A week after being indicted in May for allegedly fraudulently securing COVID-relief funds, Charlotte City Council member Tiawana Brown held a previously scheduled town hall, at Good Shepherd Church off South Tryon Street.
When she was called to the stage, Brown received polite applause, and soon the meeting focused on typical city issues: crime, development and transit.
But at the end, Brown talked about her indictment. She is accused of fraudulently receiving COVID-relief funds two years prior to becoming a council member. Reading a statement from her phone, she told the audience that the previous week had been the hardest of her life.
“I am still here. I am still fighting and I am still serving,” she said. “When I ran for office, I told you, all my life I’ve had to fight. And I’m fighting now.”
Brown did not resign. And she has said she will run for a second term this fall.
As she fights the charges, there are two big questions leading into this fall’s city elections.
One is whether a Brown victory would tarnish Charlotte’s reputation for having a local government that is mostly free of scandal. Former mayor Patrick Cannon was indicted a decade ago while in office on federal bribery charges. He immediately resigned.
The city has never had a mayor or city council member win a race while under indictment.
The other: What direction will the city take? Will it continue to follow the vision of Mayor Vi Lyles and the old guard with a politically centrist government — one that tries to advance social justice, but done in a way that doesn’t antagonize Republican legislators or the business community?
Socially progressive or business-oriented future?
Longtime Charlotte public relations consultant Bryan Halliday says this election will determine “if (Charlotte City) council becomes more socially progressive or remains a more business oriented council.”
He added that Brown arrived on City Council “with some pretty strong opinions and has been moving the city more and more into questioning why things are done and why can’t they be done in a different way.”
In her first 18 months on council, Brown has often not known the details of how city policy works. That’s not uncommon for new officials.
“Maybe Tia is not the MBA-educated, you know, Duke public policy person,” said Robert Dawkins with the progressive group Action NC. “But she has the desire to help. And she understands dealing with people from the west side who have hard lives. She knows how to take what they are saying and take it back.”
One policy fight exemplifies the different camps. Brown and four colleagues are pushing to try and increase the pay and working conditions of contract workers at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, which is in Brown’s district in west and southwest Charlotte. She grew up in this district, in the Southside Homes public-housing development.
The Service Employees Union International has been trying to organize the contract workers for years and has lobbied council members to improve their working conditions.
“I’m asking for my constituents, and it’s in my district,” Brown said during a June council meeting. “I’m very concerned about the safety, the efficiency and what we do for the airport.”
Brown, along with council members Renee Johnson, LaWana Mayfield, Victoria Watlington and Dimple Ajmera, voted to send the issue to a committee to try and find a legal way to help the workers, who do things such as clean airplanes.
Johnson has argued that while council can’t dictate wages, it doesn’t have to pick the lowest bidder for future airport contracts. But Lyles and five other council members say state law precludes them from telling a private company how much to pay its employees. Interim City Attorney Anthony Fox has backed the mayor.
At a meeting earlier this month, Lyles incorrectly said only four council members voted in favor of studying the issue, when in fact, the council deadlocked 5-5.
“The motion does not carry,” Lyles said.
In an usual challenge to the mayor, Brown corrected her.
“Well it’s 5-5 you have to vote,” Brown said. “You need six.”
Lyles then said she would vote with the majority and not send the airport-worker issue to a committee.
Brown, again, corrected her.
“It’s not a majority — you break the tie,” Brown said to the mayor.
Lyles then acknowledged she was wrong.
Brown responded: “Let’s have correct English up in here.”
Brown later sent an email to her colleagues, complaining that she had been disrespected. She told Dante Anderson, the mayor pro tem, that she believed Anderson had cut her off during the airport-worker debate. She wrote that "would not be forgotten" ... and then added in all capital letters: "I WILL NOT BE SILENCED!!"
Multiple opponents emerge
While policy differences play out at the dais, Brown is fighting for her political future at the ballot box.
Robin Emmons attended Brown’s town hall after her indictment. She wanted Brown to address her legal problems.
“I have been disappointed that (Brown's) response has been one of deflection and defensiveness, and really the use of race as a personal attack that I don’t think is legitimate,” Emmons, who is also Black, said. “I think that is really reckless.”
Emmons announced on Tuesday that she will run for Brown’s District 3 seat as an unaffiliated candidate.
And two Democrats have announced they will challenge Brown in the primary: Montravias King and Joi Mayo.
Brown's next scheduled court date is Sept. 2. The municipal primary election is Sept. 9.
Brown has said she will run for reelection, though she hasn’t filed as of Wednesday. Filing started Monday, July 7, and runs through July 18.
In early June, Brown sent an email to Colette Forrest, who was running her campaign. The email said she would not run again.
Brown's apparent decision to bow out of the race was swiftly reported in the media. Brown then said she sent the email as a test to see if Forrest would leak the information to the media, and Brown added she had no plans to drop out.
