Greensboro Leaders To Take Polygraph Exam (Someone leaked confidential police department report)

The perp is the one in the middle -

Strange days indeed in Greensboro, with the City Council set to polygraph itself to find an alleged leaker. Not good on many levels, although it does make a newspaper columnist's job easy...

Let's play truth or polygraphs
by Edward Cone
News & Record 4-30-06

Good morning, and welcome to Theater of the Absurd, the reality game show starring your Greensboro City Council!

This week's challenge is called Polygraph Follies. Each council member will be hooked up to a lie detector and asked if he or she was the one who leaked a consultant's report about former police Chief David Wray to the News & Record.

The stakes are high, the issues important, the voters watching ... what better time for some stunt politics! Bring on the polygraph, say eight council members.

Wait, hold on ... only eight? One of our contestants says she won't play this game! Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small is refusing to join the fun. Even sincere assurances that these machines are guaranteed to be at least as accurate as the average carnival fortune-teller or North Carolina lottery ad won't make her change her mind.

Now all of the other council members are pointing at her and whispering behind her back. OK, they were doing that already.

Bellamy-Small seems to be talking to someone in the audience ... is it someone from the Pulpit Forum?

Oh, this is exciting, I think she's about to stand up and say, "I did what I allegedly did because it was right, and the public has the right to know, and even my working relationship with my council colleagues has to take a back seat to that, and I'm willing to bear the consequences of my actions, whatever they may be."

No, never mind, she was just adjusting her chair.

OK, back to the game. Our contestants are playing for the sum of $5,000. But here's the twist: The money comes from the taxpayers and goes straight to the polygraph operator from Raleigh!

As the council members prepare to make a case, in essence, that they can only be trusted to tell the truth if their statements are uttered while they are strapped to an electronic [barnyard epithet deleted] detector, let's turn to our readers at home for suggestions on our wildcard round.

Here's one from Roch Smith Jr., left as a comment at John Robinson's blog: "I say we throw them all in a lake, the one that floats is guilty." Great idea, Roch, but Greensboro's official trial-by-water lake is still filling up behind the Randleman Dam, and we may be headed for a drought. What else?

Ah, from Robinson the blogging editor himself, a proposal that we imagine other topics to consider once the council is hooked up to the polygraph machine.

Folks, I think we have a winner!

Questions about Project Homestead alone could fill an entire episode of our program, if not a whole season. And of course the Wray fray is hardly finished, so there is room to improvise there, too. Tax rates, bond slates, why my leaves are always the last to get picked up...I think this series could be a hit for years to come.

Remember, copyright restrictions dictate that any taped reproduction of this program is strictly prohibited.

Unless conducted in secret by members of the Greensboro Police Department.

Theater of the Absurd, indeed.

Edward Cone (www.edcone.com, efcone@mindspring.com) writes a column for the News & Record most Sundays.

http://edcone.typepad.com/wordup/2006/04/truth_or_polygr.html

1 posted on 05/02/2006 3:27:32 PM PDT by Libloather

Polygraph hooked up to a politician. Hmmmm....which one vanishes in a cloud of smoke first?

2 posted on 05/02/2006 3:34:06 PM PDT by porte des morts

Council members voted 8-1 to submit to the exam. Dianne Bellamy Small gave the dissenting vote and has said in the past that she's not responsible for the leak. .... Wray resigned in January and was replaced on an interim basis by Tim Bellamy.

So if I read this right, the police chief was replaced by Tim Bellamy... and the disenter on the council is "Dianne Bellamy Small" Are they... related?

3 posted on 05/02/2006 3:39:23 PM PDT by trashcanbred (Anti-social and anti-socialist)

To: porte des morts

>>Polygraph hooked up to a politician. Hmmmm....which one vanishes in a cloud of smoke first?<<

It'll never work... don't they to tell the truth for correlation and actually feel guilty when they lie?

Seriously, I don't think I would take a polygraph on general principle.

BTW, if this is a report about the police misconduct why are they hiding it in the first place?

4 posted on 05/02/2006 3:42:07 PM PDT by gondramB (He who angers you, in part, controls you. But he may not enjoy what the rest of you does about it.)

Even sincere assurances that these machines are guaranteed to be at least as accurate as the average carnival fortune-teller

No way, the fortune-teller could beat one of those by 50%.

5 posted on 05/02/2006 3:43:31 PM PDT by microgood

Personally I think all presidential candidates, senators and representatives be given poligraph tests before they can be sworn into office. If their answers differ from their campaign promises and statements then they are out!

This would go a long way toward weeding out dishonest candidates, of course for the first several years we might have to run short handed in the senate, WH, and congress but it would be worth it in the long run!

