From a search for "George Hartzman" at Greensboro's News & Record

Sep 27, 2025

Aug 1, 2025; An accountability mirage

Greensboro’s internal audit system appears more like a public performance than real oversight.

In response to a records request, the city’s Internal Audit Office recently admitted: “I don’t think we’ve ever had a ‘Failing Audit.’”

Not one failing audit. Ever. Not one audit deemed inadequate, deficient or flawed despite ample public concern, financial irregularities and discrepancies emerging from publicly available records.

In late May, the city released a Downtown Greensboro Inc. (DGI) ledger filled with questionable payments, vague entries, unexplained reimbursements and transfers between related entities. Despite apparent conflicts of interest and the use of public funds for tickets, entertainment and gifts to board members, officials, campaign donors and developers paid for with tax-allocated funds – public money, your taxes – in contravention of DGI’s contract and likely multiple laws, the audits still passed.

Greensboro’s auditing process increasingly resembles an accountability mirage. Audits are treated as proof that nothing is wrong, but that’s only true if you never look for problems. When politically connected nonprofits face no real scrutiny, the audits become meaningless.

When auditors never “fail” anything, it isn’t because nothing is wrong, it’s because the system is designed not to find anything wrong. There is never a note of fraud, mismanagement or even a “finding.” It seems that so long as the boxes are checked, no one looks inside them.

A city that never finds anything wrong isn’t clean; it’s willfully blind.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

The writer is a financial consultant and tax preparer.

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters/article_9b81f1da-a0ce-4916-a4b3-685c9bd655bb.html

May 9, 2025; A massive city budget

The city of Greensboro’s budget has grown from $492,850,249 in 2017–18 to $802,011,267 in 2024–25, a 62.7% increase, to over $309 million more per year in seven years.

Where is this money going? Are taxpayers truly seeing returns on this massive increase in spending, or is this a case of government bloat and misplaced priorities?

At a time when many families are tightening their belts, the public deserves transparency and accountability. It’s time we take a hard look at our spending and demand fiscal responsibility. After all, it’s a City Council election year.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters/article_bea0c67c-b123-44b9-a1df-b2354fb648a2.html

Jan 12, 2025; Johnson’s seat

City of Greensboro applicants for Yvonne Johnson’s at-large City Council seat should be prohibited from using the appointment as a steppingstone for personal political advancement.

For example, Tony Wilkins was appointed to fill Trudy Wade’s District 5 seat in 2012 and was elected in 2013 and 2015.

Justin Outling was appointed after Zack Matheny resigned in 2015. Outling was elected later that year and served until running for mayor in 2022.

Goldie Wells was appointed to represent District 2 after Jamal Fox resigned in 2017 and won reelection in subsequent terms.

Hugh Holston was appointed to an at-large seat following Michelle Kennedy’s departure in 2021 and retained the seat in 2022.

Appointing someone who later runs for office creates an inherent advantage due to name recognition, visibility, and access to resources not available to other candidates. This dynamic can unintentionally discourage other qualified individuals from entering the race, weakening the democratic process. By appointing someone who commits not to run, the council restores balance and provides voters with a fully competitive and transparent election.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters/article_0b35cd5c-cc82-11ef-824a-1758aec8a5b2.html

Jun 17, 2024; Gas prices and profits

On April 15, U.S. wholesale NYMEX Gasoline futures were priced at ∼$2.78 per gallon (∼ = about).

The average gasoline price per GasBuddy in Greensboro was ∼$3.41 on April 15, including ∼$0.59 in state and federal taxes per gallon.

The average gas per gallon on June 11 was ∼$2.43 for gas futures and ∼$3.27 around Greensboro.

The gross profit margin on April 15 was ∼$0.04 per gallon, compared to ∼$0.25 on June 11.

Somehow, the gross margin increased by 525% between April 15 and June 11.

Higher fuel prices lead to higher prices for just about everything we consume. It feels as if some are enjoying the difference between lower costs and higher retail prices at the expense of our local economy.

There is a lack of transparency regarding the gross margins for gasoline retailers, which makes it difficult for consumers to understand the pricing dynamics and potentially advocate for better local pricing. It’s as though a few who know don’t want us to know more about what we should.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters/article_94111768-2c63-11ef-8fd3-f70d1a094e25.html

Nov 16, 2021; Fleecing seniors

Medicare is not allowed to negotiate prescription drug prices. So 2022 Medicare Part B premiums will rise $21.60 to $170.10, about half of which is due to the new $56,000-a-year Alzheimer’s medication Aduhelm, which was approved by the FDA in June, overriding staff objections because there’s not enough evidence it works.

Many of our elected leaders ran on weakening the monopolistic merger between state and corporate powers, which keep costs about twice as high as in comparable countries, and they didn’t fix it. Most understand how fleecing seniors via overpriced medications is a product of crony capitalism via purchased politicians, but somehow it continues unabated.

Meanwhile, there’s been a breakdown in trust as the scientific establishment seems to support high-profit, non-generic, poorly studied remedies instead of inexpensive, safety-proven alternatives, sacrificing our health and financial condition to benefit those skimming taxpayer monies with the help of our nation’s clearly compromised regulatory infrastructure and political class.

And now it got worse, again.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters/article_d7c1aa2a-4653-11ec-b291-b707c1b97f35.html

Sep 13, 2021; The chosen few

In 2012, Tony Wilkins was appointed by Greensboro’s City Council to fill a vacancy created by the election of Trudy Wade to North Carolina’s Senate. Wilkins won reelection as an incumbent.

In 2015, Justin Outling was appointed to fill Downtown Greensboro Inc. CEO Zack Matheny’s council seat. Matheny gained his new position under ethically curious circumstances, not unlike Michelle Kennedy’s recent departure in exchange for a different taxpayer-funded gig. Outling went on to win as an incumbent and is running for mayor.

In 2017, Goldie Wells was appointed to the City Council to finish Jamal Fox’s term and won reelection as an incumbent.

In 2018, Skip Alston won a Guilford County Democratic Party special election to fill Ray Trapp’s unexpired term on the Board of County Commissioners before running for reelection as an incumbent. In 2020, Alston was chosen by his majority to be the commissioners’ chairman.

The city will receive $59.4 million in COVID-19 funding. Most of our current “elected” representatives who will vote for Kennedy’s replacement tonight will determine how the money is spent.

Chances are an at-large surrogate appointed by the council within months of an election will win as an incumbent in 2022.

Chances are our City Council won’t vote for candidates who pledge not to run.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters/article_d076eeb4-124c-11ec-b3aa-1b709fa840f0.html

Aug 29, 2018; Board failed diligence on Say Yes problems

Winston McGregor, executive director, Guilford Education Alliance, and Alan Duncan, then chair of Guilford County’s Board of Education, both served on the operating committee of Say Yes to Education’s Say Yes Guilford.

During their tenure, the public was misled concerning Say Yes’s scholarship sustainability by more than $400 million, easily comprehended with no more than multiplication and division, which they either didn’t figure out or ignored altogether until it was too late.

McGregor has been appointed to the school board to run for Duncan’s seat while working at the Education Alliance, which is serving as the interim fiscal administrative agent for Say Yes Guilford, all at the same time.

