Viewed one way, Monday’s hearing on crime in Charlotte was a huge success for Republican state legislators.
Their nearly three-hour grilling of Mecklenburg Sheriff Garry McFadden produced numerous memorable moments, including one that went viral. That’s when McFadden couldn’t answer Rep. Allen Chesser’s question about which branch of government he works for.
The clip rocketed around social media. Sean Hannity posted about it.
Win!
But the Sheriff’s civics knowledge wasn't what the House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing was supposed to be about.
The day opened with state Rep. Brenden Jones of Columbus County promising to “get to the bottom of this crisis,” which he views as a violent crime problem in Charlotte. His focus was 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska, who was killed in August on the Lynx Blue Line.
“Her life was cut short,” Jones thundered. “Not by one individual, but a system that allowed career criminals to roam its streets who had 14 arrests; a system that allowed its officials to go on reality TV shows rather than patrolling the streets; a system that puts on pride festivals, all while continuing to go off the fiscal cliff with a deficit after raising property taxes on its citizens. A system that prioritized DEI initiatives over armed security guards on CATS.”
For emphasis, he told the audience – packed with top Charlotte officials like Mayor Vi Lyles – that “(Zarutska’s blood) is on your hands.”
Jones and other Republicans then spent almost the entire hearing questioning the one witness whose job and actions were unrelated to the tragedy: McFadden.
When it came time to question people with responsibility for law enforcement on transit – Lyles, City Manager Marcus Jones, transit CEO Brent Cagle – Brenden Jones turned meek. He barely asked them any challenging questions at all, and the hearing veered into discussions of topics such as how great Charlotte's major sporting events are.
And at the end of the hearing, he gave the city of Charlotte a clean bill of health.
“I think the city is doing a good job,” he said. “And it’s going to get better.”
What happened?
Were Republican lawmakers just tired after going back and forth with McFadden for nearly three hours?
Or did Charlotte’s business community ask them privately to take it easy on city officials, while not suggesting the same protection for McFadden? Sitting in the auditorium were two of Charlotte’s conduits to Republicans in Raleigh: Attorney Larry Shaeen and businessman David Longo.
What the sheriff doesn’t do
First, a local government civics lesson:
The Mecklenburg sheriff’s primary responsibility is running the Mecklenburg jail. Deputies also provide security at the courthouse and serve lawsuits. They also conduct some traffic enforcement.
Under McFadden’s tenure, there have been endless controversies: Allegations of mismanagement, racism and bullying; frustrations from conservatives about not cooperating with federal immigration officials; accusations of falsified jail inspections, and the 21 people who have died in Mecklenburg jails under McFadden’s tenure.
Those are all serious allegations.
But the sheriff’s office is not the primary law enforcement agency in the area. That’s Charlotte Mecklenburg Police. The sheriff does not provide security on CATS. That’s handled by private security and CMPD.
The sheriff’s office does not prosecute crimes, and it does not decide when people are released from jail (That's the district attorney, magistrates and judges). It does not provide mental health services to the general population (That’s a county responsibility).
In short, McFadden was an extremely minor player in the system failures that contributed to Zarutska’s murder.
Still, McFadden’s tussle with the GOP ate up most of the morning. Lawmakers then took an hour break for lunch.
What Republicans wanted to know from the city
When they returned, they seated three witnesses at the table: Lyles, Charlotte City Manager Marcus Jones and new CMPD Chief Estella Patterson.
There were many topics to explore.
The GOP could have asked about the Trump administration’s recent audit that found multiple safety lapses at the Charlotte Area Transit System. They could have also asked about Republican state auditor Dave Boliek’s finding that the number of armed security guards on light rail trains had gone down.
They could have asked why CATS had not emphasized transit fare enforcement before the murder, and why the number of overall arrests CMPD makes citywide has fallen significantly over the last decade. They could have also asked why the average number of homicides in the city is higher in the last five years than it was 10 or 12 years ago.
Jones and his Republican colleagues did not ask any of those questions.
Republican Brian Echevarria of Cabarrus County did raise an interesting point about Lyles’ $250 million Racial Equity Initiative. He asked why hadn’t any of that money gone to public safety, given that most victims of violent crime are Black.
Marcus Jones, the city manager, fell back to talking points that most of the city’s general fund budget goes to public safety. As for the racial equity initiative, he just said it had been budgeted for other things.
Going into the hearing, some City Council members privately wondered how Lyles would handle the inquisition. She is in her fifth term, and sometimes struggles to communicate clearly.
The GOP didn’t ask her anything difficult, however, and Democratic Rep. Amos Quick of Guilford County gave the mayor a softball. He asked her how big sporting events impact the city.
Lyles responded:
“What I would say, I could send you Dave Tepper, and perhaps that would be OK. And he helped us start out with all of this. I think what I would say is we are trying very hard to have people come into the community and our city and to be adjustable to things. A lot of people are talking about the responsibilities that we have but we also want people to have the opportunity to thrive and have their kids and their housing and all of that. We aren’t perfect by any means. I really want you to know that. Our other leaders can explain these things that we have, but the most important thing we are doing is creating spaces. For example, we worked with Tepper Sports to have a new stadium. And it was very difficult. It was a very tough decision. But when we had the game coming in, and it was the last time, and the young man and he’s all out there, there was not a seat in the house. And it was really, really important. Right now the Hornets are going on a eight times, maybe nine. But when you think about this, pretty soon one of the things we are going to have is the Hornets are going to give the jersey…it’s going to be for Dell…Dell Curry. He’s going to be given our leadership, we’re going to give him the key to our city. And you start doing things like that and more people come and they want to be uptown. And the biggest thing we have done is focus on safety uptown and to be comfortable if they go for theater or sports or for whatever reason. We are working really hard.”
The mayor then praised Patterson, the new CMPD chief.
In the hearing's final minutes, Jones did ask a pertinent question, though he apologized for doing so.
In an understatement, Jones prefaced his question with the note that “everything (the questions) has been easy so far.”
He added that he wasn’t “pointing fingers and not making accusations,” apparently forgetting he did just that hours earlier when he told city officials they had blood on their hands and their DEI initiatives contributed to Zarutska’s murder.
He asked whether CATS’ recent $3.4 million marketing contract could have been better spent on “more guns, more cops?”
Marcus Jones, the Charlotte City Manager, said the marketing contract was OK because CATS has a large budget and because it’s already spent more on security in recent years.
Brenden Jones was satisfied.
The business community swoops in
Sitting in the auditorium were two of Charlotte’s lifelines to Raleigh.
Attorney Shaheen and Longo, CEO of CBI Workplace Solutions, were instrumental in getting Republican lawmakers to support Mecklenburg County’s new sales tax for transportation.
When it became apparent that Republicans were going to treat Charlotte with kid gloves, I texted Shaheen, asking if he had acted as a buffer.
His response: “The business and real estate community has been robustly involved in outreach around making sure our stakeholders are comfortable with progress we are making as a community to make people safe.”
Shaheen then demurred that he wasn’t particularly involved — but that the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance was a key behind-the-scenes player in taming House Republicans.
