buie's history and it reminds us of the many reasons why she should not get the city attorney position permanently. From Hammer's piece:

In February 2008, Margaret Banks, who was the city reporter for the News & Record, requested a memo dealing with some of the investigations in the Police Department that led to then City Manager Mitch Johnson locking then Police Chief David Wray out of his office. Peterson-Buie in an email responded that no memo of that description could be found, therefore the city could not release it.  [snip]

In this case the News & Record would have been forced to accept the proclamation that the memo didn't exist except for the fact that The Rhino Times had a copy of the memo. In fact, The Rhino Times had two memos that met the description of the News & Record's public records request. It is devilishly hard to describe a document you don't have, but Banks had done a good job and we instantly recognized the documents she was after. To help out our friends at the News & Record, we published one memo on the front page one week and another memo on the front page the next week. The city was forced to admit that it also had copies of the memos.

Hammer is also critical of Peterson-Buie's lack of understanding of parlimentary procedure, a good example seen here:



For what it's worth, I've seen Peterson-Buie in the courtroom. She's good there--fast on her feet, focused and forceful. She is certainly not without her competencies, she just should not, in my opinion, be in a position where her opinions would shape the city's policies or affect its interactions with the media and public.