Alan Duncan is on the “new” Say Yes Guilford local governing board, after the school board and McGregor enabled it to be compromised by misleading the public.

McGregor now has oversight of an organization she runs as a school board member, which is handling Say Yes finances. It seems as though our local news industry doesn’t hold those in power accountable.

The school board didn’t do its homework, betrayed Guilford County families, and left those who enabled it in charge of what’s left of Say Yes Guilford.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/article_c54ecae1-8c24-5546-88b4-240007ce595a.html

Jul 8, 2018; No tax increase in city may be actually true

Greensboro’s City Council voted June 19 to spend $543.5 million next fiscal year, $8.9 million more than last year.

The News & Record’s headline read, “Greensboro budget OK’d; no tax hike for ninth straight year.”

After Guilford County’s property revaluation last year, taxes in Greensboro rose 2.11 cents, otherwise known as a “tax hike,” by not lowering the rate.

The city brought in an extra $5 million from the poorly reported increase, while the county lowered its rate 2.45 cents to not raise taxes.

Even though Roy Carroll’s Rhino Times reported Greensboro’s “stealth tax hike” last year, John Hammer let council member Nancy Hoffmann run an election ad stating “Vote against higher taxes,” allowing her to mislead voters after voting to raise taxes.

Hoffmann then voted for Carroll’s $3 million for utility infrastructure to lure Publix and $30 million for his parking deck.

This year, the city increased taxes for monthly parking downtown to pay for new parking decks, which was described as raising “monthly parking rates.”

The “monthly rate increase of 3.5 percent for water wasn’t considered a “tax hike” either.

It’s no wonder our local population is so pacified with such efficient thought conditioning.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/article_faa7c2dd-48db-5d38-9ec2-dac218314ab2.html

Jun 20, 2018; Arts center parking math doesn’t add up

On Dec. 19, 2017, Greensboro Coliseum Director Matt Brown told the City Council that the Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts would be paid for in part by charging $18 a piece for 330 VIP parking spaces 150 times per year, mirroring math he authored in a document in October 2017.

One problem with this arithmetic is more than 30 annual anticipated events won’t have ticket charges.

Student plays and concerts, dance recitals, talent competitions and nonprofit uses selling out 330 VIP spots each for $18 a piece seems a bit more than unlikely.

If the spaces do sell out, according to the city finance department’s figuring, only an average of 232 cars per show would be left to park.

The city informed the Local Government Commission that each arts center patron will pay $5 per vehicle to park in a city-owned parking deck, even if he or she stays at the Marriott across the street with its 790 spaces, at other, nearby hotels, in one of the 488 free on-street parking spaces within 1,200 feet, or in any of the privately owned lots within the immediate vicinity, or is dropped off by a cab, Lyft, Uber, friends or parents.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/article_35b742a7-772a-52d2-aca7-e98817bb40b2.html

Dec 5, 2017; Local, D.C. leaders feather nests of rich

North Carolina Sens. Burr and Tillis and Rep. Walker have now proven their priorities are to maintain political power by enriching campaign donors at the expense of those who voted for them by borrowing from future generations, just as Greensboro’s City Council has for our local oligarchy.

The farcical math used to justify tax cuts at the federal level is no worse than the bogus arithmetic, or lack thereof, spewed on our community by city staff, the council and those who stand to profit from local taxes subsidizing the principal and interest for a performing arts center, parking decks and three new downtown hotels.

As one “party” works to provide a massive gift at the federal level, the other is doing so in Greensboro. There are two sides, but not what most are indoctrinated to believe. One side is the professional political class along with their less-than-benevolent financial supporters, and the other consists of mostly debt serfs struggling to pay monthly bills. Our local “public/private partnerships” aren’t bringing high-paying jobs but higher rents for service-industry entrepreneurs to pay more to play and profit with chosen winners, while unconnected small businesses lose customers through legislative fiat.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/article_0107fccf-6545-59d4-94d4-58db6975dc57.html

Nov 26, 2017; Voters should follow money connections

In November 2013, opposition to a Greensboro City Council vote immediately after an election delayed a targeted taxpayer subsidization of a downtown hotel. This month, the council delayed a vote to fund $56 million in parking decks for several of the same campaign contributors, along with a donor/owner of a local newspaper that endorsed candidates and reaped revenue from political ads.

Council members who were to vote some of their obfuscated financial backers’ money didn’t mind until accusations of “crony capitalism” and “corporate welfare” erupted. As pre-election campaign finance reports were due Oct. 30, the election took place on Nov. 7, and the rest of the pre/post-election filings are due Jan. 26, the public will be not be fully aware of who received what from whom before the rescheduled vote on Dec. 19. As both projects are developer construction reimbursements, it’s unclear how much benefactors stand to personally profit from deals “the mayor is authorized ... to effectuate ...” after most of the council received financial support from relatively the same patrons.

Please advocate for full transparency. Greensboro’s voters deserve to know how tax monies are allocated in our community’s best interests, or not.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/article_85402d29-43be-557e-94c9-68499dafa3be.html

Jan 30, 2016; Arts center questions still awaiting answers

According to local reporting, construction estimates for Greensboro’s new Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts were $36 million and $43.4 million in 2012 without land costs, $60 million in 2013 including real estate, and then $65 million.

The latest $78.1 million total proposal includes $61 million for construction alone.

The city and the arts center’s supporters have yet to detail how projected costs rose so much as construction-related commodity prices dramatically fell. The city hasn’t itemized the $17.1 million difference between construction costs, land acquisition and other costs.

The Community Foundation’s Walker Sanders confirmed $14 million of about $35 million in pledges and a credit line/loan/guarantee for the rest has been obtained at the press conference on Jan. 27.

I asked Greensboro Coliseum Director Matt Brown, Mayor Nancy Vaughan and the Community Foundation’s Walker Sanders to explain. Sanders promised to provide details as to how much the money obtained is being charged and what the cost of the lending program is and expected to be.

Brown confirmed he would provide the information, while Vaughan stated the questions have been answered in the presence of Joe Killian and John Hammer.

Our community looks forward to the answers.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/article_a86f4849-a334-58e3-87c6-099fce9595e8.html

Oct 30, 2015; Candidate opposes ‘parasitic interests’

I wanted to make a difference by running for mayor. It happened on Oct. 13, in an email from Greensboro’s Donnie Turlington informing George Hartzman and myself that “the City’s Deferred Compensation Committee has replaced two funds being dropped by (city retirement plan provider) ICMA-RC with two low-expense index funds offered by Vanguard.”

The cost of a “small cap” fund choice for city employees fell from 1.24 percent per year to 0.10 percent per year. If there’s $10 million invested for participants in the fund through the plan, they will save about $114,000 per year.

The heroes in this story are a small group of employees who risked their careers to get some answers to a few simple questions. Though they remain anonymous, these few created a measurable benefit for all of the city’s employees in the face of likely retaliation.

I didn’t know a lot about Greensboro’s politics before embarking on a mayoral run. What I found was some crooked elected officials supported by a cabal of parasitic interests who enjoy lining their pockets with tax money taken from mostly lower-income citizens, backed by a compliant governmental administration and a local news industry seeking to minimize unconnected opposition.

