‘You’re Trump.’ Mecklenburg commissioners trade insults during road, transit tax vote
A pair of Mecklenburg County commissioners on Tuesday took turns comparing each other to former President Donald Trump during a debate over transportation funding.
The board voted 6-3 to pass a resolution asking the N.C. General Assembly for a referendum to increase the county’s sales tax to pay for roads and public transit. Much of the night’s discussion focused on concerns about the spending breakdown in draft legislation.
But when District 2 Commissioner Vilma Leake spoke, she used her time to accuse Board Chairman George Dunlap of trying to silence her.
“I’m sick and tired of it, George. And this is all you’ve done during these two years … You’re no good,” she said. “... You’ve done nothing but try to embarrass me.”
Leake accused Dunlap of “orchestrating” a primary challenge against her in March — when she defeated Charles Osborne with 63% of the vote.
Dunlap donated $250 to Osborne’s campaign. He told The Charlotte Observer in February he is a longtime friend of Osborne’s father and has known Osborne since he was a child.
“That is what you do for someone you respect,” he said at the time of his decision to donate to Osborne’s campaign. “It was meant to show support for his campaign.”
‘A Black Trump’
Leake, who has made previous comments accusing fellow commissioners of being inconsiderate about her age, said during her remarks Tuesday she could sue Dunlap for age discrimination.
“That’s all you’ve shown me, is your behind to kiss,” she said.
When Leake stopped talking, Dunlap asked, “You done?” Leake responded, “I hope you’re done.”
“Donald Trump if I ever heard it,” Dunlap said next in reference to the former Republican president and current nominee, who frequently makes negative comments about his political opponents.
Leake then said, “You’re Trump. A Black Trump.”
Past county controversy
It’s not the first time either commissioner has drawn attention for their public comments.
Dunlap faced criticism earlier this summer from some on the board when he opposed adding a proclamation in support of Pride Month to the board’s agenda over a procedural issue. He said Commissioner Pat Cotham submitted the proclamation too late, a claim she denied. Commissioners passed a resolution unanimously weeks later.
When he was elected board chairman in 2018, The Charlotte Observer editorial board wrote Dunlap “has a decades-long record of being volatile, outspoken and confrontational” that included criticizing local media and calling Cotham “a snitch.”
Leake was admonished in 2022 for saying in response to an update on student achievement in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools that local parents “ought to take out a warrant and have every educator arrested and put in jail for not seeing that their children are not given a quality education, college ready.”
Earlier that year, she was accused of repeatedly calling a judge to discuss a sensitive Juvenile Court case involving a constituent, drawing a letter from a state attorney asking her to stop.
Both Dunlap and Leake were first elected to the board in 2008 and before that served on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education.
This story was originally published September 18, 2024 at 11:43 AM.
