Document Actions
Sunday: Out of here
posted at 2008-01-20 22:17 | Last modified 2008-01-20 22:24
I’ll be gone for the next two weeks on an honest-to-pete, passport-requiring vacation. While I’m hoping to share the occasional envy-inducing pic from Caribbean locales, there’s not likely to be much content here till Feb. 2nd. Sorry about that…well, kind of, anyway.
Parton: Such sweet sorrow?
Leave it to a substance-challenged country star to spread the misery around.
- It all started (the latest round, anyway) when Lt Gov Bev Perdue accused Treasurer Richard Moore of hiding a study showing potential planning flaws in the Randy Parton Theater project.
- Friday, the AP's Gary Robertson reported that one of Perdue’s fundraisers has resigned from the DOT board under the cloud of a Parton-shaped shakedown.
- Today, the N&O's Jonathan Cox and Matt Ehlers report that most of those who profited from the project were either local economic development officials or had close connections to Randy Parton.
State Auditor Les Merritt told the N&O he’s looking into the Parton Project. His dance card must be pretty full these days - he told Dome Friday he’s also investigating allegations that Perdue’s and Moore’s campaigns used state resources. (I'm SO sorry I'm going to miss the next two weeks of this - any part of it could turn into some kinda story...)
Going negative
I was listening to NPR Friday afternoon when I heard reporter David Folkenflik mention NC House candidate and former legislative assistant Alan Teitleman.
In this story on negative campaigning in South Carolina's GOP primary, Folkenflik plays a snippet of a push poll he credits to “Alan Teitleman…a 23–year-old Republican who recorded that call to his home in Ruby, SC.”
Now, the transcript isn't complete online - but if you listen to the story, you'll hear Teitleman weigh in: “To get your message out that way, and to be so negative, and to have to tear down every other opponent– you know, is just…it’s a bad way of trying to build yourself up.”
Perhaps Teitleman’s speaking from experience. When he launched his primary campaign against his former boss Jim Gulley, who has Parkinson’s disease, Teitleman sent the Charlotte Observer unflattering candid photos that highlighted Gulley's age and frailty.
It’s one thing to throw an elbow or two in the fight for a seat. But it’s another to attack a Parkinson’s patient for looking frail, and then wax sanctimonious about negative campaigning.
I wonder what Teitleman’s move to Ruby, SC, means for his NC House campaign? I sent him a message asking him if he’s still in the race, but 48 hours later, I haven’t heard back.
Comments? Drop me a line.
