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 Geddings, and it’s not about Jim Black or Hal Jordan. It’s about who can go to the legislature and get our fair share to the region. Do you want somebody who can? Or do you want somebody in the back row yelling: ‘Liar, liar, House on fire?’” (News and Observer; 10-11-06).

It sounds like Speaker Black has taken a page out of Senator D’Amato’s playbook. But why not? It worked for D’Amato for eighteen years.

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