North Carolina – Democrats

Governor Easley may have just sent a huge signal he’s thinking about running for the Senate in 2008. Just before the election the Governor spent $100,000 – in ‘leftover campaign funds – on TV ads promoting his ‘prescription drug plan for low-income senior citizens.” (News and Observer; 10-31-06). Maybe, this is just the Governor’s way…

Last month the newspapers reported Governor Easley’s state ABC Board Chairman taking a junket to Ireland, courtesy of Irish whiskey distillers. It turns out that trip was the tip of the iceberg. ABC Board Chairman, Doug Fox, has also taken junkets to Guadalajara, Mexico, Aspen, Phoenix, Fort Lauderdale, Marco Island, Florida, and a second time…

Michael Decker pled guilty to taking a bribe to vote for Jim Black. Black’s appointee to the Lottery Board was convicted of fraud. Black’s aide, Meredith Norris, plead guilty to lobbying Black illegally. And a lottery vender’s Vice President was also convicted of illegally lobbying Black. Defending himself, Speaker Black argues stoutly he can’t recall…

You’ve got to give it to the Democrats they’ve got ‘hutzpa.’ Last summer, Governor Easley’s minions in state government arranged a cruise around Beaufort Harbor (with a steel drum band, shrimp, lobster and plenty of liquor) to see the tall ships, spending $30,000 of taxpayers’ money. But that’s not what took ‘hutzpa.’ This is: Now,…

You’ve got to give it to the Democrats they’ve got ‘hutzpa.’ Last summer, Governor Easley’s minions in state government arranged a cruise around Beaufort Harbor (with a steel drum band, shrimp, lobster and plenty of liquor) to see the tall ships, spending $30,000 of taxpayers’ money. But that’s not what took ‘hutzpa.’ This is: Now,…

…is to give him a state airplane. The News and Observer reports (10-23-06) “eyebrows were raised” last weekend at the Democrats Vance-Aycock dinner when State Treasurer Richard Moore, who has a campaign chest bulging with money, showed up in a state plane. Moore’s spokeswoman said his “official duties” that day included a “literary meeting,” a…

In an odd sort of way it’s a tribute to House Speaker Jim Black that after the Video Poker scandal, the Optometrists scandal, the Lottery scandal and Representative Mike Decker’s bribery conviction, he has survived. But, in fact, the Speaker has more than survived. He has retained power without a single serious challenge. Kevin Geddings…

In New York, they used to say of Senator Alfonse D’Amato, one of the legendary pork-barrellers, ‘He’s a crook, but he’s our crook.’ In other words it wasn’t the scandals it was the pork that mattered. After House Speaker Jim Black’s debate with opponent, Hal Jordan, Black told the press, “This is not about Kevin…

Two years ago, when Governor Easley was campaigning hard for reelection the state paid $21.5 million for 5,600 acres of land in Caldwell County. Three weeks later, the Governor’s campaign received $40,000 from ten people with ties to the land owner. Later, three more donors gave $16,000. Two of the donors were nineteen and twenty…