The News & Observer spotlights AIM’s Raleigh investigation
January 7, 2026
A state House committee created to find waste and mismanagement questioned Raleigh officials about a city department featured in a conservative group’s undercover video that claims the city was “pushing” diversity and equity.
Raleigh Mayor Janet Cowell and City Manager Marchell Adams-David both addressed the House Select Committee on Government Efficiency meeting Wednesday afternoon.
Rep. Keith Kidwell, a Republican who co-chairs the committee, asked why the city felt it had to make changes in response to a 2025 executive order barring diversity initiatives.
“If I’m understanding this correctly, your position is the city of Raleigh did discriminate, in fact, prior to January 2025 based on whatever criteria was set up,” he asked. “Is that accurate?”
“Totally disagree,” Adams-David said.
“I would argue that we did not discriminate. What we did is we created opportunities for access. What we did was create opportunities for people who said to us that they had been pushed out of the contracting business,” Adams-David said.
“We never gave preferential treatment, we never had quotas, we never did any of the things that were against the law in the way of practice, whether it was through procurement or hiring,” she said.
City officials were asked to speak “regarding the functions and responsibilities of the city’s Department of Economic and Social Advancement,” on Oct. 14, the same day a video by the group Accuracy in Media (AIM) was released.
After the meeting, Kidwell said he will meet with co-chair Rep. John A. Torbett and other committee members to “develop strategies” on next steps.
“I’m curious still about [why the city] had to make such significant changes after the executive order, if we were already following what I would perceive to be the law,” Kidwell said in an interview. “Which would have been the Constitution, stating that you can’t discriminate against anybody. You wouldn’t have had to make changes if you were already adhering to that.”