Posts by Gary Pearce

Back during Jim Hunt’s first stint as Governor, his patronage man was a wily old fellow from Pilot Mountain named Joe Pell, who became legendary. Joe’s job was to get state jobs for Hunt’s friends and supporters around the state. One day Joe was having breakfast at Finch’s with a county sheriff who had supported…

The News & Observer noted that Heman Clark, who died last week, was a lawyer, prosecutor, judge and Cabinet secretary. At 93, he was one of the last links to the Terry Sanford era in politics. But I’ll remember Heman most for an evening of kindness to my then-11-year-old son. It was in 2000, when…

The most worrisome news today is that Governor-Elect Perdue is conducting a “nationwide search” for a secretary of Health and Human Services. I hope she has better luck than Governor Hunt did. When he was first elected in 1976, Hunt did a nationwide search for an expert to run the state’s troubled and overcrowded prison…

Governor-elect Bev Perdue has sought to separate herself from Governor Easley – sometimes indirectly and sometimes directly. During the campaign, she said she would be more open and transparent. She promised a more ethical administration. Election night, she said “there’s a new sheriff in town.” The media focus has been on her staff and Cabinet…