N&R front-pager on the GPD tapes: "As one investigative officer told me," City Manager Mitchell Johnson said last week, "this is almost like a blueprint of how these guys did business."

In hindsight, city officials think that "blueprint" — an alleged pattern of using deception and unsound methods to solve problems — was the key to what went wrong in the department under Wray.

Comments

[John G]

Looks to me like the City's leadership needs to take another look at: http://www.greensboro-nc.gov/CityGovernment/about/corevalues.htm

[The CA]

Wait, we were told it was "black books" and racism that was the key to Wray's undoing. Is someone going to be accountable now and say they were wrong? How much ink will the new theory get?

[Ed Cone]

Not such a new theory, really.

[The CA]

Yes, but that isn't how it has been portrayed or the public perception of it. Granted, it is not "new", but it is different from the theory espoused in bold headlines and extensive coverage when the story broke and has not received the same treatment as the race theory. Again, some accountability would be nice by those who played the race card.

[Ed Cone]

A rapid retreat from outright falsehood, but only so far as the shelter of vague assertion.

The race card was played early, and the N&R reported it. Was there too much emphasis on alleged racism? Perhaps. But it was hardly the sole substance of the reporting, even beyond the publication of Johnson's own statements.

For example, the paper also ran "bold headlines" shortly after Wray resigned that read "Alleged forgeries figure in police inquiry" (1/25/06), "Covert tactics brought down chief" (2/19/06), and an editorial "Not black and white" (1/21/06).

[The CA]

All of those stories still contain the racial allegations in the their text, and none of them really did anything to dissuade that angle. We still don't know anything for sure, but I would venture to say that the general public probably still perceives this as a racial incident.

[David Hoggard]

Sam, we get it already. You sound like a dog that just won't surrender a bone.

If racial allegations were made by players in the story, they SHOULD have been reported by the N&R. I think your position is that the N&R could have done a better job of investigating those allegations.

No argument there.

It almost sounds to me as if you wish this whole Wray thing would remain soley in the racial realm.

I also find it interesting and telling that with these new revelations you seem to be backing away from defending David Wray.

[The CA]

David, regarding the N&R, I just want more accountability when they get it wrong particularly on racial issues because it is so damaging.

Regarding Wray, I don't think I was ever defending Wray. What I have been interested in is the truth, and to the extent it appears that Wray has been treated unfairly, I have never wavered. I don't believe he lied to anyone about the "multi-jurisdictional" investigation bit, and I see no evidence that he is a racist. If you consider that defending Wray, that's up to you. I haven't heard anything "new" that changes my opinion on any of my previous statements on this matter.