The stables badly need cleaning in the North Carolina House of Representatives. And Speaker Joe Hackney needs to step up to the job.

So far, he hasn’t. It’s past time he did.

In a way, the situation is unfair to Hackney. He spent decades building a reputation as a clean, hard-working legislator. He finally achieved his dream of becoming Speaker. Then, as soon as he moved in, the housing inspectors uncovered years’ worth of political guano.

But it’s Hackney’s job to clean up the mess. He took on that responsibility when he took the oath as Speaker.

So far his response has been hesitant and half-hearted. On one hand, he says Rep. Thomas Wright can’t be effective in light of the charges against him. On the other hand, Hackney won’t call for Wright to resign from the House.

Hackney has offered no cleanup plan, no sign of outrage and no public reassurance that a new sheriff is on the job.

That’s what leadership is supposed to be all about.

Simply put, Speaker Hackney has to get ahead of this story. Or his Speakership – and the Democrats’ majority – may be lost.

House Democrats did not pay a price in the 2006 elections. It looked then like the problem was limited to Jim Black, and Black was assuring everybody he had done nothing wrong.

Since then North Carolinians have been fed a steady diet of headlines about Black, Michael Decker and Kevin Geddings. Now it’s Reps. Wright and Mary McAllister.

And the Speaker is woefully behind the news curve.

One problem with great “inside” politicians is that they often don’t understand the “outside” world of public opinion. That’s where power ultimately comes from. And where you can lose your power and position.

It may be unfair that Joe Hackney has to learn the outside game so fast. But, like the ad says, life comes at you fast.

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