Editor,
I was recently accused of lying. I want to be clear that I do not believe I lied under oath. I was not accusing Tracy Johnson of embezzling during the snippet of the secretly recorded conversation made by Autumn Slane.
When I sat for my deposition with Mr. Parker, I did not recall having had the conversation at issue with Ms. Slane. And as can be seen from my response in the deposition, I said, “to the best of my knowledge.” I have a lot of conversations with a lot of people during the course of my day as mayor, as a professional, and as a citizen, and cannot recall every single detail of every single conversation.
Further, after listening to the recording, my recollection was that Ms. Slane was relaying to me that she has heard there was embezzling at the City, and my response was that those rumors were in reference to Ms. Johnson. I stated that this was not about the City itself, as had there been any embezzling at the City level, it would presumably be caught by legislative audit.
Both the City and the CAPC are tasked with overseeing taxpayer dollars, and ensuring that those dollars are spent carefully, appropriately, fairly, and lawfully. When information is received that this is perhaps not the case, even via rumor, that information cannot be ignored and there is an obligation to look into it and report it to any appropriate authorities. I have nothing but the best interests of this City at heart, and I think I have shown that in word and deed during my tenure as Mayor.
Given that there is an ongoing lawsuit, in which I am named, I will not be commenting further upon advice of counsel.
Butch Berry
Which was it?
You didn’t name Tracy for the rumor or you couldn’t remember what you said.
You did say, “ miss Slane asked about embezzlement within a city organization”, your response was, “rumors are about Tracy Johnson”.
Yet you forgot what you’re being sued for.
This right here is a flip flop and shows another lie from the mayors mouth to the public.