Turner Dodges Council Censure
In an emotionally-charged decision Monday night, the Charlotte City Council voted 6 to 3 against censuring one of its own members for allegedly sexually harassing city staff.
The vote came after Councilmember Warren Turner defended himself against findings reported last week by an attorney the city had hired to investigate the harassment claim, which concluded that Turner “likely directed sexually inappropriate comments” to a female city staffer and referenced as supporting evidence prior similar complaints that had been lodged against Turner.
On Monday night, in his first formal response to the investigation’s findings, Turner, a Democrat, blasted the report for being “filled with untruths, half-truths and inconsistencies.” The investigation, Turner said, had subjected him to unwarranted “humiliation and unfairness.”
Councilmembers Susan Burgess, Michael Barnes and Nancy Carter, all Democrats, voted in favor of a resolution to censure Turner, which also included language directing him to “cease and desist such conduct and to comport himself in the future in a manner which is in compliance” with laws that prohibit sexual harassment.
Republican councilmembers Warren Cooksey and Andy Dulin, along with Democrats James Mitchell, Patrick Cannon, Patsy Kinsey and David Howard voted against censure.
Turner was excused from voting, as was Councilmember Edwin Peacock, who had left the meeting early.
The vote actually had to be called twice, as it was unclear at first how some councilmembers had voted – hands were half-raised and voices were muted. Before the vote was taken, several councilmember said they struggled with the decision they were being asked to make.
“Even as I sit here now,” Howard said, “I’m going back-and-forth on it.”
The only problem Barnes, who is running for district attorney and seems to have made the harassment investigation early fodder for his campaign, had with the vote was that the suggested censure wasn’t a severe enough penalty.
“Censure is not enough,” he said. “I wish we could do more. It’s impossible, in my opinion, that all these employees are lying.”
Barnes also made passing reference to another complaint filed against Turner last year, when a woman claimed that he had misrepresented himself as a county building inspector, flashing a gun and ordering laborers to stop work on a project.
Instead of censuring Turner, Mitchell offered that the council could work toward crafting a resolution acknowledging that any inappropriate behavior toward city staff was unacceptable. Mayor Anthony Foxx, a Democrat, said that issue would be addressed by a special committee recently formed to draft new ethics guidelines for councilmembers and review the city’s sexual harassment policy, which currently doesn’t apply to councilmembers. Foxx said it was unlikely the harassment investigation would be directly addressed again by council.
“It’s not my intention to put this item back on the agenda in the future,” he said before council voted Monday night. “We need to reach some point of closure so we can focus on the issues the folks out there need us to focus on.”
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