Devin King
Greensboro

The writer is a candidate for mayor in Tuesday’s election.

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/article_9d10bc58-7cc5-5f2a-91ae-a8355110ba6b.html

Mar 7, 2015; City misses the chance to help its employees

On Feb. 24, I presented information on the city of Greensboro’s retirement plan fees at a City Council work session. I was led to believe the city’s Deferred Compensation Committee and the plan administrators would be present to rebut the veracity of a set of mathematical facts.

There was no rebuttal, as neither group chose to attend, rendering the afternoon a betrayal of overcharged city employees and a waste of time. Public records were withheld. Council members have been misled. Secret meetings shielded the truth from public disclosure. Lobbyists intervened.

After the meeting, Assistant City Manager Mary Vigue, indirectly affiliated with the plan’s provider, who led the non-public closed-door meetings with council members, informed me there will be no changes enacted or considered.

I am deeply disappointed by the inaction of Zack Matheny and Nancy Hoffmann, who have financial experience, as they worked in the industry. I showed both how the city could save its employees hundreds of thousands per year in one-on-one meetings. Matheny and Hoffmann chose to say and do nothing to the detriment of those whose best interests they are supposed to represent.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/article_a8a7d442-c443-11e4-a16e-176358988cda.html

Feb 15, 2015; City’s retirement-plan fee is an issue, by Jodi Riddleberger

Imagine you were $150 richer at the end of the year, for no other reason than your employer chose to act in your best interests by lowering your retirement-plan fees.

According to several compound interest calculators, if your employer could reduce your retirement-plan fees to save $150 each year, and you make 5 percent per year, you should end up with $10,464 more in 30 years.

Now imagine your employer, after being shown this information by someone who has taught fiduciary ethics to CPAs for more than a decade, decided to look the other way.

George Hartzman believes if you take 2,781 employees, like those invested in the city of Greensboro’s 457 tax-deferred qualified retirement plan, which is very similar to 401(k) or 403(b) plans, and do the math: $10,464 (more in 30 years) x 2,781 (people), you get $29,100,384 in potential savings for Greensboro’s employees at 5 percent. That’s a lot of money.

Greensboro’s 457 plan is provided by the International City/County Management Association Retirement Corporation (ICMA-RC).

Lowering Greensboro’s 457 fees was part of Hartzman’s 2013 mayoral platform. He met with city staff and went through the math, to no avail. He wrote a column on the subject for Yes Weekly last April, in which he stated: “Some financial companies claiming to act in the best interests of their clients appear to act like parasites existing at the expense of their hosts ... ICMA-RC appears to be charging relatively overpriced ‘retail’ rates, where part of the fees can be ‘kicked back’ to ICMA-RC from outside investment managers, as opposed to ‘institutional’ rates ...”

Through public information requests, George came across a 2011 ICMA-RC record-keeping quote for Winston-Salem that came to $59.18 per participant, per year. In 2013, he solicited a 457 plan provider proposal for Greensboro that came out to $59.07 each for record-keeping. In 2014, he found Orlando, Fla., was paying $57.23 per ICMA-RC 457 plan participant, while Greensboro was paying a much higher $87.25 each for the same thing.

Hartzman says Greensboro’s participants should be paying about $89,685 less per year, just for record-keeping.

In a News & Record letter to the editor, Hartzman wrote “City Manager Jim Westmoreland and Assistant City Manager Mary Vigue worked to prevent lower costs.” Hartzman believes a conflict exists as both Westmoreland and Vigue are members of ICMA, which created ICMA-RC in 1972. Both organizations reside in the same building in Washington, D.C., and share board members.

Greensboro’s City Council, executive managers, legal and finance departments are aware of George’s questions. In January, the city held three meetings for small groups of City Council members and ICMA lobbyists on the subject, not open to the public or press. Hartzman contends the issues he’s raised weren’t addressed in these meetings. He states that his “math has been confirmed by a former ICMA-RC employee and retirement plan benefit specialists employed for municipalities other than the city who also do business with ICMA-RC.”

I participated in a conference call led by Vigue, which included three other city staffers. I asked about the recent “closed door” meetings. Vigue said that she wouldn’t call the meetings “closed door,” but they were just “small group” meetings. She explained, “It’s easier, generally, to get on council’s calendar and to walk through some complicated information because this information is complicated.”

When I asked the conference call participants why Greensboro is paying higher fees than similar cities, Vigue clearly said, “Well, I can tell you that we’re not. That’s what we’ve tried to prove time and time again ... There isn’t a per-participant rate. Greensboro does not pay a per-participant fee ... Winston, on the other hand, has a per-participant fee that they pay.”

George disagrees and has been provided a forum to debate the subject. On Feb. 24, there will be an hour dedicated to the topic at a City Council work session that will be open to the public and press.

Jodi Riddleberger is a founder of Conservatives for Guilford County and a News & Record Town Square community columnist. She lives in Greensboro.

https://greensboro.com/opinion/columns/article_090167ba-b2e0-11e4-921a-b3e2682cb7eb.html

Dec 30, 2014; City can save money for retirement plans

City of Greensboro executive management is in possession of information that should provide roughly $125 per year in investment and administrative fee savings for about 2,780 city employees in Greensboro’s 457 qualified retirement plan (like a 401k).

In 30 years, another $125 per year per/employee compounded at 7 percent should leave another $12,634 each by mirroring the federal government’s Thrift Savings Plan, designed with low-cost index funds by federal employees for themselves, instead of a D.C. “nonprofit” whose CEO makes more than $2 million per year.

Renegotiating Greensboro’s 457 plan fees could save plan participants about $347,848 per year, but City Manager Jim Westmoreland and Assistant City Manager Mary Vigue worked to prevent lower costs.

Westmoreland and Vigue have acted in the best interests of a retirement plan company instead of the employees they are supposed to represent.

Please help retain more money in our community instead of letting Greensboro’s retirement plan provider skim more than necessary by contacting the City Council to advocate for the reallocation and renegotiation of the plan’s funds and fees.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/article_19db9b00-8fae-11e4-a8f4-0f391572e6a5.html

Aug 5, 2014; Charter school funds must be transparent, by William Osborne

As we wait for the findings from the state ethics commission on George Hartzman’s complaint filed against Sen. Phil Berger — which was followed by the abrupt resignations of Paul Norcross and Baker Mitchell from the state Charter School Advisory Board, one thing is painfully clear: The need for transparency is critical.

While for-profit operations seek to gain a piece of the multi-billion-dollar education budget, the need for taxpayer protections grows stronger. With one Charlotte charter school closing months before the end of the school year, leaving students to scramble for options, the financial health of charter schools becomes a matter of concern for all taxpayers.

Perhaps the greatest concern is the need to ensure that pay-to-play politics does not lead to special favors nor to a financially dysfunctional educational setting for our children. Our labor markets require (and children deserve) the best education we can afford. Taxpayers work hard for their money and deserve to have their taxes spent in an open, verifiable way. North Carolina citizens should never have to peer through the fog of deception to know we are getting what we are paying for. Education spending requires public oversight.

