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Thursday: On the Home Front
posted at 2008-01-03 21:03 | Last modified 2008-01-06 21:20
While we're waiting on the Iowa results (and could MSNBC please knock off the useless entrance polls?), here's the update on the homefront:
Cunningham: I’m 78
Mecklenberg’s longest serving legislator, Democrat Pete Cunningham, announced today he’s stepping down from the seat he’s held for 21 years. His resignation is retroactive, effective December 31st.
Eyebrows went up throughout the fourth estate when that missive popped into our inboxes this afternoon. Given the current state of things on Jones St., any resignation prompts questions – more so when it’s someone who a) served as former Speaker Jim Black’s first lieutenant, and b) has been scrutinized by the State Elections Board for irregularities in his campaign finance reporting.
But Cunningham says he’s not the target of any investigation that he knows of. And as far as anyone else knows, his resignation is exactly what he says it is – the decision of an elderly man whose doctors have told him to slow down. “Time and tide wait for no man,” he said. “I’m 78. I say we can stop talkin’, because that answers it all. When you get to 78, you oughta stop.”
He didn’t stop talking, though, and what he had to say was characteristically funny. First, he’s enjoyed working with “the beautiful people” that he says have helped him in Raleigh, but he says, “I’m getting to where it ain’t fun no more.” Second, he’s sick and tired of the drive from Charlotte to Raleigh. Third, his memory’s giving him some trouble.
"You know when you get to that point you get up to say something, and two minutes after you start into your presentation, you say, what the hell am I talking about? [laughs] you know, your memory go first, they say."
And last but certainly not least, he’d like to spend a little more time with his wife: “I just feel whatever time I got, we need to spend it together.”
Cunningham had heart surgery back in 2005, and he says he hasn’t had a real vacation in about 15 years. So it’s not hard to understand why he’s walking. Char-O’s David Ingram has more here.
Out…and in?
Asheville’s Mark Barnett says freshman Buncombe House Republican Charles Thomas won’t run for re-election. Thomas won the seat formerly occupied by Wilma Sherill, who opted not to run for re-election herself in ’06, during her fight against breast cancer.
Sherill’s apparently feeling better -- well enough to lobby for UNC-Asheville – and some of us are wondering whether she’s looking to reenter the political arena. She’s already said she won’t challenge Buncombe Dem Martin Nesbitt for his Senate seat…but now that there’s an opening in the House…?
Who says we’re all lib’ruhls?
NPR reporter/Fox pundit Juan Williams will be in Raleigh later this month for a book signing. He’s looking to follow in Bill Cosby’s footsteps with Enough, a critique of African-American culture. He’s even holding a dinner and reception hosted by Civitas. The details are here.
More later on Iowa...
