Web Post Worries County Manager

By Emily S. Achenbaum, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Oct. 1–Mecklenburg County Manager Harry Jones was surprised a few days ago when he learned outgoing Department of Social Services director Richard “Jake” Jacobsen’s name was on a Web site that endorses keeping the half-cent transit tax. The Web site also listed Jacobsen’s department as encouraging citizens to keep the tax, which voters have the option to repeal in November.

Three big problems: Jacobsen didn’t put his name or department on the list. The county doesn’t yet know why his name appeared on the Web site, www.voteagainstrepeal.com. And county policy forbids employees from advocating for or against political issues in their capacity as an employee.

In a memo to the Mecklenburg County commissioners Thursday, Jones said he had talked to Jacobsen, and was certain Jacobsen hadn’t submitted the names. Jones said he then called Charlotte City Councilman Pat Mumford, co-chair of the “Vote Against Repeal” campaign. Mumford said it was a mistake, Jones said, and removed the endorsement.

Jones, however, remained concerned. He reissued the memo to all county department heads about employees’ behavior during a bond referendum election.

“County employees may not use county time or county assets to advocate for the outcome of a bond referendum,” Jones wrote in the memo. “These rules should also be followed with respect to the transit referendum.”

The South Boulevard light-rail project, plagued by inflation and other cost overruns, has become a hotly divisive political issue. Critics of the project were able to put a repeal of the half-cent sales tax that funds transit on the ballot next month.

County officials say they’re still wondering who’s behind the Web posting.

“Obviously, there is a webmaster and a series of individuals who review how items get added,” commissioner Bill James wrote in an e-mail to other commissioners. “It is curious to me how something like this gets listed.”

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