Charlotte leaders made a mess with a CMPD chief settlement. It’s time for answers | Opinion
Reports surfaced earlier this week that Charlotte City Council voted in closed session to reach a settlement with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings in advance of a potential lawsuit regarding text messages that former council member Tariq Bokhari sent to Jennings last year. In the messages, Bokhari threatened Jennings’ job and legacy amid a dispute about outer-carrier vests for patrol officers.
The decision naturally raised questions, including why the city would choose to settle a lawsuit that has yet to be filed, or whether it was even right to settle it at all. The exact details of the settlement remain unclear — though it’s reportedly at least $100,000 — and council members have said they’re not able to speak about it publicly.
There are plenty of reasons to be frustrated or skeptical. But things really went off the rails when Charlotte City Council member Victoria Watlington sent an email to supporters alleging corruption and illegal activities within city government. The accusations were vague, and Watlington did not specify what, exactly, she was referring to in the email. But she wrote that she was “extremely concerned with the level of unethical, immoral, and frankly, illegal activities occurring within City government,” and accused her colleagues of a “brazen disregard for dissenting opinions and the rule of law.”
It wasn’t received well.
At a press conference Wednesday, Mayor Vi Lyles and other council members pushed back further and called on Watlington to furnish evidence of her accusations. Lyles said the allegations are “serious and damage [the city’s] reputation.” Graham criticized Watlington’s choice of words, which he said “echo outside of the building.” Council member Ed Driggs called them “scaremongering tactics.”
The situation escalated further on Thursday when Bokhari’s wife, Krista Bokhari, made a lengthy Facebook post in which she accused Charlotte leaders, including the mayor, city manager and city attorney, of unethical conduct to “approve taxpayer dollars for their friend.” In the more than 2,000-word post, Krista Bokhari claimed that the settlement was recommended without legal grounds and agreed upon using improper procedure. She also said leaders may have misled or withheld information from council members ahead of the settlement. It’s unclear if the accusations in the post were what Watlington was referring to in her email. But it raises serious questions that city leaders must now answer.
Watlington has since attempted to backtrack — sort of. She now says that her reference to corruption was “figurative,” according to WFAE’s Steve Harrison. Then, in a second email to supporters, she downplayed the weight of her prior accusations, saying “none of my concerns had anything to do with financial or widespread corruption. At all.” She did not, however, apologize or walk back her remarks about immoral and illegal activity, nor did she provide any evidence for them.
There’s nothing wrong with disagreement, and Watlington may even be correct in raising concerns about how and why the settlement occurred. But a public suggestion of something nefarious or illegal needs to come with evidence. Elected officials should know better than to traffic in baseless accusations and conspiracy theories that injure public trust.
City officials and council members also should know that secrecy invites suspicion. Now, it’s turned into a dramatic “he said, she said” situation that’s unproductive and sows unnecessary division. We should all be questioning the city’s decision to remain tight-lipped about the settlement, which at the very least appears to have been a hastily made one.
If Watlington has evidence that some malfeasance occurred, she should provide it. If the city and city council want to dodge scrutiny, they should answer the public’s questions, especially the ones raised by Krista Bokhari’s post. Now the city has a mess on its hands — one that could have been avoided with a little more foresight from everyone involved.
This story was originally published May 9, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