William Osborne
Eden

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/article_f02b25f6-1c2a-11e4-bf1b-001a4bcf6878.html

Sep 24, 2014; Greensboro man sues Wells Fargo

A Greensboro blogger and former mayoral candidate sued Wells Fargo on Monday, claiming the bank hid charges on investments from hundreds of thousands of clients.

In court documents, George Hartzman also alleged the bank identified him as a whistleblower who three times had reported ethics violations against Wachovia Corp. He worked at Wachovia Securities. After Wells Fargo bought the company, he worked for Wells Fargo Advisors. “I got fired and my income got screwed,” he said Tuesday. “I’m looking for accountability.”

...Wachovia’s stock plummeted in 2008. In 2009, Citigroup announced plans to buy the troubled bank, but Wells Fargo stepped in and bought it instead.

The Winston-Salem Journal’s Richard Craver reported that experts estimated $1 billion in shareholder value vanished in the Carolinas during the Wachovia collapse.

But in 2011, a judge dismissed two shareholder lawsuits claiming mismanagement during the Wachovia collapse.

In his lawsuit, Hartzman alleged that Wells Fargo executives lied under oath.

Wells Fargo attorneys have not responded to requests for comment.

https://greensboro.com/news/article_0cc6bdda-438e-11e4-a7b0-001a4bcf6878.html

Sep 12, 2014; Ethics complaint against Berger Sr. is dismissed

The N.C. State Ethics Commission has dismissed a complaint against Senate Leader Phil Berger Sr., according to the local blogger and activist who filed the charge.

In July, Greensboro resident George Hartzman alleged that Berger (R-Rockingham) had a conflict of interest when he promoted and voted for a charter school bill. Critics are concerned that schools will be able to withhold what contracted companies running charter schools pay their employees -- something Berger’s office says already is allowed by other public schools under existing law.

The senator’s son, Phil Berger Jr., plans to open a charter school in Rockingham County. Paul Norcross, a High Point man who Berger Sr. appointed to the state charter school advisory council, has a company that manages charter schools.

Hartzman alleged that Berger Sr. was setting up a situation where his son and Norcross could benefit financially without the public knowing.

Berger Sr. said Hartzman’s complaint had no merit.

“We are pleased the N.C. Ethics Commission — whose members include appointees from multiple administrations across party lines — promptly and decisively dismissed this meritless complaint, as we fully expected they would,” Berger said in a statement. “The bill in question passed the Senate with a unanimous and bipartisan vote, and there is no way it would benefit anyone financially.”

The commission’s preliminary inquiry panel concluded that Hartzman’s complaint “did not allege facts sufficient to constitute a violation within the commission’s jurisdiction,” according to a letter from the state that Hartzman gave to the News & Record.

Hartzman’s complaint was dismissed Sept. 4, according to the letter from the commission.

The commission director did not return a request for comment Thursday.

Hartzman said he is not surprised with the commission’s decision, considering the group is appointed by the legislature and the governor.

He raised questions about the fact that the commission’s deliberations are secret.

“It gives these guys a way out to do whatever they want without any accountability,” Hartzman said. “They can get away with it.”

Norcross, co-founder of a High Point charter school, resigned from the state Charter School Advisory Board in August.

https://greensboro.com/news/article_3b953aaa-3a2a-11e4-a94e-001a4bcf6878.html

Jul 31, 2014; Norcross, Mitchell resign from North Carolina charter school board

Two of N.C. Senate leader Phil Berger’s appointments to the state Charter School Advisory Board resigned this week after several people complained that they had conflicts of interest.

...The latest complaint, filed Monday by local blogger and activist George Hartzman, said Berger had a conflict of interest when he pushed for Senate Bill 793, which shields salaries of some charter school employees from public inspection.

Hartzman said the timing of his complaint and the resignations is “amazing.” “The fact that they resigned is an indication that there are issues,” Hartzman said.

There should be transparency on the salaries of for-profit management company employees paid with public dollars, Hartzman said.

SB 793, which now awaits Gov. Pat McCrory’s signature, would shield from the public the employee salaries of for-profit companies that manage charter schools.

Hartzman said that Phil Berger’s son, Phil Berger Jr., would stand to benefit from that loophole as a member of the board of directors for Providence Charter High, a Rockingham County charter school.

What is important now is whether McCrory signs the bill, Hartzman said.

A nonprofit foundation manages Providence Charter High. Hartzman said that could change.

If McCrory fails to veto the bill, Phil Berger Jr. “would be able to take an income from a charter school without anyone knowing about it,” Hartzman said.

https://greensboro.com/blogs/the_chalkboard/article_fb328564-18e9-11e4-8915-001a4bcf6878.html

Jul 28, 2014; Hartzman takes charter school complaints to ethics board

Local blogger and activist George Hartzman has been complaining about charter schools and their connections to the politically powerful for months.

Today, he took it to the next level.

Hartzman filed a formal complaint with the North Carolina State Ethics Commission. The complaint alleges that Phil Berger Sr., president pro tempore of the state senate, had a conflict of interest when he promoted and voted for a bill that would allow charter schools to avoid disclosing what they pay employees.

Earlier this year Phil Berger Sr.’s son, Rockingham County District Attorney Phil Berger Jr., had his application for a charter school in Rockingham County approved...

Hartzman says these connections are a conflict.

“Berger is setting up his kid,” Hartzman said Monday. “He’s creating an environment where his son, Paul Norcross and bunch of his political buddies can make a ton of money off of charter schools and the public can’t see where the money’s going.”

Berger Jr. could not be reached for comment Monday. Paul Norcross declined to comment.

Berger Sr. could not be reached. But Amy Auth, his deputy chief of staff, said Hartzman’s complaint is baseless.

“The ethics complaint filed today has absolutely no merit because there is nothing in Senate Bill 793 that would benefit anyone financially in any way,” Auth said.

Hartzman says if that’s true, charter school companies shouldn’t have any trouble disclosing what they pay their management companies and the politically connected people who work for them.

“Whatever happens should be on the side of transparency and sunlight,” Hartzman said.

...Rep. Tricia Cotham (D-Mecklenberg) sent a letter to McCrory Monday urging him to veto the bill.

“While this bill requires that charter schools disclose the salaries of direct employees, including teachers, it creates a dangerous loophole that would allow Charter School Management Companies to take advantage of taxpayer funds by hiding payments to the very people and entities for which disclosure is most necessary,” Cotham wrote.

Hartzman said he felt someone had to make a formal complaint, but he doesn’t expect it to get anywhere.

“We’re living in a rigged system,” Hartzman said. “They’ve received my complaint. They’ll look at it. But the powers that be will do everything they can to make it go away.”

https://greensboro.com/blogs/article_ee713e00-1697-11e4-afc6-0017a43b2370.html

Jan 5, 2014; City Council needs new disclosure rules

Mayor Nancy Vaughan has asked Greensboro’s City Council to adopt more transparent ethics disclosures for some very good reasons.

For example, at the Dec. 17 City Council meeting, Nancy Hoffmann nominated her business partner, Nick Piornack, to Downtown Greensboro Inc.’s board, after voting to loan Piornack’s firm $200,000 for a parking lot that created spots where patrons of her three recently purchased buildings will likely park for a fee.

