Thursday, March 10, 2011

Not politics as usual here in North Carolina


Released, Friday, March 11, 2011: “Birds of a Feather Flock Together”

Talk of the Town, 919-610-5255

It was a mantra I heard from my grandmother when admonishing me about who my friends were. I'm glad I listened.

I believe there's a reason that politicians, and even some members of the N.C. General Assembly, are leaving their lairs, like pesky rodents leaving a sinking ocean liner. Water is getting into their nest.


For example, with the ongoing investigation of former N. C. governor Mike Easley--the big cheese--and his close ally, former N.C. senator Tony Rand, a board member of LEA, an organization that had been under investigation for “an insider-trading scheme” and that is a spin-off of the Sirchie Corporation, founded by John H. Carrington, a former N.C. Senator, who was indicted for selling law enforcement equipment to China in violation of U.S. export laws.

While it’s true, N. C. Attorney General Roy Cooper needs to get involved [N & O, 12/08-09]. He can’t!

Cooper was a former member, and Chairman of the Judiciary I in the same N. C. General Assembly [1995] that bred the likes of John Carrington. Both were members of the Finance Committee, where Cooper held the title of Vice-Chairman in 1995; N. C. Senator Marc Basnight, President Pro Tempore, and Sen. R.C. Soles, Jr., indicted as well, was Deputy President, Pro Tempore.

In early 2010, not much has been heard from Marc Basnight, (who apparently took my suggestion) after the 2010 election and has resigned--he had been an Ex-Officio member of all Standing Committees.


A restaurant owner, who’s restaurant burned down, (theorist know fires are a way of saving cost on demolition) though cause of the fire was never reported--to my knowledge, and the restaurant was rebuilt before the ashes cooled.

That’s right, Basnight has resigned from the N.C. General Assembly. No one would have imagined!

This is the same General Assembly in 1995 whose members included Frank Balance, Virginia Fox, (also on the Finance Committee), along with other finance members Charles W. Albertson, Austin M. Allran, and David W. Hoyle, who claims: “The Senate has always been a safe harbor for business. The Senate is no longer the safe harbor.”

Apparently, and in anticipation of just such a probe, the N.C. State Ethics Commission passed a law in 2006 that forbids disclosing information about enforcement action of those "stumbling and falling like a house of cards."

"Being silent when we should protest makes cowards of us all.” Abe Lincoln
 
Next comes Easley, now a convicted felon…….stay tuned.  It could get better or worst!


That's my perspective. What's yours?

c Talk of the Town, 919 610-5255

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