Raleigh Mayor Baldwin should think again about taking a job with a city contractor.

Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin last month announced she has taken a job as director of business development for Barnhill Contracting Co.’s Triangle and Streamline Divisions, a company that received a $6.3 million city contract for street resurfacing just days before Baldwin began interviewing for the job.

Taking the job was an awkward move by Baldwin, who has been criticized for being too close to developers. But her new job is particularly questionable now given the rising sensitivity to privilege and the lack of government officials’ accountability brought on by the George Floyd protests.

Baldwin has pledged to recuse herself from matters involving Barnhill, but she cannot wish away the perception that she has benefited from her public role in a personal way.

Jane Pinsky, director of the North Carolina Coalition for Lobbying and Government reform, said, “The perception is as important as the reality. At this moment in time, it might provide an unfortunate perception.”

Frayda S. Bluestein, a professor at UNC’s School of Government, said a public official working for a private employer with business that comes before the official’s board is a situation that can be managed, but it can also raise concerns. “Consider how organizations or contractors that are competing for grants or contracts against a board member’s employer feel about that process,” she said.

A former five-term council member who was elected mayor in 2019, Baldwin is steeped in city politics and keenly aware of how perceptions affect the credibility and influence of elected officials. But she said questions being raised about her independence reflect political carping by her opponents rather than her actual record. As a part-time mayor paid $24,000 a year, she said she needs to have outside employment.

“It’s an unjust and unfair criticism. I’ve never had any issue with my ethics during my 10 years on the council,” she told the editorial board on Tuesday. “I will continue to conduct myself with integrity as I always have.”

As for the matter of timing amid a review of who benefits and who is hurt by government systems, she said, “I think they are separate issues. What we are trying to do is look at how we can build more equity into the system. That’s different from who I’m employed by.”

Even if Baldwin is scrupulous in recusing herself from matters involving Barnhill, she will still cross paths with companies that Barnhill does business with who have business before the city. Meanwhile, council members who do vote on Barnhill-related matters will know the company is the mayor’s employer. There is no way to cleanly untangle the connections in a way that the public can have full confidence that the mayor’s public and private roles don’t overlap.

Charles Meeker, a Raleigh attorney and former mayor, said he focused on legal work outside of the Triangle during his 10 years in office, though there were times when involvement by his firm, Parker Poe, in city business required that he recuse himself. He told the editorial board that the era of Raleigh mayors working two jobs should end, as it has in most cities of Raleigh’s size.

“We are at the point where we need to be looking at a full-time mayor so that mayor can devote full energy to the city and not have conflicts of interest,” Meeker said.

Reversing course and stepping down from her Barnhill job would require Baldwin to admit a miscalculation about her outside employment that has grown more obvious with recent questioning about who government serves – the people or the wealthy and powerful.

But humility and self-reflection are what people are now asking of their elected officials. Baldwin would do well to answer with an action that signals she has heard them and is prepared to put the public’s confidence in her ahead of her personal financial interests.

This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 12:00 AM.