Hoffmann also nominated the architect for her now-taxpayer-subsidized project at 304 S. Elm via a DGI grant, which city taxpayers funded via a Hoffmann City Council vote. The interior designer for the same property now serves on the Minimum Housing Standards Commission.

If council members place citizens who do business with them on city boards, they should disclose the connections. Members should disclose financial interests in businesses and nonprofits, as well as organizations they are involved with that may become reliant on City Council votes bequeathing everyone else’s money.

Even though participation would be voluntary, identifying and following the actions of those who choose not to provide sunlight on their financial dealings should be enlightening.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/article_dd11f490-740a-11e3-901a-001a4bcf6878.html

Dec 23, 2013; Greensboro mayor seeks new ethics form for council members

Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan is asking City Council members to reveal more of their personal and financial dealings to the public.

...The proposed new Greensboro form is based on the state ethics disclosure.

The five-page form asks council members to reveal the following information about themselves and other members of their household:

• Current employer and job title.

• Real estate assets worth more than $10,000.

• Property rented to or leased from the city.

• Financial interests in public or private businesses. If the business has any dealings with the city, they must provide more details.

• Any nonprofit organization they are involved with as a board member, contractor, employee, lobbyist or officer.

• Any society, organization or advocacy group they were a leader of, if the organization has “an interest pertaining to subject matter areas over which the City Council may have jurisdiction.”

George Hartzman, who ran against Vaughan for mayor this year, said the new form is a “great idea.” He has been a critic of council members approving projects that have connections to elected officials’ friends, business associates or campaign contributors.

He has advocated tougher financial disclosures.

“It’s a good chunk of what I was fighting for. It’s not all, but it’s more than I expected,” Hartzman said. “I’d love to see it go into practice.”

https://greensboro.com/news/local/article_7ca0dcb4-6c46-11e3-a518-0019bb30f31a.html

Nov 27, 2013; Hotel decision should wait for new council

A Dec. 2 special City Council meeting concerning taxpayer subsidies for a Wyndham luxury hotel in downtown Greensboro should be delayed until after the next day, when three newly elected council members will be sworn in.

Leading the effort to acquire some of everyone else’s money that will likely diminish the profitability of the downtown Marriott — among others who didn’t ask for millions of public largess — is Randall Kaplan, who, along with family members and other interested parties, recently contributed to the council campaigns of Nancy Hoffmann, Zack Matheny and Robbie Perkins.

Hoffmann held a “campaign fundraising event” at Elm Street Center, with a catering contribution from Randall’s wife Kathy Manning, who led the performing arts center marketing effort and actively lobbied the council for the project while Kaplan served on the Feasibility Task Force.

Saddling incoming council members Sharon Hightower, Jamal Fox and Mike Barber with figuring out how to pay for this “incentive grant” by some who helped create a stage for personal profit with more than $50 million in public liabilities for the performing arts center with campaign cash and lobbying is an affront to free-market capitalism and fair play.

Last-minute giveaways are not what soon-to-be former mayors should do.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/article_21767bbc-56db-11e3-8867-001a4bcf6878.html

Oct 23, 2013; Is this all we want from our leaders?

Majorities of Greensboro’s voters and the apathy of the other registered 91.9 percent mostly stuck with the political status quo in the Oct. 8 City Council primary election.

In my view, a relatively uninformed and/or misinformed electorate supported many candidates who enable anti-competitive practices and inhibit local economic growth on an uneven playing field for a minority who finance many of our political campaigns. Most of the distributed fliers, etc., before the primary, especially in east Greensboro, were paid for by some who have the most to gain from the largess of their well-funded “contenders.”

I believe we have collectively chosen, inadvertently or not, to continue to unethically transfer taxpayer wealth to some for the rest to pay for. On Oct. 15, a majority of City Council allocated some of everyone else’s money to a select few who helped pay for poll workers and political signs littered throughout the city.

By allocating taxpayer funds for “shovel-ready” projects and our downtown “nonprofit” now run by a former Greensboro Partnership lobbyist, we unwittingly conveyed some of the spoils of our taxation to those who will profit via our elected leadership. If we keep following the same path, we’ll end up where we’re headed.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/article_8bc71eee-3b66-11e3-bce0-001a4bcf6878.html

Oct 15, 2013; Hartzman helping Vaughan

You know that whole “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” business?

Well, there’s some of that happening in the Greensboro mayor’s race this year.

A few days after defeating him at last week’s mayoral primary, first-place finisher Nancy Vaughan got a call from third-place finisher George Hartzman.

Hartzman, a practiced orator, offered to help Vaughan prepare for Monday’s head-to-head forum with incumbent Mayor Robbie Perkins, also a comfortable public speaker.

Hartzman and Vaughan met at the Bench Tavern, Hartzman’s favorite haunt. Hartzman wouldn’t say exactly he told her, but he said he intends to help her again.

“What’s in the best interest of the city of Greensboro is for Robbie Perkins not to be mayor anymore,” Hartzman said.

But he’s not endorsing her for mayor -- in case you were one of those 1,900 some voters who wanted Hartzman to lead the city.

https://greensboro.com/townnews/politics/article_ab06f2a6-35c7-11e3-8f1f-001a4bcf6878.html

Oct 1, 2013; Hartzman would change status quo

The N&R has referred to George Hartzman, mayoral candidate, as a “gadfly, loose cannon, provocateur.”

Mr. Hartzman cites the truth.

He follows incestuous money from donations to contracts from nonprofits to for-profit organizations. He finds the links to government. If these deals are not corruption, they are on the cusp. There is a perception of pay-to-play and cronyism.

It is for the voters to rule on their significance. So let’s try someone without personal monetary interest in what the City Council does. Let’s say no to real estate deals or other family ties that influence decisions.

George Hartzman is real life. He has washed dishes, waited tables, sold encyclopedias, repaired cars, sold financial instruments, taught ethics.

We have a mayor, Robbie Perkins, who is in real estate and has filed for bankruptcy. The other challenger, Councilwoman Nancy Vaughan, is an ex-bookkeeper who is hardly a dynamic, independent thinker.

Don’t pooh-pooh it. It’s 2013, not 1952. Give change a chance.

David Colin
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/article_401d7292-2a1b-11e3-9006-001a4bcf6878.html

Sep 30, 2013; Broker’s commissions don’t serve taxpayers

On Sept. 3, and again on Sept. 17, Robbie Perkins and Nancy Vaughan knowingly voted to give fellow Greensboro Country Club member David Hagan, who serves on the Community Foundation’s board, about $586,000 in commissions for purchasing performing arts center properties.

The city of Greensboro has four real-estate brokers who could have purchased the properties for no more than their salaries.

I believe Perkins, Vaughan and the Community Foundation’s Walker Sanders, who was involved in the negotiations, did not act in the best interests of Greensboro’s taxpayers concerning these real-estate transactions.

I call for David Hagan, who is U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan’s brother-in-law, to forfeit his commissions.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/article_400d3662-27d1-11e3-88a1-0019bb30f31a.html

Sep 18, 2013; Mayoral hopefuls share their message at forum

...Wild-card candidate George Hartzman charmed some audience members, who cracked up at his delivery.

