Editorial: Trudy Wade draws a blank

We haven’t checked in on state Sen. Trudy Wade in a while, and in a week full of politics, it seems appropriate.

Sen. Wade, the veterinarian who represents a District 27 that was drawn explicitly for her a couple terms ago, came to the Senate after holding Greensboro City Council District 5 from 2007 until her election to the Senate in 2012.  That council, among other things, submitted a redistricting proposal that one member said she found on her doorstep and pushed to reopen the White Street Landfill.[pullquote]The list of Wade’s offenses runs long and deep, and the hits keep coming.[/pullquote]

Before that, Wade was on the Guilford County Commission until she lost the seat to John Parks in 2004. Longtime local political junkies will remember she filed a lawsuit to fight that loss, and refused to vacate her seat for months while it played out.

Now she can cause damage on an entirely new plane. Since ascending to the Senate she’s made a lot of friends and garnered some plum appointments. She co-chairs two heavy-duty environmental committees, and in that role has floated a bill that’s moving through the House now, one that creates a study on the efficacy of introducing a species of mussel to Jordan Lake to solve the algae pollution.

It’s worth mentioning that she was on the Greensboro City Council that voted against implementing the Jordan Lake Rules in January 2009. She also sponsored a regulatory reform act in 2015 that, among other travesties, allows energy companies to perform self-audits for compliance to environmental laws.

And though she’s kicked the dust of this town from her sensible low heels years ago, she still seems very interested in the way the city of Greensboro conducts its business.

She was an architect of SB36 that radically altered the way the city governs itself— that one, sadly, is not quite dead yet. And she filed a bill that changed the way municipal service districts spend their money; it seemed designed specifically to thwart one of her old city council colleagues.

The list of Wade’s offenses runs long and deep, and the hits keep coming.

Last March, in the beginning of the 2015-16 Session, she filed what is essentially a blank-ticket local bill. SB151, “An Act Relating to the 27^th Senatorial District,” says just two things: “This act relates only to the 27th Senatorial District,” and, “This act is effective when it becomes law.”

These are called placeholder bills, and they’re perfectly legal, though most give a little more to go on in the way of intent. And because it’s a local bill regarding her own district, it will most surely pass. Maybe before then we’ll find out what we’re in for.