MAYOR'S WIFE LEAVES DSS JOB

Mayor's wife leaves DSS job

Samara Foxx's post with county agency one of 3 that had prompted concerns of nepotism.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/local/story/1158917.html

By Christopher D. Kirkpatrick
ckirkpatrick@charlotteobserver.com


Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx's wife, Samara, has resigned from her high-paying county job, one of three positions that last year sparked allegations of cronyism and prompted a change in county hiring policies.

Reached at her home Sunday morning, Foxx, 38, said she stepped down from her post at the Mecklenburg Department of Social Services effective Dec. 31 to "focus more time and energy" on her family. The couple has a 5-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son.

Her husband was a city councilman and had announced he would run for mayor when she was hired in July 2008 for the administrative job at a $100,000 annual salary. The job was posted for just a day.

DSS hired two other relatives of high-ranking government officials early last year: the daughter of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Chief Rodney Monroe and the daughter of Superior Court Judge Yvonne Mims Evans.

The three hires prompted a public debate about perceptions of nepotism and favoritism in local government.

County officials said the three were given jobs in accordance with county policy and without regard to family ties. County commissioners examined resumes from the three during a lengthy closed session and concluded that the hirings were proper.

But County Manager Harry Jones soon changed the minimum posting time, to six days, for most open jobs.

Samara Foxx, a lawyer, was hired as a special assistant to newly assigned DSS Director Mary Wilson. Foxx later headed DSS business affairs, one of six divisions in the agency.

Wilson could not be reached Sunday. But she said last spring that Foxx won the job over other candidates because of her experience, including past work in legislative affairs. Wilson also said the two worked together at a previous job and had a good working relationship.

The Foxxes wouldn't comment Sunday about the circumstances of the hiring.

But in March, Samara Foxx said in a written statement she was qualified for the job because of her past experience as a contract attorney and as chairwoman of a board of directors for an agency serving pregnant teens and women.

She said she worked in the Charlotte area as a contract attorney at KOSA, a global polyester manufacturing company. There she met Wilson, who was the company's general counsel.

Before moving to Charlotte in 2001, Samara Foxx worked as staff counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee for five years, she said.

Anthony Foxx said in his own written statement in March that insinuations about his wife's employment were "irresponsible and deeply hurtful."

In the other cases:

Rodney Monroe's daughter Hollye was hired early last year as a management analyst with DSS at a $46,613 annual salary. A city spokeswoman said at the time that Chief Monroe did not ask for any special treatment.

Judge Evans' daughter, Tracey, was hired early last year as a social services manager at a salary of $57,380. Her mother said at the time that she had nothing to do with her daughter's hiring.

DSS is the county's second-largest department and has an annual budget of $180 million. It employs 1,200 people.