...Hartzman stuck to his over-arching message, that too many local elected leaders are more concerned about themselves and their business interests to accomplish what the city needs.

“We don’t have a level playing field for business looking to expand or relocate to Greensboro,” Hartzman said. “We have cronyism and self-dealing in our city government and it needs to be fixed.”

https://greensboro.com/news/local/article_c07e5ce6-2019-11e3-911e-001a4bcf6878.html

Sep 17, 2013; The Hartzman factor

Today’s League of Women Voters mayoral forum drew an overflow audience, the biggest I’ve seen at one of these affairs.

...dark horse/wild card/long shot challenger George Hartzman also adds to the appeal of these sessions in an odd and interesting way.

You never know what Hartzman will say or do

He took off his shoes.

...He can be rude and insufferable.

But he also can be funny and charming.

And sometimes he touches a nerve or says something that needs saying – for instance, by reminding us of the power and influence of real estate interests in city politics.

Or by questioning city spending.

So he’s more than comic relief.

I wouldn’t be surprised if one reason that crowd was so big was because Hartzman was there.

Allen Johnson

https://greensboro.com/blogs/thinking_out_loud/article_e9b51fce-1ffa-11e3-a700-0019bb30f31a.html

Sep 17, 2013; Greensboro council candidate has passion for vigilance

George Hartzman has made it his business to make politicians uncomfortable.

Regular government-television viewers know him for his aggressive speeches before the City Council and his accusations that local elected leaders have been bought by business interests.

His supporters think he’s a hero for poking the establishment. His critics say he is disruptive, off base, or worse, that his claims are inaccurate.

Either way, Hartzman has carved a niche for himself as a government watchdog.

...Hartzman, 46, is a conservative when it comes to city spending, but he is more liberal on social issues, such as whether the city should extend benefits to the spouses of homosexual employees.

...Hartzman entered the local political scene four years ago as a blogger.

He was fired from his job at Wells Fargo last year after publicly accusing the company of misleading customers about fees, insider trading and securities fraud. Regulators chose not to investigate the allegations, according to Hartzman, who calls himself an outed whistle-blower.

He now teaches financial ethics courses through his continuing education company and runs his own investment advisory firm.

He wrote two self-published books of meandering musings, some of which were written from his backyard hot tub. (“Think: What to do Now,” by George Hartzman. Chapter 4: “There are no straight lines. Stability destabilizes. Non-random events cause random effects.”) He drives a Jeep without a race car engine and is a regular at the Bench Tavern on Lawndale Drive.

Despite his background in finance, Hartzman is not the business-suit type.

His regular uniform: a pair of khakis, an oversized, untucked button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow. He says he quit wearing ties when he stopped stealing for a living.

He is never without his sandals, which he’ll often take off while teaching a class or speaking before a group. His feet tend to cramp when he stands for too long.

Rooting out city graft has become his hobby. He spends hours poring over the agenda before each City Council meeting. He researches the connections between people doing business with the city and council members.

His overarching complaint — that the city’s politicians are far too cozy with the real estate development community and certain members of the Greensboro elite — is a common one that will appeal to some voters.

“Some of these people are not good people,” he says of council members. “There are actual bad guys.”

His accusations anger council members, who argue that the connections between their campaign contributors and their votes on city business are incidental.

...His delivery — rapid-fire points occasionally punctuated by a roar of laughter — sometimes leaves the audience giggling or applauding.

He loves it.

“I’m having a blast,” he says. “I am telling the truth. I am doing the right thing. I am trying to fix something everyone knows is broken.”

But his approach doesn’t always win him friends.

About 75 residents sat in a circle in the Peeler Recreation Center gym on a night in August, trying to work out their differences about a city-owned shopping plaza.

Some of these folks — mostly residents of northeast Greensboro — have been trying to get a grocery store there for years. But neighbors were at each other’s throats over a controversial deal, brokered by former County Commissioner Melvin “Skip” Alston, to have a developer buy the plaza.

Goldie Wells, a community leader, was trying to remind the residents about the things they had in common, the things they agreed upon about the project.

In the middle of the tension, Hartzman interjected that the project was Perkins’ way of paying off Alston, a power broker in the black community and a member of African American political action committee, the Simkins PAC.

“It shouldn’t be about Robbie Perkins trying to line Skip Alston’s pockets,” Hartzman called out.

Groans rose up from the crowd. Alston yelled that Hartzman should show some respect.

...If Hartzman sensed the crowd’s hostility, he didn’t let it show. After the meeting, he was chatting with strangers and handing out his business cards.

“They need to be uncomfortable. There is no other way to tell the truth,” he said. “If you want to fix Greensboro, you have to tell people what they don’t want to hear.”

Billy Jones, an east Greensboro resident and fellow blogger who supports Hartzman, said Hartzman’s style is designed to disrupt the status quo in order to change the conversation.

“We go into these very controlled situations ... where you are not supposed to take control of the conversation,” Jones says. “You are very limited to what you can say and what you can do, so you have to go about things in a way where you have to take control.

“You have to do things in such a way that allow you to take control of the conversation, if just for a minute.”

https://greensboro.com/news/local/article_289409a0-1f4a-11e3-affc-001a4bcf6878.html

Sep 15, 2013; The Hartzman effect

Vaughan’s campaign benefits from an unexpected source: Hartzman’s attacks on Perkins.

The tenacious blogger has spent months trying to take down Perkins notch by notch, accusing the mayor of misleading the public and lining supporters’ pockets.

Perkins, a real estate developer and a longtime elected leader, often has personal or business relationships with people who come before the council.

Hartzman sees corruption in those ties.

His efforts have been effective in riling Perkins. Hartzman chips away at the mayor’s polished exterior.

Vaughan benefits from that — without being the person who picks on Perkins.

Hartzman appeals to voters who want an alternative to the status quo.

He has big ideas, such as turning the county-owned prison farm into an automobile plant to create 10,000 jobs. Or creating a charter school to educate single mothers and their children.

...He thinks creating a level playing field — or diminishing the influence that industries or individuals have over the council — is the first step.

His campaign isn’t raising donations. It’s a practice-what-you-preach moment, but it also means Hartzman won’t be able to spread his messages through any paid advertisement like his opponents.

https://greensboro.com/news/local/article_7ea7388c-1dc2-11e3-845e-001a4bcf6878.html

Sep 13, 2013; George Hartzman

Profession: Registered Investment Advisor, Hartzman Financial; Chief Economist and Lecturer, Think Professional Education

Volunteer experience: Taught financial and political ethics at the Shepherd’s Center of Greensboro. Coached Girls Fast Pitch Softball for 8 years; Assistant Softball Coach at Lincoln Middle for a year.

I’ve taught basic financial subjects for the YWCA, where my wife Robin works with teen and young adult moms, and have served as a pro bono consultant to the organization on occasion.

I try to leave others better off for my having existed.

Leadership experience: Financial Advisor since 1993. Taught CPA and attorney financial ethics in North Carolina for 10 years. Foresaw the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Collaborated with Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone Magazine on an article entitled “Secrets and Lies of the Bailout”, which uncovered fraud and insider trading by our biggest banks.

