‘Highly unprofessional.’ Matthews leaders trade barbs over anti-transit bill lobbyist
Matthews will continue to pay a lobbyist to advocate against a plan to overhaul the Charlotte region’s transportation system despite a heated and, at times, personal debate over the contract.
The southeast Mecklenburg town’s Board of Commissioners voted unanimously in October, as first reported by WFAE, to hire the Raleigh-based lobbying firm EQV Strategic on a one-year, $60,000 deal. The contract called for the firm to “immediately engage” with legislators on the draft legislation put together by other local governments to put a sales tax increase on the ballot to pay for transit.
At the time, Matthews leaders unified in their opposition to the bill. But now some on the board softened their position, saying they’re open to letting voters decide the tax increase’s fate via a referendum.
One of those commissioners, Mark Tofano, introduced the measure to fire EVQ Strategic at the board’s Monday meeting. He claimed the firm failed to answer his questions about its work.
Other town leaders pushed back, accusing Tofano of “embarrassing” and “unprofessional” behavior. Those officials said they and the lobbying firm are intentionally avoiding creating public records of their communications about the bill.
The board didn’t take a formal vote Monday but instructed the town attorney to look into legal means for providing private updates on lobbying efforts to town officials.
Changing views in Matthews
Matthews initially spurned the draft legislation to raise the county sales tax by a penny over concerns about how it would spend money. It capped spending on rail projects at 40% of revenue.
The town was long slated to be part of the Silver Line from Belmont to Charlotte-Douglas International Airport then eastward to Matthews. But the spending cap makes that unaffordable, meaning some or all of the line must be scrapped or converted to bus rapid transit.
Matthews’ August resolution called for either a bigger sales tax increase — 1.4 cents — to help pay for the full Silver Line as light rail or for all rail projects to be converted to bus rapid transit.
Tofano and Mayor Pro Tem Gina Hoover confirmed to The Charlotte Observer last week they’d reversed their votes on the resolution. Both emphasized they still don’t support the bill now in the state Senate but are now neutral on a referendum getting on the ballot after learning more about how much money the town would get for roads projects and what other transit options could be available.
“In biblical terms, the scales dropped from my eyes,” Tofano said previously.
At Monday’s meeting, Commissioner Ken McCool, who still supports the town’s original resolution, questioned whether Tofano’s call to end the lobbying contract was tied to his position change.
“I find it concerning, personally, that the agenda item to consider cancellation of the contract coincides with your change of your view of what (the lobbying group) is advocating against,” McCool said.
Tofano called McCool’s comment “totally unfounded,” saying there was “no correlation whatsoever.”
Tofano then asked, “What’s that little grin and smile on your face? Is that an implication that I’m lying to you?” McCool did not respond, but Commissioner Renee Garner, who also still supports the town resolution, said, “My smile probably is.”
“Interesting,” Tofano responded.
Heated debate over lobbyist
The exchange over Tofano’s motives was one of multiple heated moments during Monday’s debate over the lobbying contract.
Mayor John Higdon accused Tofano of “highly unprofessional” and “embarrassing” behavior when the commissioner said he’d reached out to other local and state officials to see what they’d heard from EVQ Strategies. He said it was naive of Tofano to think EVQ would divulge details of its strategies and communications via email, which would be subject to public records requests under North Carolina law.
Town Manager Becky Hawke said keeping details of the town’s lobbying efforts out of the public record is critical and Tofano should have called or visited with EVQ staff in person to get more information on the firm’s work.
“He does typically reach out over the phone,” Hawke said of EVQ lobbyist Andy Munn. “And that is specifically to avoid the creation of the public records that would potentially be problematic if that information were to get out. There’s really no way for me to translate that into communicating with this entire board that doesn’t then run the potential of violating that confidentiality.”
McCool and Garner both said they’d had productive conversations with Munn on the phone or in person and that he seemed plugged in with legislators when they met with him in Raleigh.
Hawke said during the meeting it was “frustrating” for Tofano to question EVQ’s work when the current legislative session is still in its early stages and the bill was just formally introduced in the state Senate.
“We’re really, for all intents and purposes, a couple weeks into the effective work of this contract,” she said.
Tofano ended the discussion by calling for town staff to look into ways to distribute confidential information on the transit bill to everyone on the board.
This story was originally published March 11, 2025 at 1:12 PM.
