Mitch and David: Personal Impressions

I haven't had anything to say here about the controversy surrounding former police Chief David Wray's resignation, and the actions of city manager Mitch Johnson that led to it, because I didn't think I had any pertinent knowledge about the whole thing -- at least not any knowledge that everyone else didn't have. (Ed Cone has many links to coverage of this case.)

But yet another attack on Mitch Johnson's integrity in this morning's News & Record moves me to say something.

I've known Mitch socially for several years as a swim parent at Friendly Park Pool. He is a soft-spoken person, a regular dad and husband who enjoys spending time with his family -- just like nearly all the swim parents I know.

I also know him from many interactions with Greensboro city staff about neighborhood and historic preservation issues. In all those interactions, he has never been anything but friendly, strictly professional, straightforward, and honest, both when we agreed and when we disagreed.

He has a rather self-deprecating sense of humor. He came along with a bunch of us on a trip to Greenville, SC when he was still an assistant city manager being considered for the manager's post. He was friendly and talkative, and when he got the city manager's job a bit later, I commented to him that he must have been so cheery on the Greenville trip because he knew he was getting the job. He laughed and said, "Oh no. At that point I was sure I wasn't getting it, so I just wasn't worrying about it."

So when I hear people describe Mitch as "power-hungry" or "dishonest," I would laugh if it weren't so unfair to Mitch. He's a good man, and I believe he's doing a good job.

I also find it rather ironic that some Greensboro conservatives seem to have lined up against Mitch. When he was being considered for the city manager's job, a friend of mine on city staff admitted that Mitch was not their favorite candidate, although they had respect for his professionalism. "Too Republican," they said about him.

But my support for Mitch does not mean that I don't have real regret about what has happened to David Wray.

My first impressions of Chief Wray were extremely positive. He came to meetings of the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress, where he struck me as a man extraordinarily gifted at making personal connections with people across racial and socioeconomic lines. His ideas about community policing were exciting, and when people asked him hard questions, he gave honest answers in a sympathetic way, even when he knew that what he was saying was not what the questioner wanted to hear.

When the story first broke that Wray may have been mismanaging the police department, I was skeptical.

My impression of his basic character was confirmed a couple of days ago in a conversation I had on the front porch of Coffee at the Summit while waiting for a meeting. I was reading a copy of the Rhino Times, and an African-American woman who was also waiting there asked if I was reading Jerry Bledsoe's late installment on Wray. She told me she had known Wray for 8 years, considered him a friend, and did not believe he had a racist bone in his body. We agreed that Wray perhaps did not trust Lt. Hinson, but that whatever was going on in the Greensboro Police Department that led to the allegations against Wray, race was not the base issue.

One of the more distressing features of this controversy has been the willingness of some commenters in public forums to attack the character of people they don't know, as if somehow it isn't possible for good and well-intentioned people to make serious mistakes. But that happens all the time.

If you want my opinion, I think the evidence indicates that the main mistakes were Wray's, and it makes me pretty sad.