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Lauderdale
NAACP chief, panel discuss allegations in newspaper story
By Gregory Lewis
Staff Writer
December 12 2001
The
president of the Fort Lauderdale NAACP, under attack from an article in
this week's The Broward Times that called for him to "Get Out of
Dodge by Sundown," came back fighting what he called a personal
attack in an emotional closed-door executive board meeting Tuesday.
Bill McCormick, president of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People's Fort Lauderdale branch, in a brief
interview outside the meeting, said he had the support of the executive
board and he had provided proof he had done things above board involving
Wingate environmental issues and recommendations to the city of Fort
Lauderdale in the ongoing discrimination complaints.
"I am not going anywhere. I was elected to serve the people, and
I'm going to give them every bit of my talent."
McCormick was elected to a two-year term, which ends in October.
The Broward Times, one of two black weekly newspapers published in
Broward County, featured a front-page story by Elgin Jones, a reporter
for the newspaper, an engineering inspector for the city of Fort
Lauderdale and a person who has filed a claim against the city.
Jones wrote "several members of the civil-rights organization and
the community are calling for the resignation of branch President
William McCormick."
According to the article, "What's at issue are allegations that
McCormick watered down the original recommendations that the branch's
executive committee had voted on and approved a week earlier and pulled
a switch at the special meeting."
McCormick had read recommendations to the membership that did not
include a call for City Attorney Dennis Lyles and other ranking managers
and department heads to be fired.
But the membership amended the recommendations to include that Lyles and
other city officials be dismissed from their positions.
In an interview before Tuesday night's meeting, McCormick said "the
blatantly disrespectful article" only had served to
"rejuvenate me."
He promised the truth would be told with proof.
McCormick, in his statement, said, "The executive committee has
fully supported everything I've done. I will continue to move the agenda
forward. We won't be sidetracked internally or externally."
At one point during the meeting, McCormick could be heard through the
doors, saying, "We should not let anyone internally or externally
destroy the aim of this organization."
McCormick said he addressed item by item the charges in the article and
provided the committee with details, e-mails and memos to show the
communications between him and the national office regarding an amicus
brief that Legal Aid Service of Broward County had asked the branch to
support in the Wingate project.
The NAACP failed to join with Legal Aid in supporting the brief. Last
week, Sharon Bourassa, the director of Legal Aid, said her agency had no
confidence in McCormick and would not work with the chapter while he was
president.
McCormick said he followed procedures and made an attempt to support
Legal Aid, but he said the national office refused to file the brief
because of a "time line" problem.
But McCormick said "the NAACP stands behind the community in
seeking environmental justice" in the Wingate project. Later,
McCormick said his first year in office had been a learning one but he
was set to put in motion "an action agenda in 2002."
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Courtesy Sun-Sentinel www.sun-sentinel.com |
