gronberg@heraldsun.com; 419-6648
DURHAM -- Challengers in the City Council race blasted Tuesday night the supervisory skills of their competition, singling out among other things the incumbents' handling of the Durham Police Department's overtime and moonlighting scandal.
Ward 1 challenger Donald Hughes unleashed his attack at the very end of a forum at the N.C. Central University Law School, after nearly two hours had gone by without forum organizers or audience members raising a question about the Police Department's recent troubles.
Hughes during his closing comments pulled out a copy of the June 2008 internal report on the department's moonlighting program city officials released late last week, and noted that its findings detailed numerous supervision and oversight failures.
The report also said the moonlighting program was rife with favoritism.
Hughes said Durham needs a City Council that will "take seriously" its role to keep an eye on the administration and set policy.
Ward 3 challenger Allan Polak timed his attack differently, opening his comments at the forum by saying his efforts to research Ward 3 incumbent Mike Woodard and other council members had been hindered by "gaping holes" in their handling of official e-mail.
Polak said he'd checked this month's city e-mail records for Woodard and found copies of 118 incoming messages, but no outgoing messages. He found the opposite problem with another council member's e-mail, lots of outgoing messages but none incoming.
He claimed that it's possible council members are using private e-mail accounts for official business, contrary to IT industry best practices and city policy. He also said he's met with City Attorney Patrick Baker to discuss the situation.
"In approximately two weeks' time I uncovered a problem in city government, made the public aware of it and worked to resolve it," Polak said, making it clear he thought officials have been slack in the enforcement of proper procedure.
In her closing comments, Ward 1 incumbent Cora Cole-McFadden passed up a chance to respond to Hughes' comments, and stuck mainly to a recitation of the political groups that have endorsed her.
Woodard, meanwhile, sparred with Polak early in the forum, promising to see to it that all his messages are released and adding that he's "confident something's overlooked" that city IT administrators will soon correct.
The barbs on the supervision front were the major twists in a forum that otherwise played out according to recent form.
Challengers and incumbents otherwise quarreled most on economic-development policy.
Cole-McFadden, Woodard, Ward 2 incumbent Howard Clement and Mayor Bill Bell all defended the city's efforts on that front, arguing that it has expanded Durham's employment base and put money into neighborhood revitalization programs like the Eastway Village housing complex in North-East Central Durham.
Mayoral challenger Steven Williams, however, said the city should focus more on making housing available to low-income families. And Ward 2 challenger Matt Drew argued that it should make low taxes a priority so "companies want to come here" instead of demanding incentives to open up shop.
Tuesday's forum occurred a week before voters are scheduled to go to the polls to settle the four races. Early voting is already under way at the county Board of Elections office on West Corporation Street. As of the close of business Tuesday, 465 people had cast ballots.
