Not Everybody Loved Marc

A veteran of the legislature’s hallways and byways took exception to my sympathetic and OBX-centric view of Marc Basnight.
 
Even the Charlotte Observer gushed, “It’s a testament to his place in N.C. politics that even his political adversaries spoke glowingly of him.” 
 
Here’s the legislative vet’s dissenting view:
 
“Leaders from other areas of the state were bitterly angry because they felt the state was being run by a out-of-touch despot who hailed from a strip of sand out in the ocean which severely limited his frame of reference, his politics and his priorities. Marc governed based on his personal experiences and what he saw and touched …
 
“The leaders in Charlotte and Greensboro and Asheville quietly seethed because they couldn’t get a bridge or a road, and they couldn’t get it because Marc never went to those places and could care less. If your cause wasn’t located on the road between Raleigh and OBX and he didn’t see it, forget it….If Marc had driven every week over the I-85/Yadkin bridge, it would’ve been replaced 15 years ago and was arguably more important than getting tourists to the coast 30 minutes faster.
 
“Marc worst trait, however, was that he treated people terribly….He would humiliate and shamelessly belittle people in meetings just to remind them that they might be smart but he was in charge. It was for this reason that he rarely met with lobbyists (who represent organizations that employ thousands and pay the taxes that he hijacked for his OBX projects) because he was too sensitive about his intellectual limitations to have a dialogue or discuss issues. Marc got his info and input from a closed circle of people whom he trusted, and that severely limited his scope. He didn’t go to receptions or events because he didn’t want to risk having a conversation with somebody. A particularly disgraceful habit was how he gleefully made the state’s most powerful people cool their heels outside his office until he was good and ready to meet with them, wasting their time just to show off his power.  He was impatient and intractable, and had no patience with anybody who tried to use facts and reason to explain why his latest idea was goofy….
 
“He played the game brilliantly and viciously and tilted the proverbial trough toward the northeast until his personal and political health was exhausted.”
Avatar photo

Gary Pearce

Categories

Archives

Recent Posts

Not Everybody Loved Marc

A veteran of the legislature’s hallways and byways took exception to my sympathetic and OBX-centric view of Marc Basnight.
 
Even the Charlotte Observer gushed, “It’s a testament to his place in N.C. politics that even his political adversaries spoke glowingly of him.” 
 
Here’s the legislative vet’s dissenting view:
 
“Leaders from other areas of the state were bitterly angry because they felt the state was being run by a out-of-touch despot who hailed from a strip of sand out in the ocean which severely limited his frame of reference, his politics and his priorities. Marc governed based on his personal experiences and what he saw and touched …
 
“The leaders in Charlotte and Greensboro and Asheville quietly seethed because they couldn’t get a bridge or a road, and they couldn’t get it because Marc never went to those places and could care less. If your cause wasn’t located on the road between Raleigh and OBX and he didn’t see it, forget it….If Marc had driven every week over the I-85/Yadkin bridge, it would’ve been replaced 15 years ago and was arguably more important than getting tourists to the coast 30 minutes faster.
 
“Marc worst trait, however, was that he treated people terribly….He would humiliate and shamelessly belittle people in meetings just to remind them that they might be smart but he was in charge. It was for this reason that he rarely met with lobbyists (who represent organizations that employ thousands and pay the taxes that he hijacked for his OBX projects) because he was too sensitive about his intellectual limitations to have a dialogue or discuss issues. Marc got his info and input from a closed circle of people whom he trusted, and that severely limited his scope. He didn’t go to receptions or events because he didn’t want to risk having a conversation with somebody. A particularly disgraceful habit was how he gleefully made the state’s most powerful people cool their heels outside his office until he was good and ready to meet with them, wasting their time just to show off his power.  He was impatient and intractable, and had no patience with anybody who tried to use facts and reason to explain why his latest idea was goofy….
 
“He played the game brilliantly and viciously and tilted the proverbial trough toward the northeast until his personal and political health was exhausted.”
Avatar photo

Gary Pearce

Categories

Archives