Should the city provide long-term or continuing financial support for the International Civil Rights Center and Museum?

Simpkins’ PAC members should be eliminated from fiduciary control. If some loans are unsecured by the property, it should not be Greensboro taxpayer’s role to bail out non-real estate related debt. The investors and financial institutions who invested in an unsustainable project should take severe haircuts on their positions.

What, if anything, should the city do to promote economic development in east Greensboro?

With direct public transportation from Greensboro to Guilford County’s prison farm property, we could create more than 10,000 jobs by designing and manufacturing a high quality, simply designed, inexpensive, fuel efficient, modifiable automobile with easily interchangeable parts between different model years, like 70’s and 80’s Jeep CJ’s.

Leadership:

I would like to work with council to save city employees more than $500,000 per year in their retirement plans by lowering excessive fees, and help create a school prioritizing teen moms who haven’t graduated High School and their kids to break the cycle of poverty in East Greensboro.

Name one thing you personally did in the last year to improve the city of Greensboro?

I ran without accepting contributions... Some of our leaders have acted unethically in our names, while favoring a select few. I have saved the City of Greensboro and Guilford County millions by uncovering waste and abuse by our local governments and their cronies.

https://greensboro.com/article_bf978224-1ca6-11e3-b6d2-001a4bcf6878.html

Aug 20, 2013; Museum needs to die to be brought to life

My proposal to allow the civil rights museum to go under in order to cleanse the venture from its debt load and Simkins PAC fiduciary involvement does not involve closing the museum.

After a much-needed and ethically appropriate bankruptcy, which is what should occur after what looks like some serious mismanagement and flawed projections similar to the ACC Hall of Champions fiasco, I believe the museum should be reopened and marketed in conjunction with the Greensboro Historical Museum and Science Center.

The “much-needed financial support” Hayes wrote about doesn’t help the museum but uses taxpayer money as a “pass-through” to bail out wealthy investors and banks that chose to finance an unsustainable project.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/article_b14fffb0-091f-11e3-b605-0019bb30f31a.html

Aug 19, 2013; Simkins PAC backing not for sale at any price

The comment by George Hartzman that Mayor Robbie Perkins paid $3,000 for the Simkins PAC endorsement is absolutely false.

On this occasion I will say that Mr. Hartzman’s comment is because of ignorance and not made maliciously. I would also remind Mr. Hartzman that his comment attributes criminal conduct to me and members of the PAC, which is actionable in a court of law.

The Simkins PAC has never allowed anyone to pay for an endorsement. The trust that this community has placed in the Simkins PAC over the many decades is a sacred trust with us. George C. Simkins Jr. taught us to fight for the rights of citizens in this community. We continue that struggle. The Simkins PAC is needed more than ever with the current climate of this state.

I assure the citizens of Greensboro that no one can buy the PAC’s endorsement. I assure all that we will continue to fight for justice, as well as inclusion in the electoral process and equitable participation in contracting for projects that utilize our tax dollars.

R. Steve Bowden
Greensboro

The writer is chairman, George C. Simkins Jr. Memorial PAC.

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/article_6a9f1b9c-06c1-11e3-aeed-0019bb30f31a.html

Jul 15, 2013; Voters need to see council connections

In the lead-up to Greensboro City Council election season, I believe it would be helpful for most voters to know which current members placed which taxpayer-funded “economic development” projects on council meeting agendas for whom.

Considering the correlations between some recent airport-area zoning changes for a few connected campaign contributors of certain council members, I believe the public should be more aware of how “business” is “consummated” with local taxpayer money.

For all the “forgivable” loans and potential commissions for a former county commissioner with political pull and proposed speculative money for clothing stores and sitcoms, Greensboro’s voters should at least be apprised of how who got what because of whom before the City Council votes on meeting agenda items.

Wouldn’t it be something of a disappointment if the election were held without any actual transparency as to who has proposed/advocated what under the electorate’s radar?

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/article_cb8ce128-eb41-11e2-a7e2-0019bb30f31a.html

Jul 6, 2013; City-sponsored event led to poor response

It seems as though the city of Greensboro organized and marketed a free event downtown, after which a series of unfortunate, less-than-well-controlled events occurred, which seem to have concluded in a ban/curfew/chittybangbang scenario on all teens in downtown Greensboro.

What is being done is a restriction on an entire group of people not old enough to vote, who were invited to where others didn’t want them to be.

The city is going to try to use the consequences of something it created to restrict all teens in the city.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/article_484fe568-e5b4-11e2-a475-001a4bcf6878.html

Jun 26, 2013; Counterpoint: Literalists don’t practice all they preach

A few questions for some who tend to cite literal biblical passages to justify social and political opinions:

Deuteronomy 25:11: If the rules of the Old Testament are definitive, why aren’t there more one-handed women, since a wife defending her husband is supposed to lose an appendage?

Deuteronomy 23:2: If bastards aren’t allowed in temples of prayer, why do so many go, and how many may not be going to heaven who think they should be?

Deuteronomy 23:1: Are victims of testicular cancer not permitted?

Deuteronomy 22:20-21: If non-virgins are supposed to be stoned to death, shouldn’t there be fewer females and more men in jail?

Leviticus 26:27-30: Do many who believe in the literal word eat parts of their kids if they disobey God?

Leviticus 20:9: Should we eliminate children for cursing at their parents? What should the penalty be for radio show hosts and clergy who favor selectively citing biblical passages to pander to their base?

Didn’t many white Southern ministers tell their constituents that God said enslaving African Americans was the right thing to do?

How about these as words to live by:

Have as much fun as soon as possible, with the least amount of risk for as long as you can.

Don’t do to others what you wouldn’t want them to do to you, unless you need to.

Forget what you give, value what you get, return what you borrow, replace what you break and forgive quickly.

Don’t offend many to benefit few.

Do the right thing when no one’s looking.

Leave others better off for having known you and the world a better place than you found it.

Don’t underestimate irrationality.

Don’t think more of what could have been than what may be.

And let everyone be happy in Greensboro as long as they’re not treading on others.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/article_faee5a30-ddd8-11e2-acaa-0019bb30f31a.html

Apr 9, 2012; Attorney: Perkins can’t vote on payout

Mayor Robbie Perkins shouldn’t have voted last week to give taxpayer money to a company he works with, a city attorney said.

So, the City Council must vote again.

The decision reverses Interim City Attorney Jamiah Waterman’s on-the-spot ruling that Perkins didn’t have a conflict of interest when voting on Park View Development.

The council voted unanimously to give Park View, owned by developer Roy Carroll, a $218,700 economic incentive payment for the $37 million Center Pointe project.

Perkins is the leasing agent for commercial space in Center Pointe, a downtown high-rise owned by Park View. He also lives there.

At last week’s council meeting, local blogger George Hartzman questioned whether Perkins had a conflict. Perkins said he would gain no money if the council approved the incentive, a pass-through payment from Guilford County.

Later, Waterman concluded Hartzman was right.

“It can reasonably be argued that Mayor Perkins was subjected to a potential financial detriment, e.g. the potential loss of his real estate listings with Park View Development,” Waterman wrote.

