Why? 'Cause EB was born to make the grandiose finger-wagging pronouncement of blame. Need someone to call out someone else in Durham? Eugene should be #1 on your virtual Rolodex.
But then I started wondering why I was so confident it was Eugene, and then I remembered: I've seen this before! Only I didn't realize how often I had. With a little help from the Google elves and LexisNexis I found ...- "'This is ground zero in government failure,' City Councilman Eugene Brown said. 'It's really an embarrassment.'" (Durham keeps rolling with struggling development project -- WRAL, 10/5/09 and similar "embarrassing" comment two days later in the Independent Weekly)
- "'[...] Duke did not make their case very well,' Brown said. 'They didn't make it very well at all, and it's embarrassing, and they know it.'" (Spat with city over private streets nears resolution -- Duke Chronicle, 4/15/09)
- "Said Councilman Eugene Brown, 'I think it’s an embarrassment. How many times does it take for them to get things right?'” (Durham Housing Authority still troubled, Independent Weekly, 9/3/08)
- "'This is just embarrassing,' Durham City Councilman Eugene Brown said Monday." (Reports: Wake, Durham probation offices 'in crisis' -- WRAL, 8/25/08)
- "[...] Councilman Eugene Brown said Tuesday that the incident is 'embarrassing for the entire community.'" (Housing funds case unravels -- Herald-Sun, 5/25/08)
- "As Councilmember Eugene Brown said last week, 'It was an embarrassing chapter in the life of Durham. It's time to put it behind us.'" (Bitter end of the city loan scandal -- Herald-Sun (via LexisNexis), 2/19/08)
- "'It's really an embarrassment that we're going through this and that we have to do this process,' Durham City Councilman Eugene Brown said." (Durham PD Goes Under the Microscope for Lacrosse Case -- WRAL, 7/20/07)
- "'Right now, we're in a reactive mode and not a proactive mode,' Councilman Eugene Brown said Friday. 'We've got to put this sucker out, and that's why we're talking to people like that group out of Virginia. The longer it goes on, the more embarrassing it is to the city.'" (Fire foam gets green light -- Herald-Sun (via LexisNexis), 9/23/06
- "City Councilman Eugene Brown agreed. 'It's always problematic when you have those hired and paid for enforcing the law breaking the law,' he said. 'I want to withhold judgment, but so far, this is just embarrassing.'" (Two Durham officers charged with assault -- Herald-Sun, 7/28/06)
- "'That search was a primer on how not to hire a police chief,' Brown said. 'It was an embarrassment. We were the laughingstock for the state.'" (Durham police chief search set -- News & Observer, 7/18/06)
- "'I hope, folks, that we have learned from this very embarrassing episode,' Councilman Eugene Brown said." (Council accepts Canal Street audit -- Herald-Sun (via LexisNexis), 10/5/04)
Let's say it together as Eugene would -- EMBARRASSING!
5 comments:
Thanks for writing this. I was just composing a letter to Mr. Brown regarding his recent comments and came across your blog. HIs comments just make my husband's job that much harder.
Is it that you believe that alternating incidents of corruption and incompetence are, in fact, not an embarrassment to our fair city; or
Is it that you simply are embarrassed that Councilman Brown doesn't own a thesaurus?
I, for one, am happy he didn't go with, "What a boo boo!"
How long till he moves on to "humiliating"?
@Tar Heelz -- my point was that we have a councilman whose knee-jerk reaction is to call out city employees when something goes wrong. It would be nice if at some point he would follow up his scolding with some meaningful suggestion, idea or initiative to improve Durham in the future. I don't appreciate an elected official being such a predictable voice of reproval that he's the first person local media call whenever something happens in Durham for a guaranteed slam. There's nothing wrong with being critical but if that's all you're good for I don't see the point - I can do that and I won't ever raise your taxes!
It is my opinion that Mr. Brown has out lived his usefull life as a Council Member. As has been noted, he complains but offers no solutions. I hope everyone who can vote in the 2011 election votes to replace him.
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