Today's entry is brought to you by the letter S - seedy, scandalous, sordid, the works. You can add sad to the list, too, for the untimely death of a gifted, Pulitzer Prize-winning Tar Heel cartoonist. More on that below.

Sentencing day

Disgraced former House speaker Jim Black will be sentenced Wednesday on federal corruption charges for taking "illegal gratuities" from NC chiropractors.

After an unsuccessful bid to delay the proceedings, Black's attorney Ken Bell launched what could only be described as a "Hail Mary" request for leniency. Charlotte's David Ingram reported yesterday that Bell recommended house arrest and community service (in the form of eye care) as a suitable punishment for his 73-year-old client. 

Charlotte's Jack Betts asked on his blog today whether there might be some merit to the idea of community service to atone for nonviolent crimes.  But prosecutors apparently don't think so.

The feds fired back with this frankly damning report that hit the wires this afternoon.  They say Black should be sentenced to the maximum sentence (10 years and $250K) or more, because he committed crimes in addition to those he pleaded to - including, they say, taking half a million bucks from an unnamed lobbyist back in 2000.

Second thoughts?

$500K is the kind of grown-up money most of us reporters have been waiting to hear about.  Don't misunderstand me - it's wrong any time any official takes any amount of money in return for favors - but a lot of us have been wondering why the feds have been so attentive to a case that, till today, never topped 50 grand.  Yes, that's real money, too, but it isn't anything state investigators couldn't have handled. 

This revelation sheds a little more light on the feds' unflagging interest in this investigation. With any luck, we'll have a better picture after tomorrow's hearing.

Ingram's article today also brings up the point that federal prosecutors might have grounds to try Black again on this new allegation. Black's plea deal came with immunity for any offense the feds knew by that time that Black had committed. That apparently *doesn't* include the half-million dollar payoff, which they say they discovered after Black's sentencing earlier this year. So if Judge Boyle doesn't hand out the sentence the feds want, prosecutors could be looking at Plan B. 

Speculation time

The talk of the building all afternoon revolved around one question: Who's the "unnamed lobbyist"?

Honestly, there are quite a few lobbyists who could probably come up with that kind of money today if they really HAD to - but there's a lot more money in politics now than there was back in 2000. And who would put a bet of that magnitude on a largely unproven speaker facing dissension (some might say open mutiny) within his own caucus? 

One logical candidate might be an industry with piles of cash and a taste for risky bets - video poker.

Within about two hours, the collective speculation was homing in one of three lobbyists working for video poker at the time - Linwood Mercer.  Democracy South had the story at the time:

"Southland Amusement owner Robert E. Huckabee III of Wilmington retained former legislator Linwood Mercer as a lobbyist this year. Huckabee and his family gave $24,875 – more than any other video poker distributor. Huckabee also started Advance Cash Express in 2000, one of a growing number of payday lending businesses that critics charge engage in predatory lending.

Since then, Bobby Huckabee has been subpoenaed by the grand jury looking into the Black case.  And that ain't all. In March 2006, his industry group's political contributions were the subject of intense scrutiny by state elections officials after Bob Hall at Democracy NC filed this complaint. Yet, even after some pretty amazing testimony, nothing came of those hearings.  Why not?

Southern Gothic

If federal prosecutors don't volunteer the information, we may never know if "The Lobbyist" was Linwood Mercer or not. He died in March 2002, under odd (some say unsavory) circumstances in a Las Vegas hotel room, on a conference trip. 

Folks who were around at the time say four or five of Black's legislative allies, along with some Jones St. bachelorettes, joined Mercer in Vegas via a private plane. But when he was discovered dead, the party apparently made a speedy return to Raleigh before word got out about Mercer's demise.

Even so, that story isn't why Mercer was the center of speculation on the House floor today. After three terms as a House member (1993-'98), he stayed close to Black as a lobbyist. Those who were here then say Black encouraged those seeking help to hire Mercer as their lobbyist, and many did.  People who remember him say he always worked under the radar, preferring to remain unseen and unobtrusive, but he was well known as an influential power broker for Speaker Black.

Seriously, though...

All the speculation about Linwood Mercer is nothing *but* speculation for now. And for the record, Mercer left behind a loving family and a legacy honored by his fellow lawmakers. 

With any luck, federal prosecutors will clear some things up at tomorrow's sentencing hearing.  But somehow, I'm not willing to bet on it - especially not if, as they've said, their investigation remains "ongoing."

Wednesday's sentencing hearing starts at 9am. I'll update here as soon as I can.

Scandal heads south

DC Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey (d/b/a Pamela Martin) gave most of Washington eyestrain yesterday.  LA Republican Sen David Vitter copped to being a customer after Palfrey posted years of her escort business's phone records online. 

(Back in March, Palfrey also took down a senior Bush administration official  - Deputy Sec. of State Randall "Shock and Awe" Tobias. Here's a recap.)

Anyway, one casual read-through turned up at least two NC cell numbers in Palfrey's files - one in Charlotte, one in Raleigh, both unlisted and unpublished. 

Yes, I called both, and no, you probably won't be surprised to hear that neither man who answered would identify himself. I'm working on tracking down the unlisted records, and will post more info when and if I get it.

For various legal and ethical reasons, I won't post the actual numbers here. But if you want help finding them, or if you think you might know who they could belong to, let me know.

And, sadly

Last but most certainly not least, Pulitzer-winning political cartoonist and native Tarheel Doug Marlette was killed this morning in an auto accident in Mississippi, where he had gone to work with high-schoolers staging the musical version of his comic strip, Kudzu. He was 57.

A Hillsborough resident, Marlette was also a critically acclaimed novelist and occasional First Amendment pundit.  You can find a synopsis of his work at his website (be patient - it's a little busy right now).  Marlette won a Pulitzer in 1988 for his work at the Char-O and the Atlanta J-C on Jim Bakker, Ollie North,  etc.  See it here. 

My sympathy goes out to his family, and to all of us who enjoyed his work, especially the schoolkids he was working with. 

Comments? Drop me a line.