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Wednesday Round-up
posted at 2007-08-02 00:32 | Last modified 2007-11-14 10:38
I'm in Philadelphia for a few days at the annual conference of state political reporters. The best part every year is hearing the war stories from other states, confirming that no, NC's 170 lawmakers really aren't any nuttier than their counterparts elsewhere. In fact, they may just be slightly saner than most. (Hey, at least our folks don't beat each other up...physically, anyway.)
It's a tough time to be gone, though. End of session is always fertile ground for stories - gutted bills, last minute floor amendments, committee meetings around desks - you get the picture. I'm sad to be missing it (and I actually mean that, which may indicate a need for intervention).
Black hearing
How could you NOT talk about it? I did just that in an interview with WUNC's Eric Hodge at oh-dark-hundred this morning. If you missed it, it's here.
I wrote last night about Black's account of a 1997 conversation with former Representative Michael Decker. Charlotte's Jack Betts thought it was pretty amazing, too. Here's his blog post from this morning about the hearing.
And Greensboro's Mark Binker had something to add about all the legislators who *don't* make the headlines because they are *not* in fact crooked. I agree with Mark. Most of these folks are good, ethical people, and it's sad that they'll be the ones to pay for Black's mistakes.
Fallout
The N&O's Dome blog reported today that Don Beason's website is down. He was identified yesterday as the lobbyist that floated a half-million dollar loan to Jim Black in 2000, confirming the rumors I wrote about here. That's sad news to a lot of us in the press corps. Before all this, Don was a constant presence on Jones St. He used to join us for lunch pretty regularly, and I remember how kind and helpful he was to me when I first came to work in Raleigh.
Dome also reports former Speaker Harold Brubaker didn't take kindly to Black's tale about the wooing of former Iredell Republican Robert Brawley.
And more fallout?
Legislators appear to be on the brink of opening their ethics proceedings and those of the State Ethics Commission to public scrutiny. The House and Senate are in disagreement about the details, but both House Speaker Joe Hackney and Senate Pro Tem Marc Basnight are said to support the measure.
As far as we know (and that's the issue), the only legislator this might affect at the moment would be New Hanover Dem Thomas Wright, who's currently under investigation by the Joint Ethics Committee. But the proposal wouldn't take effect till October, by which time the Wright inquiry will probably be over.
Other issues
Legislators had a long day today. Here's some of what they worked on:
A proposal to limit the extent to which municipalities can restrict the location of new cell phone towers. The initial Senate bill was much tougher than the conference report they approved today. It's on its way to the Governor's desk.
Easley will also be receiving a measure allowing judges to carry a gun on the bench for self-protection. (Cue tumbleweeds here.) It won final approval today.
And the Senate passed a resolution apologizing for the state's role in the 1898 Wilmington Race Riots - the first legislative action, as far as know, acknowledging the only coup d'etat in the nation's history.
They're hoping to wrap things up just after midnight tomorrow night/Friday morning. More here as I get it.
Comments? Drop me a line.
