Perkinettes Abandoning Perkins

The Perkinettes have left the building and have left Mayor Robbie Perkins behind.

Perkins is still mayor, but he no longer has the support of the majority of the city councilmembers – the group we dubbed the Perkinettes. In fact, it would be safe to say that the majority of the City Council is pretty upset with Perkins and, right now, are more inclined to vote against him rather than with him.

Councilmembers Jim Kee, Marikay Abuzuaiter, Zack Matheny and Nancy Vaughan have all expressed high levels of outrage with the behavior of Perkins. And newly appointed Councilmember Tony Wilkins can't be too pleased with the recent attempt by Perkins to brand Wilkins a racist.

Perkins' tactics of strong-arming and lying to his fellow councilmembers have caught up with him. People around here are pretty trusting and they like to think their mayor has the best interest of the city at heart, but councilmembers now say Perkins is obsessed with the performing arts center and has been using deceit and threats to try and get it passed.

Kee, who has emerged as one of the true leaders on the City Council, said he didn't appreciate being blindsided by supposedly racist caricatures and then being branded a racist himself for supporting newly appointed Councilmember Wilkins.

Former City Councilmember Trudy Wade was elected to the North Carolina state Senate and resigned from the City Council last week. Wilkins was appointed to serve the remaining year of her term representing District 5 on the City Council. Wilkins won on an extremely divisive 5-to-4 vote at the Dec. 4 meeting. Councilmembers Wade, Kee, Abuzuaiter, Vaughan and Matheny voted for Wilkins. Voting against Wilkins were Perkins, and Councilmembers Diane Bellamy-Small, Yvonne Johnson and Nancy Hoffmann.

At the Dec. 4 meeting, after Wilkins was nominated, Bellamy-Small had two political caricatures created by Wilkins for his blog projected on the video screens in the council chambers. One was of herself and the other was of former Councilmember Goldie Wells. Bellamy-Small said it was racist to depict African-American women in a caricature.

What Kee pointed out is that there were 15 other similar caricatures that Wilkins had created and posted on his website, all of them white people, and some of them extremely similar – showing politicians speaking out of both sides of their mouths.

Wlikins is not an artist, so the caricatures were altered photos, and although they may not be great caricatures, there is nothing racist about them. However, if those two were the only two that Wilkins had ever done, as was the strong implication by Bellamy-Small and Perkins at the City Council meeting, then that would be something that needed to be discussed.

Kee said to call political satire racism was just wrong. Kee said political satire is just part of politics and that he has been the subject of political cartoons and he didn't see anything racist about them. Kee said Perkins tried to use racism to divide the council. He said that if Perkins and company thought the political cartoons that Wilkins had done were wrong they should have told the whole story and shown all 17 cartoons.

Kee and Abuzuaiter also said they didn't appreciate being blindsided by the accusation. Kee said, "You should consult with your team."

Kee said that about a week before the vote he was told by Perkins that he needed to vote for MacArthur Davis for the soon-to-be-open council seat. Kee said he didn't know Davis but did talk to him on the phone, and their conversations raised some questions. He said that Davis said he supported the downtown performing arts center and that he would not run for reelection but would simply be a placeholder for a year. Kee said, "A placeholder that's interesting."

Kee then said a few days before the vote he was told by Perkins that he shouldn't vote for Davis but should vote for Dottie Salerno. He said he didn't know Salerno and was troubled by the fact that she had been out of politics for over 10 years. He said he was also concerned because when he asked her about the performing arts center she said that Greensboro "had to have it." Kee said it appeared to him that Perkins was just trying to use this appointment to line up a fifth vote for the performing arts center.

Kee said he knew Wilkins, who said he supported having a bond referendum for the performing arts center, and thought he would be a good councilmember.

Kee said that he thought they ended up with three good candidates for the District 5 seat but that Wilkins was the best, so that is who he supported. He said after interviewing all the candidates and making his decision he said that Perkins trying to use race to divide the council was "unconscionable."

Kee also said Perkins told him that if money for the performing arts center was going to go on the ballot then Perkins thought money for the Hayes-Taylor Memorial YMCA and the Bessemer Shopping Center should also be voted on by the people.

Kee said that Perkins later said he was just kidding about bonds for the Hayes-Taylor YMCA and Bessemer Shopping Center, but at the time Kee said he took it as a threat not a joke.

Abuzuaiter said that Salerno's position, that the city "had to have the performing arts center," bothered her as well. She said that before the council meeting Perkins had told her to check out Wilkins' blog and after that she wouldn't be voting for him. But Abuzuaiter said she had no idea that at the meeting they would show only two of the 17 political caricatures Wilkins had posted.

Abuzuaiter also said that all during that meeting Bellamy-Small was working to get her stuff organized, and "My assumption is that Dianne was handed all of that just before the meeting." She also said she assumed it came from the mayor.

Abuzuaiter said she was threatened with being responsible for losing the money for LeBauer Park if she didn't vote against having a bond referendum for the performing arts center. She said she was told that if she didn't vote for the performing arts center to be funded without a vote of the people that she would have to go before the voters and explain how she lost $10 million for a park for the children of Greensboro.

Abuzuaiter said that Perkins told her the performing arts center and the park were "linked." Kee said he was told the same thing.

Abuzuaiter said she read the endowment and realized that LeBauer Park could be built anywhere, and that it was not at all dependent on ever building a performing arts center. Abuzuaiter said that she told Perkins, "You are not going to blackmail me with the children of Greensboro."

She said, "The tactics that are being used are unthinkable."

Abuzuaiter also objected to Perkins saying that he "tried to guide her vote." She said, "I'm 58 years old. I've raised two boys and run a small business for years. I've been through so many life experiences I think I can make my own decisions."

Kee said, "Perkins shouldn't use divisive methods for political gain. The performing arts center is an obsession."

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Kee added that the performing arts center was difficult to support because of the lack of transparency. He said even councilmembers can't get financial information about what is going on. He said the city has put in $250,000 and that has been matched by a private donation or donations but the City Council doesn't know who matched the money.

Kee said councilmembers also weren't told anything about the $20 million in pledges that have reportedly been lined up. He said the council needed to know about the pledges because "If it doesn't go well then, just like Trudy said, the citizens are on the hook."

He said, "I'm not willing to take that gamble without the consent of my boss, the people."

And he added, "If the people vote for it then I'm for it." Kee said that his support for the performing arts center had always been based on the premise that the project wouldn't go forward without a vote of the people. He said that from the very beginning the plan was to have a bond referendum for the performing arts center. He said there had been questions about the amount of money that needed to be on the bond and when the bond referendum would be held, but that there was always a bond referendum planned.

Kee said the opposition to Wilkins by Perkins was all about the performing arts center and for Perkins getting that fifth vote. He said that for him to be "perceived as a councilmember who supports racism, that's dirty pool."

Abuzuaiter said that when elected she felt she was part of a team. Now, she said, "Our team is broken. I was hoping to be able to get some things done."

She said, "I did follow a lot of Robbie's lead initially." But she added those days are over.

Right after the Dec. 4 meeting, Matheny said, "It's not mayoral to try and make someone out to be a racist."

Vaughan also expressed outrage that Perkins would use just two of the 17 caricatures to try and brand Wilkins as a racist.

Perkins did his utmost to keep Wilkins off the City Council, but on Tuesday, Dec. 11, Wilkins was sworn in to represent District 5 for the next year, and he shook Perkins' hand and sat down at the table right beside him.