Mecklenburg County Commissioner Bill James sent the following e-mail to the family of a murder victim. I was cc'd on the e-mail and thought I would share: It is a sad day in America and Charlotte when your daughter and family can’t receive justice and closure over this tragedy from Charlotte’s officials.
The County Commission here in Charlotte had an opportunity to leave $3 million in a reserve for crime fighting identified by the County Manager as a result of local public pressure of the escalating crime problem. It was already IN the budget and the Manager had already recommended it for funding. A Task Force was set up to evaluate how best to allocate the money. All the Democrats had to do was nothing, just leave the money alone so that the process could work. They were unable to resist grabbing the money (or most of it) for their friends.
We were to use that money to hire additional assistant DA’s and move cases through the court system faster. Right now, each Assist. DA has roughly 250 cases to manage. You can imagine the lack of justice that exists in Charlotte right now. Criminals have an open season to murder, rape, rob and assault with abandon. Charlotte is as lawless as some old west town in 1870. Money for public defenders is three times the money for the DA’s office that prosecutes the crooks.
The Democrats (sad but true) gutted this $3 million crime fighting reserve for the District Attorney’s office like they were filleting a fish, taking the money and moving it into social programs for those that are their buddies. In Charlotte it is who you know that counts.
Now there is no reserve and no money set aside in a contingency. Two Million was cut and re-directed towards social welfare programs, many of dubious need that were increased because the leaders of those programs had friends among the five Democrats who were divvying up the money.
There is a basic philosophical issue at play here Mr. G and I am sorry for your loss. We cannot get the Democrats to show even the slightest interest in using much in the way of local funds to fight crime. We have tried. The public has tried.
They claim it is because it is not a ‘local issue’ (should not be funded locally) though they routinely ignore that rule when funding school nurses (requested by the ‘junior league’) and an assorted list of other welfare programs that are also the responsibility of the State. They pick and choose what State responsibilities should be funded by the County and they have chosen to ignore crime fighting because they don’t like locking up the bad guys.
Alternatively, some Democrats claim (when I suggested $5 million for the DA’s office a month ago) that $5 million wasn’t enough and that $50 million was really needed (Parks Helms, D). Then these same folks proceeded to propose a ¼ cent sales tax increase to ‘fight crime’ then pulled the plug on their ‘crime fighting tax increase’ when the Chamber wanted the money for something else (roads) but refused to even allocate $3 million ALREADY set aside by the County Manager to do without raising a dime in taxes. So in one move they managed to take both sides of the same issue and do nothing in the process.
Their position is weak, ineffectual and double minded. One of the Democrats last night (the dean of County Commission Democrats) admitted that Democrats don’t like funding prosecution but prefer to approach crime fighting as a social service (let’s fix the criminals with programs).
Ultimately, they don’t want to put more people in jail. They are even devising a plan to take drug addicts and alcoholics and send them to a newly created so called ‘jail diversion’ program where the addicts get a club med treatment through the mental health department to their criminal violations instead of jail. The plan is that more folks will be diverted from jail and fewer criminals will be held accountable for their crimes.
The bottom line, it is disappointing to know that the community was within a hair of having $3 million for crime fighting (almost doubling the District Attorney’s office) only to have that removed in a partisan raid at the last minute. It shows that their priorities are not with fighting crime but with welfare funding and money for their friends.
Of Course, the meeting on the 17th (next Tuesday) could allow for the restoration of these crime fighting funds but that will not likely happen. Instead I expect more diversion and obfuscation.
While partisanship does cause gridlock. In this case, the lack of justice for your daughter sadly rests with the Democrats who run the County, City and State of NC. They control everything and every significant body. If they wanted crime fighting to happen they would do so. If they wanted to prosecute your daughters murderer in a timely fashion they could do so. They choose not to.
It is clear they want to convince the public they are doing the best they can even though it is equally clear they just don’t see fighting crime as their job.
So while the Democrats fiddle (as Nero did) Charlotte burns in much the same way as Rome some 2,000 years ago. This time, people and their lives are being destroyed because of their inaction. The public will have to determine if they want to reward them this fall with re-election. I suspect they will reward the Democrats because the criminals these days almost outnumber the normal law abiding in Charlotte. Even those innocents impacted by crime in wealthier suburbs in Charlotte, vote for the Democrats knowing this because they get funding for the Opera and other arts programs. They have sold their votes for creature comforts and subsidies espoused by large corporate employers such as Bank of America, Wachovia and the like who want millions for ‘economic development but little for crime fighting. In Charlotte, the arts and economic development dollars are a bigger priority than getting criminals off the street and obtaining justice for the victims.
I wish I had better news for you but those are the facts. There will be folks who will moan that I am spinning or being ‘partisan’ (the mortal sin in Charlotte). Ultimately, the group in charge of government is responsible for its flaws. Until the Democrats decide that they have more to lose by doing nothing fighting crime, fixing the DA’s office will remain a low priority and your daughters plea for justice from the grave will go unheard, unrequited, and ignored.
Regards,
Commissioner Bill James (R, District 6)
Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners