Don’t blame Vickie Sawyer for this

The I-77 South fight has made the Senator a target. She’s not the one Charlotte should be mad at.

Sen. Vickie Sawyer has become the villain of the I-77 South toll lanes power struggle between Charlotte, Matthews and the General Assembly.

Those arrows are flying in the wrong direction. All that anger aimed at Sawyer badly misunderstands what is actually happening. Here’s why.

In case you haven’t been following this issue, here’s a quick recap. The Charlotte City Council voted last month to rescind support for the I-77 South toll lane project. That effectively blew up a project NCDOT had spent years advancing and tens of millions of dollars planning.

Everyone kind of expected the General Assembly to respond, and earlier in June, Sawyer floated a proposal that would require Charlotte and the other local governments that voted to pull the project to repay NCDOT for those costs. Until they do, some state transportation money could be frozen.

Because of that, I get why Sawyer is taking the arrows. But anyone paying attention should understand the dynamics. She made them clear on her radio s…