Update: Whitley-Bell link confirmed on prepared foods tax

We talked here yesterday about the seemingly unusual presence of the Rev. Mel Whitley as a participant in the strategizing around how to pass the prepared foods tax. A surprising role for the activist, and one that seemed to have the imprimatur of Mayor Bell on it.

Wonder no more: A well-placed source confirms that Whitley -- a man whose name is sometimes bandied about as an eventual successor to Howard Clement on the City Council -- participated in the planning meeting at Bill Bell's request. Hizzoner reportedly contacted Whitley personally the night before the meeting and asked the reverend to sit in on the meeting.

Comments

[citizen interested in transparency for gov't & Bloggers]

Presumably there are only two ways to know that what you said here is true. Either you got it from the Mayor or you got it from Melvin. Neither of them is infallable. So either could have been lying. That is unless you tapped one of their phone line or simply made it up. We deserve to know which it is kind sir!!

[Kevin Davis]

Let me see if I have your logic straight.

I either (1) talked to Whitley or Bell, (2) tapped their phone lines or (3) made it up.

Interesting theories, but if you truly believe they form the entire universe of ways I could have learned this, then sir/madam, you're not very imaginative.

This blog prints material from a number of sources -- some public, some not. One of the advantages (and drawbacks) of an information source such as a blog is the ability to cover material that, for reasons of sourcing or veracity or something else, don't make it to print.

When a blogger prints a story that contains anonymous sourcing, the story relies on the credibility that the author has built over time. Which means that someone in my position has to be cautious using such sources, preserving them for stories that really advance a conversation or the understanding of an issue.

A classic case is the Ben Benson's steakhouse planned for American Tobacco. There's no chance of getting a story like that on the record in March '08, but based on the quality of the anonymous sources, I felt comfortable running with non-cited sources.

(When I've made mistakes on the blog or had wrong information, I've acknowledged that, too.)

In the end, I would hope BCR readers would understand that the information cited here isn't always matched to the same standards that print journalists would use. That can be a bad thing -- or, depending on one's perspective, a good thing for finding out what's happening in Durham.

That said, I'm by no means anonymous myself. My email address is published on the site; so's my phone number. Anyone who wants to reach me is more than welcome to. That's the form of transparency I hold myself to.

[Citizen Interested In Transparencyin for Gov't & Bloggers]

I hear your point. As long as you admit that you print things that would not pass journalistic muster, I'll agree not to ask these sorts of questions. I just fundamentally doubt that Melvin Whitley would take direction from the Mayor.