Anthony Foxx, city councilman and mayoral candidate, stands by his wife, Samara, but things still look fishy. She, too, has plead her case to the media. So has County Manager Harry Jones, who says these types of things happen. Unfortunately for them, the record states otherwise.
What kinds of things happen? Government officials practicing blatant cronyism then backpeddling like mad while buffing their public image.
Last month the county’s hiring policies came under scrutiny for the way the Department of Social Services hired Samara Foxx, the wife of a Charlotte city council member for a $100,000 job. The position was only posted for one day. At that time, County Manager Harry Jones told The Charlotte Observer such short job postings are rare, but it had happened before. But there’s apparently no record of that.
Read the rest of this WFAE.org article here.
Since Samara Foxx was hired by the county, the rules have changed. Now government officials must wait six days before hiring their friends.
Who hired Samara Foxx? Mary Wilson, Samara’s former private-sector employer and the director of the Department of Social Services, the second-largest department in the county. Which makes you wonder how Wilson obtained her position, to which she was appointed in June 2008.
Wilson won a search committee’s nomination to become DSS director, and county commissioners unanimously approved the hire in June. Wilson’s salary is $150,000.
Read more from The Charlotte Observer here.
Of course, Samara Foxx isn’t the only family member of a government official hired by Wilson.
Also hired was the daughter of Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Chief Rodney Monroe, and the daughter of Resident Superior Court Judge Yvonne Mims Evans.
Wilson rejected the notion that the hires amounted to cronyism.
Read the rest of this QCityMetro.com article here.
This article appears in Apr 14-21, 2009.