Waterman asked the council to vote again April 16 without Perkins.

https://greensboro.com/news/political/article_9bc95da2-6632-5600-87a5-cdfac3ce6c4f.html

Jan 23, 2015; Did county consider foreclosures properly?

Page 3 of the Guilford County “Schedule of Values,” which covers data behind this year’s real-estate tax revaluation, cites a statute that says market value is defined as “the price estimated in terms of money at which the property would sell between a willing and financially able buyer and a willing seller, neither being under any compulsion to buy or to sell.”

But on page 7, under “Distressed and Forced Sales,” it says, “Both foreclosure and short sales have been largely responsible for a 20 percent decline in the average selling price of existing homes over the last three years.” And “staff appraisers will consider all sales that have occurred in each appraisal neighborhood over the last several years but a greater weight will be given to comparable sales that have happened without duress.”

If these two sets of measures contradict each other, what actually happened to whom in the revaluation? If computer model-based “mass appraisals” were the main tool, how did the county know which sales were distressed or forced? Seems like many at the bottom and the top are going to get a relative tax cut, and the middle is going to make up the difference.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/editorial/article_0e1ecdce-ce9e-5b62-af30-181477450254.html

May 5, 2010; Proposed county budget follows reckless course

Let’s not spend more than we make on what we don’t need.

Was Chairman Skip Alston “100 percent” certain there would not be a tax increase because Guilford County’s proposed 2010-11 budget intends to spend more than $34 million more than the county expects to receive in revenue after spending $43 million more than it received in 2009-10?

The proposed spending is projected to drain the county’s reserves to statutory minimums, leaving no wiggle room for error in 2011-12, when direct injections and ancillary economic benefits of most federal stimulus dollars evaporate. At what point do those who chose to remove our reserve cushion tip the county into a distressed financial position?

Could borrowing and spending more than we make for what we “want” eventually limit access to credit or reserves when we may “need” them?

Let’s not emulate the profligacy of the federal government. Let’s not be tempted by the temporary benefits of fiscal malpractice and unsustainable financial irresponsibility. Let’s not betray our community’s future for a more pleasant present at our children’s expense.

Let’s act in the best long-term interests of Guilford County instead of some commissioners’ short-term desire to retain power through the next election at any cost.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/editorial/article_e77660d2-367a-592c-8477-3f4a18c27df8.html

Feb 16, 2010; Restrictions proposed for elected officials

The city of Greensboro and Guilford County governments should be prohibited from funding or approving projects or programs from which local elected officials derive income or profit that depend upon local governmental financial support.

Members of the City Council, the Guilford County school board, county commissioners and candidates for local elected office should be prohibited from:

1. Entering into or receiving compensation from enterprises dependent upon local governmental support.

2. Making campaign contributions to entities that publicly endorse political candidates.

3. Accepting campaign contributions or endorsements from those with conflicts of interest, including, but not limited to, leading members of organizations receiving taxpayer money, and/or developers, contractors or their lawyers or agents, for 12 months before and after doing business with Greensboro and Guilford County governments.

Without the support of the community, these common-sense ideas will most likely not be adopted by some interested in maintaining the status quo of business as usual. Please contact your elected representatives to insist on hearings for these ethical restrictions.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/editorial/article_c2642ebf-ac64-56f8-8967-7037bbfde46d.html

Oct 29, 2009; Letter mischaracterized flu concerns

In an Oct. 26 letter, Richard Beard incorrectly stated that I wrote about “how the H1N1 vaccine may cause an outbreak of swine flu.” In fact, the title of the Sept. 26 questionsforgreensboro.com post was “Seasonal flu shot may increase H1N1 risk,” which cited four preliminary studies suggesting “people who had received the seasonal flu vaccine in the past were more likely to get sick with the H1N1 virus.”

The CBC News story quoted Dr. Michael Gardam, director of infectious diseases prevention and control at the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion, as saying, “We don’t know with this year’s flu shot how it interacts with the pandemic flu shot, so it’s a worry.”

Since April 2009, I have posted 17 stories on influenza and swine flu, a subject I consider to be a great concern for my family and our community.

Considering the severity of how publicly disseminated inaccuracies have negatively affected geo-political and economic outcomes in recent history, let’s strive to truthfully reflect reality in Greensboro.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/editorial/article_a03d89d0-f4b7-5df4-8a6e-6b4fec8115c1.html

Jan 19, 2005; Social Security fund holds no real money

The problem with the Social Security debate is that it isn’t about Social Security. The money to pay current benefits doesn’t come from what beneficiaries put in when they were working. Their tax money went to people who were already retired.

The tax money being paid now goes to current retirees, and what is left over (the surplus) is put into a “trust fund” to help pay for current taxpayers when they retire because there will be fewer people to pay taxes for more benefits for more longer-living retirees.

What no one in power wants to talk about is that the “trust fund” doesn’t exist. It’s a big IOU with no money to pay for it. As in every year before it, the federal government used 2004’s $203 billion Social Security “surplus” to reduce 2004’s fiscal spending deficit. Our elected officials spent the money they were supposed to be saving, and in 2004 they borrowed $412 billion on top of that.

The crisis isn’t about Social Security; it’s about the decline in retirement security for a politically powerless younger generation to keep an older generation of politically powerful voters happy and unaware of the consequences of their government’s profligacy.

George Hartzman

Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/editorial/article_bacad17f-a7f2-5755-8f73-2b4d38499892.html

Dec 30, 2014; City can save money for retirement plans

Renegotiating Greensboro’s 457 plan fees could save plan participants about $347,848 per year, but City Manager Jim Westmoreland and Assistant City Manager Mary Vigue worked to prevent lower costs.

Westmoreland and Vigue have acted in the best interests of a retirement plan company instead of the employees they are supposed to represent.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/article_19db9b00-8fae-11e4-a8f4-0f391572e6a5.html

Jun 6, 2004; Our next generation gets bill for the war

The war in Iraq has cost about $130 billion so far. When looking at the expenditure, it doesn’t matter if taxpayers are for or against the war, because the money is being spent anyway.

A major problem with the $130 billion is that it is not being paid for as we go but borrowed to be paid for by our children. In 10 years at 4.5 percent interest, the number exceeds $200 billion, not counting what we have yet to spend. In 20 years, the cost will be more than $300 billion.

Thomas Jefferson said, “We should consider ourselves unauthorized to saddle posterity with our debts, and morally bound to pay them ourselves. Each generation has the right by will of its majority to bind themselves, but none to bind the succeeding generation.”

The government, Democrat and Republican, is conducting a war in the name of its eligible voters to be paid for in the future by non-eligible voters who had no say in the decision. I think most people would call that taxation without representation.

Using rough math, $300 billion divided by 300 million Americans is $1,000 apiece. By giving this debt to our children, we will have left our country in worse condition than when our parents left it to us. I want my children to have a better life than I had. It would appear that our elected leaders are making that virtually impossible to achieve.

George Hartzman
Greensboro

https://greensboro.com/article_c67cc411-74a6-5cc5-9bc6-c1da4748b95a.html

Public Integrity Watch

Discussion about this post