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Monday: Following Up
posted at 2007-08-27 23:50 | Last modified 2007-11-14 10:38
Seems like all the interesting news today came as new developments in older stories. That includes the day’s biggest headline, of course, the resignation of US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales after months of trouble at the DOJ.
Democratic Presidential hopeful John Edwards initially issued a four-word response, “Better late than never,” which instantly shot to the top of my list for best candidate communication of the year.
But you just knew it couldn't last. Two hours later, his campaign diluted the effect with something far wordier and a lot less memorable. Darn it, John, take it from a radio person: Short is usually better.
Check, please
Over at the Char-O, David Ingram reports State Elections Director Gary Bartlett is following up on discrepancies in legislators’ campaign finance reports – Ingram’s own story from August 12th.
According to today’s updated version, quite a few of those lawmakers have corrected their reports to include the missing money. But other legislators haven’t tracked down all their checks yet, including House Democrat Beverly Earle, who’s running for mayor of Charlotte. Ingram says Earle has accounted for about a quarter of her missing money. That beats House Public Utilities Chair Drew Saunders (D-Meck), who hasn't yet offered any accounting at all.
Double Decker
The Carolina Journal is plugging an exclusive two-part interview with Mr. IHOP, Michael Decker. The once-and-future Republican who sold his vote to former Speaker Jim Black told the CJ that Governor Mike Easley was in on the deal-making to give Decker a government meal ticket after he lost his House seat.
So what did Easley know? Carrington says he couldn't get a response from the Governor’s office - though he says he did get this "no comment" clarification via email from Deputy Press Secretary Seth Effron:
"Any assumptions you might conjure about the inaccuracy of your tales based upon any response or lack thereof from this office would be misguided and unjustified."
(Well, that clears it up.)
Decker, on the other hand, is saying plenty. He claims he talked to Easley on Jim Black’s personal cell
phone during the process of selling Black his vote in 2004.
The Carolina Journal’s been chasing Easley for a while now. Last year, the conservative publication charged that Easley acted unethically in a Southport real estate deal. The State Ethics Board didn’t find any evidence of wrongdoing, but that hasn’t stopped the CJ from looking for links between Easley and just about all Democratic misbehavior in Raleigh.
Meantime, Decker’s credibility rating falls somewhere south of Pinocchio’s. So it’ll be interesting to see if and how his allegations get resolved.
Money doesn’t just talk, it declares
NCAE head Eddie Davis weighed in today on this weekend’s endorsement process. The group’s nod went to Lt. Gov. (and former teacher) Bev Perdue, even though she hasn’t yet officially declared her candidacy.
Perdue’s primary opponent Treasurer Richard Moore asked the NCAE to hold off on endorsements till all the candidates were in, but Davis went ahead with the interviews anyway. As for Perdue’s status, here’s what Davis had to say in an email today:
"There seems to be a great deal of rhetoric about when the Lt. Governor will announce her candidacy and whether NCAE could or should have conducted interviews. However, no one has questioned the multitude of in-state contributors who have collectively given millions of dollars to her campaign. It appears that these contributors are confident that she will, indeed, be a candidate."
Meantime, Moore’s campaign manager Jay Reiff came out of the corner swinging again today, announcing that Moore had posted his NCAE questionnaire on his website, and daring Perdue to release hers as well.
Perdue came through with her survey tonight – and over at Dome, Ryan Teague Beckwith reports it looks a lot like Moore’s. So much for that debate point.
Soup du Jour
Dome also had another item on Davis today - his dressing-down of TheSoup, an anonymous blogger/gossip confab with a high snark quotient and a tag line of “Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously.” But Davis is apparently inclined to take it quite seriously.
Here’s the Soup post at issue, and here’s Davis’s reaction.
What do you think? Drop me a line.
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