What exactly did Kim Ratliff say?

It's beyond debate that Mecklenburg County commissioners Vice Chairman Kim Ratliff made an inappropriate comment. But what exactly was it? After days of news stories, that's not entirely clear.

Ratliff talked to WBTV last week and again this week about the commissioners' search for a new county manager to replace the ousted Harry Jones. WBTV reported that Ratliff said the new manager should be "a non white male." That led citizens to complain that, among other things, Ratliff was openly saying she didn't want a woman to be the next county manager.

But the video in which Ratliff said that is not on WBTV's website. In the video currently up on WBTV's website, the station starts with Ratliff in the middle of an answer. She says: "... someone outside of that, whether it's a black female or a Hispanic female or a Hispanic male, but just someone who is not a white male."

"Not a white male" and "a non white male" are not necessarily the same thing. The first disparages white males, but welcomes all other applicants, including females. The second was taken by many residents to mean Ratliff wanted a minority male to be county manager, and females need not apply.

WBTV's Coleen Harry tells me Ratliff said both. But the "non white male" quote in the original story prompted reactions that could have been avoided by hearing Ratliff's more complete answer, which was made in the same interview.

In follow-up interviews with WBTV's Harry, Ratliff said she would like the new county manager to be a woman. That's less inconsistent with her first interview than it originally seemed to some.

Regardless, Ratliff made a significant and offensive mistake by saying the new county manager should be "someone who is not a white male." We'd love to be a fly on the wall when County Attorney Marvin Bethune tells commissioners in closed session this coming Tuesday what legal ramifications there may be, if any, from Ratliff's remarks.

-- Taylor Batten