How’d that gov’t resource work out?

President Obama’s ‘you didn’t build that’ speech isn’t going anywhere (see video). I think what struck me about the president’s comments weren’t about the roads and the bridges, but about how he was “always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart.” That’s where I heard the contempt in his voice.

Honestly I get what the president is saying, and if you know anything about business here in the Triad knows a main strategy had been to establish resources for businesses owners as the area’s economy continues to transform. Still, I couldn’t help but think about one local business owner as he described his experience when seeking help from the federal government to export industrial furnaces:

Crafton said he went to commerce officials hoping to learn the best places to do business, but instead officials were asking him for the same information.

“They were saying ‘you tell us where you want to be, and we’ll pave the road,’” Crafton said. “But we didn’t even know those areas, and we didn’t know where to begin.

“In general, it reinforces my belief that there is an awful of inefficiencies and bureaucracy. A private industry trying to operate like that wouldn’t survive but about an hour and a half,” Crafton added.

Crafton said communication was a problem. “There is a fair amount of help if you know the right places to go to. The government surprisingly has a bunch of agencies. What isn’t surprising is they don’t talk to each other.”

Wade calls for investigation into ‘push polls’

Greensboro City Council member and Senate District 27 candidate Trudy Wade is calling for an investigation into alleged ‘disreputable’ phone calls claiming opponent Myra Slone is behind on property taxes.

Nobody’s claiming responsibility for the calls — not the Guilford County GOP, not Conservatives for Guilford County, not Americans for Prosperity. But the Rhino’s John Hammer smells a rat and it just happens to be someone with connections to our local paper of record:

The story about the push poll appeared in The Inside Scoop blog on Tuesday, July 24, and then July 25 it was on the front page with one named source. Former News & Record reporter Eric Townsend, who now works for Elon University, reportedly told News & Record reporter Joe Killian he was push polled.

Townsend is the same reporter that, during the controversy surrounding former Greensboro Police Chief David Wray, reported that someone working for Wray had taped conversations with black community leaders without their knowledge. It was a big story and it caused a lot of controversy, but there was a problem with the story – it wasn’t true. No one was taped. The Greensboro Police Department cannot produce a single tape of any black community leader who was taped without their knowledge while Wray was chief.

…So Townsend can interpret things differently from other people. Who knows what he heard or didn’t hear on the phone.

The N&R’s Doug Clark says Wade is making a smart move by calling for an investigation, while one of his commenters adds he doubts an investigation will show anything.

While that’s probably what will happen, Hammer points out the damage has been done — with two front-page stories on the alleged push polls, Wade’s opponent got free publicity, courtesy of the local paper of record.