Posted on 07/28/2006 4:52:22 AM PDT by abb
That is what I think too.
abb, I certainly could believe the scared out of running if we were talking about an outsider like Monks. But Cheek can not afford to be scared off by anyone there. He lives there. He is an office holder there. He could be bought off, ie the deal, but scared, I doubt it. BTW, a guy scared off from running does not say at his press conference that he still plans to vote for himself.
jennyd, Of course Cheek did not want to run and certainly Occum's razor suggest that ultimately deciding not to run for his own reason is an explannation to consider seriously. That is the reason Occum's razor says to accept just looking at the Cheek press conference. But if you combine the Cheek press conference with the story in the paper about the change in how the case will be handled, then Occum's razor says a deal is at least as likely the explannation as coincidence.
You can be killed or beaten up if you lived in Durham all your life, or not.
You can be killed or beaten up no matter where you have lived. On the other hand, if you are an elected official in a particular place you have learned how to live and prosper there. You are not going to be physically threatened off running for another office.
Your arguments are certainly plausible. But a "threat" could take some other form than physical. He may have skeletons in the closet, etc. Again, merely theories on my part.
As for the deal theory, that is certainly possible - nothing would surprise me. One thing to consider is that a "deal" "could" be construed as obstruction or bribery, and would therefore entail some exposure to new risk for Cheek or Nifong. Of course Nifong may be thinking, in for a penny, in for a pound.
But one thing is for sure. The local DriveBy Media sure ain't asking enough questions...
You just might, especially if you never really wanted to run for that office in a first place.
Don't you know that attorneys are basically exempt from the bribery laws? Certainly attorneys discuss settling difference often including cash changing hands all the time.
You are right, I took the harm to be physical harm, but similarly if a problem about an office holder has gotten out, he knows that it is out of the bag and can not be put back in. If this were the case, Cheek would be finished. He could not run for office again. He would soon be worthless to any clients.
Another aspect of this is this deal being in the works makes Nifong a liar yet again in his press conference. He is saying this case is a Durham problem that needs a Durham solution at the same time he is negotiating to remove the case from a 100% Durham solution.
This is also setting the table for anyone who might be running against him to campaign on Nifong treating the accused lacrosse players differently than other defendants. I think Nifong would make such a move continent on not having opposition that could campaign against him based on this special treatment.
He may not have any choice on the venue change for presiding judge. He can be "gotten to" if enough supreme court/attorney general types mash on him. Don't forget, Cheshire's law credential go back FIVE generations. You don't survive and prosper that long in the legal profession without knowing some connections...
No. 1 sounds by far the most plausible. Cheek wanted to keep Monks off the ballot and help Nifong.
Seems she/he has a personal issue here.
Well, if it seems that way, it seems wrong.
Yep.
Good point. There's way too much that's happened in this case for coincidence...
Unrelated:
http://www.wral.com/news/9598407/detail.html#
Former Deputy Arrested In Cumberland Prostitution Sting
POSTED: 1:52 pm EDT July 30, 2006
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http://www.stewartforsheriff.com/
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