Councilman Wynn Whittington penned a scalding personal attack on the President of the Kinston-Lenoir County Chapter of the NAACP published in the Kinston Free Press (read his words) along with attacks on the Mayor of Kinston, local petition organizer Logan Thurman, and of course quite a bit about me.   Mr. Whittington accuses those questioning his tactics of having too much “free time”.   In his musings, I appear to be the main target and one of those “people who can’t seem to let it go”.   Well, there is plenty of reason we must not “let it go”.

Mayor Murphy hasn’t let it go either, decided he wasn’t going to take the attacks lightly, and posted his opinion and video on his website. Read and view HERE.

Also, before I go too far, VOTE tomorrow, November 3rd.  One Vote is all you need for Steve Ragan.  You can do that, just one vote…..Steve has fought this nepotism deal from the beginning.

Mr. Whittington has been silent on the public dis-rest over his own policy change… until two days before the municipal election.  Conveniently and for political reasons he spoke out clearly in an attempt to moot the argument against the policy change.  The Nepotism Policy Amendment allows family members of City Council members and the Mayor to be employed by the City, breaking a long standing common sense conservative policy against nepotism in the workplace.  Since Councilmember Kelly Jarman is the only incumbent and candidate in the race who supports the Nepotism Policy Amendment, Mr. Whittington could not have timed his “guest column” in a more overtly subversive manner.  The regularly planned City Council meeting for Monday, November 2nd (the night before election day) was cancelled due to lack of agenda items.  So the public has zero opportunity to address Whittington’s comment for comments.  Well done.

Mr. Whittington speaks of all the successes we are having as a City.  He also recognizes the problems we face.   He mentions crime, gang violence, and high utility rates and attempts to minimize the Nepotism issue by stating,  “…the recent nepotism policy debate has garnered more media coverage than the sale of power assets and related rate decreases, the possibility of bringing baseball back to Kinston, and quite possibly the West Pharmaceutical Disaster in 2003″. Uhhh… there’s a reason for that, W!

He also stated that… “the nepotism policy didn’t make the cut in the recent Land Use Plan Study”. No it didn’t because Nepotism policies aren’t part of any Land Use Plan.  As Chairman of the Kinston Planning Board, my fellow planning board members and I reviewed the Land Use Plan (checked it for nepotism) and made recommendations to City Council.  He also stated candidate Gordon Vermillion didn’t agree on the nepotism issue.  What he failed to mention is that of the eight(8) candidates running for three(3) seats on City Council only candidate and fellow educator Kelly Jarman agrees with his views on nepotism since she was one of three votes that amended the policy.  The other seven(7) have agreed to rescind this troubled Amendment if elected. See this VIDEO.

And this quote by Whittington is only confirms that his disdain and lack of respect for public opinion…

“At the recent council candidate forum hosted by the local chapter of the NAACP, each candidate was asked three questions. The very first one was about the nepotism policy. Are you kidding me? Not one question focused on crime, specifically black on black crime!”

Mr. Whittington makes multiple moot points in order to justify his unpopular actions.  His arrogant elitist attitude and obvious disregard for the residents of Kinston are disrespectful to say the least.  In one failed swoop, he insulted the President of the NAACP, two concerned citizens who were exercising their right to redress government, and the Mayor of Kinston because they just “can’t seem to let it go”.

The nepotism issue arose from Mr. Whittington’s line of questioning in City Council surrounding the fact his brother could not be hired because of he was elected to Council.  With very little discussion and no public input Whittington brought a motion to amend the Nepotism Policy.   A few weeks later the amendment was ratified.  He knows, as does Kelly Jarman, that nothing good can come from this amendment.

Allow me Educate the “Educators”……The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America states,

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” 

So in reading Mr. Whittington’s column I find it interesting that almost every word is an attempt to stifle our First Amendment rights.  According to him we should all just trust in his wisdom, shut up, sit down and forget about redressing our grievances because he doesn’t want to hear it.  End of conversation.

From Thomas Paine’s “American Crisis” these words were read aloud on December 23, 1776 to the Continental Army as a rally cry prior to the Battle of Trenton:

“Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”

This issue will not go away.  If the voices of the people can be shut down “just like that”, what’s next?  We must be vigilant.  Is it obvious yet that We the People must be the guardians of liberty? That the intent of government, including elected officials, is to serve the people?  It is NOT the intent that WE should serve government.

“Never surrender your rights, never give up, never shut, and keep getting up!” ~ John Nix and the Daily News Fix

“Cronyism, Favoritism, and Nepotism are all bedfellows….”  ~  www.dailynewsfix.org