6 posted on 05/02/2006 3:43:32 PM PDT by calex59 (No country can survive multiculturalism. Dual cultures don't mix, history has taught us that!)

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7 posted on 05/02/2006 4:09:40 PM PDT by Alia

"Seriously, I don't think I would take a polygraph on general principle."

That's nice.

I don't really think what you would do matters much in this case.

Besides, should you fail ... I would call for your execution. ;)

8 posted on 05/02/2006 4:12:36 PM PDT by G.Mason (The Left is as deadly as Islam's al Qaeda. Both kill, only Muslims tell you to your face.)

>>That's nice.

I don't really think what you would do matters much in this case.<<<

It's a personal freedom thing - I don't take drug tests or swear that I'm born again to get a job either...

Oddly enough, the one time I volunteered to take a drug test (after an on the job accident) I was told not to because it would set a precedent (I was managment and the senoir manager didn't like that idea)

9 posted on 05/02/2006 4:16:56 PM PDT by gondramB (He who angers you, in part, controls you. But he may not enjoy what the rest of you does about it.)

10 posted on 05/02/2006 4:19:11 PM PDT by Alia

You want "personal freedom" work for yourself.

I'm afraid government service negates any "personal freedom", but then that's just me.

11 posted on 05/02/2006 4:22:30 PM PDT by G.Mason (The Left is as deadly as Islam's al Qaeda. Both kill, only Muslims tell you to your face.)

"You want "personal freedom" work for yourself.

I'm afraid government service negates any "personal freedom", but then that's just me."

I understand what you are saying now. If I take a job knowing that is a requirement then I would fulfill that requirement. I'm not sure polygraphs are a known requirement for all local jobs but I know they are for many federal jobs.

That's similar to why I volunteered to take a drug test after the accident - with an on the job accident there is reason to know the cause - in the same way I would answer personal questions for a policeman investigating a crime nearby that I would normally refuse to answer.

12 posted on 05/02/2006 4:31:48 PM PDT by gondramB (He who angers you, in part, controls you. But he may not enjoy what the rest of you does about it.)

You and I are on the same page.

I worked for a government agency, and had an understanding of what was required. The problem is that there are those that are subversive in these agencies and align themselves with each other, to the detriment of the rest, and honesty.

13 posted on 05/02/2006 4:55:18 PM PDT by G.Mason (The Left is as deadly as Islam's al Qaeda. Both kill, only Muslims tell you to your face.)

To: trashcanbred; Howlin

So if I read this right, the police chief was replaced by Tim Bellamy... and the dissenter on the council is "Dianne Bellamy Small" Are they... related?

I just called the cops. The babe that answered didn't have a clue. There are about a dozen Bellamy's listed in the book. The only one starting with a 't' is Bellamy-Small T D. Oh, my. The investigation continues. According to legend, and plenty of news stories, Dianne Bellamy Small's husband owed thousands in back taxes. I'm not really sure if that was rectified.

As Mr. White would say, "Great Cesar's Ghost!"

14 posted on 05/02/2006 5:39:05 PM PDT by Libloather (You say Dubai, and I say hello...)

As Mr. White would say, "Great Cesar's Ghost!"

Wow... hey let us know if you find out anything. That situation sounds pretty nutty to me

15 posted on 05/02/2006 6:06:57 PM PDT by trashcanbred (Anti-social and anti-socialist)

To: trashcanbred; Howlin; Liz

Wow... hey let us know if you find out anything. That situation sounds pretty nutty to me.

Diane Bellamy-Small used to be a police officer. Her husband has a cousin - the acting chief of police Tim Bellamy. Tonight she met with her 'folk' at a local library and took questions from anyone besides the media. My first question - "Who do you think leaked the report? It's only one of nine people - right?" She tried to change the focus to the findings in the report about police corruption.

I then asked - "What do you think should happen to the person who leaked it? It's a crime - a misdemeanor. Should they step down, have a recall election?" She again tried to change the focus to the report and how some of it should be released to the public. I asked - "A classified report?" She said that there were two parts and one part wasn't classified. I don't believe it - but I got to rock her world.

That was it. I was done. While starting back to my car, THREE media types came after me. They wanted an interview. Nah - I've got things to do. Besides, they've got my comments on tape. My fifteen minutes of fame could come tonight! (Yet another reason they call it a boob tube - eh?) Wish me luck!

16 posted on 05/08/2006 4:29:34 PM PDT by Libloather (You say Dubai, and I say hello...)

17 posted on 05/08/2006 4:35:47 PM PDT by kanawa

Hope you don't get pulled over for any "driving violations". You gotta be careful with local politicians... my township for example will come after you if they think you are an enemy.

18 posted on 05/08/2006 6:05:25 PM PDT by trashcanbred (Anti-social and anti-socialist)

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