“Very bad decision. Sorry, but this will soil our Gov…”

– Secretary of Public Safety Frank Perry

The amateurishness of Governor McCrory’s office is chronic and sometimes comic, but now it has veered dangerously close to serious trouble.

The Governor’s fierce counterattack against the N&O story (“McCrory brokered meeting on contract for friend and campaign donor”) shows that his political team understands the potential damage. The Governor should wish that he and his executive staff had understood the potential damage from the get-go.

Secretary Perry obviously got it. He tried to keep the Governor from stepping in it. But McCrory charged ahead into a pay-to-play scandal that has attracted the attention of the FBI.

The Governor never should have arranged nor attended the now-infamous meeting between his friend and donor Graeme Keith Sr. and Department of Public Safety officials. That’s where Keith said, according to a department memo, “he had been working on this project ‘private prison maintenance’ for over ten (10) years and during that time had given a lot of money to candidates running for public office and it was now time for him to get something in return.”

The Governor said he didn’t hear that. But once he heard about it, he should have said, “Game over, pal. What you’re suggesting is wrong, it’s illegal and I won’t have it. Your contract is kaput. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

Instead, the Governor had his staff pursue the matter like a dog after a bone. They overruled the department, they did an end run around the legislature, and Keith got what he paid for.

Now the Governor will pay. Because this is precisely the crony culture he promised to change.

Which brings to mind the old adage, “The worst wounds in politics are self-inflicted.”