Wilmington City Council has been a backwater of favoritism and incompetence for so long that most of us ignore it, so it was easy to think it would molder out of sight forever.
Apparently it won’t. Wilmington’s budget has been shrinking, making less money available for the minor, street-level, hire-my-relative corruption council specializes in. That has created a shark-tank effect in which the chiselers have to compete for dwindling resources, meaning some of the formerly camoflaged are flushed into the open.
Case in point: Theopalis K. Gregory. The erstwhile council president went before his former colleagues today and, as chronicled by News Journal reporter Christina Jedra, asked for $35,000 on top of the $40,000 he earmarked for himself before leaving office. And he did it with the lamest possible plea — it’s for the kids.
As you read the article, pay particular attention to the name Devon Hynson. He first contacted me on my radio show in 2010 to tell about a student who was apparently targeted by a gunman at a William Penn High School basketball game. The administration subsequently banned him from attending classes because, as a target, he posed a danger to everyone else on campus.
Devon was advocating for that child not for money but because the family had asked for his help. He advocated for many students in ensuing years, often calling the show to apply public pressure on foot-dragging administrators, long before Theo Gregory started funding his efforts through city council.
Yet today, when councilman Vash Turner said Hynson had a reputation as “the best” student advocate, Gregory responded, “I’m the best. Devon’s not the best.”
As best I can tell, he offered neither data nor anecdote to buttress that assertion.
Good work by Ms. Jedra and the News Journal in keeping the spotlight on this story.