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Tuesday late edition: Wright Out?
posted at 2007-05-15 23:55 | Last modified 2007-11-14 10:38
New Hanover Dem Thomas Wright's silence at today's Election Board hearings spoke volumes to his Jones St. colleagues -- especially House Speaker Joe Hackney:
"Unless Representative Wright has some satisfactory explanation, which certainly didn’t happen today, then he can certainly no longer be effective here."
You can hear Hackney's whole Q&A (5 min) here.
Wright himself didn't have a lot to say, except that he's not resigning, he's not worried, and he's glad for the process and the Constitution. (Wright did show up for session after the SBOE hearings, but he evaporated when the gavel fell. That happens a lot when folks don't want to get caught by reporters.)
One legislator told me about the "surreal experience" of checking the news online on the chamber floor - looking at Wright's picture and reading about the allegations against him, while looking at the man himself just yards away.
Meantime, back at the Raleigh Curler (aka the downtown Clarion, where the SBOE Hearing was held), several Wright constituents showed up to watch the proceedings. They weren't happy about today's outcome, but they weren't surprised, either. Here's Burgaw retiree Joyce Harrell.
And last but not least, SBOE chairman Larry Leake explains which of the probe's allegations concerns him most.
By the way - in case you were wondering - Leake and the Board gave Cumberland Dem Mary McAllister a continuance till June 1 to get her bank records together.
And for the record, the Legislature actually DID do quite a bit of work Tuesday -- but thanks to the Wright hearings, I missed it. I'll catch up with all that Wednesday.
Comments? Drop me a line.
