Charlotte councilwoman Tiawana Brown largely avoids discussing indictment at town hall

Yahoo

7 days ago

Charlotte City Council member Tiawana Brown largely avoided discussing her federal fraud charges Wednesday in a town hall meeting — her second time facing constituents since being indicted.
It took two hours for the indictment to come up during the event at the Good Shepard Church in the Steele Creek area.
Instead, the vast majority of the town hall featured presentations from city staff on issues ranging from crime statistics to traffic and infrastructure. About 30 minutes of questions from attendees lined up at microphones followed, but no one asked about the charges.
Only in her closing remarks did Brown allude to her situation, calling the last six days some of the most difficult of her life.
Brown and her adult daughters, Tijema Brown and Antionette Rouse, were indicted last week on charges of wire fraud conspiracy and wire fraud. Charlotte's U.S. attorney alleged they falsified loan applications for federal pandemic relief funds and spent loan money on personal expenses, including a lavish birthday party for Brown.
They all pleaded not guilty during their first court appearance Friday, and she's pledged to stay in office and run for reelection. The 53-year-old Democrat is in her first term in office representing west Charlotte's District 3. She's the first formerly incarcerated person to serve on the Charlotte City Council.
Wednesday's event marked one of Brown's first public appearances since the indictment.
She spoke briefly to reporters while leaving court Friday and attended Monday's City Council meeting. The latter was her first time publicly facing constituents, and she spoke sparingly and declined to talk to reporters.
At Wednesday's town hall, Brown largely served as a moderator.
During the question and answer portion, where constituents primarily focused on the impacts of growth on District 3's infrastructure, Brown deferred to staff or offered to follow up with residents individually to provide a more detailed answer to their questions.
Attendees at the meeting did not appear to have their questions pre-screened.
In her closing remarks to the crowd, Brown said 'nothing has changed' and asked for prayers for her family.
'I'm committed to this community,' she said. '... I will continue to show up and do the work that I was elected by you to do. It's not my seat — it's your seat.'
Brown then shook hands and exchanged hugs with some in the crowd. She told reporters as she left the event she wasn't surprised by the lack of questions from attendees about her indictment.
'They care about my service. They care about me as a human being,' she said.
But some in the audience, including resident Christina Syndergaard, said getting clarity about the indictment was part of why they came out Wednesday evening.
'I don't know a ton about it, but what I do know is I'd like to see all the details that (prosecutors) have, what kind of incriminating evidence they have against her,' she said.
Syndergaard, who voted for Brown in 2023, said she didn't feel like Brown did 'a good job' addressing the indictment during the town hall and wondered why no one asked about the case.
She wanted to see the council member take a more direct approach to the issue.
'Be upfront about it,' she said. '... It didn't feel super transparent to me.'
Observer reporter Desiree Mathurin contributed to this story.