And after Nifon't sorry ass is out, set your sights on the Durham police chief and his drunken racist "investigators."
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That's what I'm talking about!
Oh, the smell. (editorial) News & Observer, The (Raleigh, NC) November 3, 2005.
North Carolina's lottery - even the mention of it these days brings the inevitable question: What now? The process of passing the lottery, the early embarrassments in its setup, the influence brought to bear by one company that wants to run it -- everything about it just stinks. The ink is barely dry on the lottery law, and already the odor is akin to a herd of skunks hit by a truck carrying a load of blue cheese. Good grief.
It's enough to make it perfectly clear what Governor Easley's course now should be. He should call a special session of the General Assembly, immediately, to address issues surrounding the lottery -- perhaps even to rescind the legislation authorizing it and to consider the matter afresh. This would be in light of a series of disclosures about how Scientific Games, a company that operates lotteries, pushed for passage of the lottery by currying favor with legislative leaders. It also would be worthwhile to look at any efforts by other lottery companies to influence lawmakers. Certainly they invested in lobbying as well.
Paid to communicate
The latest, and only the latest, troubling disclosure involves Kevin Geddings, a Charlotte public relations executive appointed to the commission overseeing the lottery by House Speaker Jim Black. Geddings had past business ties to Alan Middleton, a vice president of Scientific Games, a company that wants to bid for a multimillion-dollar contract to run the new state lottery. Now, as reported yesterday by The News & Observer's J. Andrew Curliss and Dan Kane, it turns out that Geddings was paid over $24,000 by Scientific Games this year for communications consulting.
This included $9,500 paid to him the day after Black appointed him to the commission. (Easley, Black and Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight appointed commissioners.)
Geddings -- who had vowed he would never quit the commission -- did just that on Tuesday, hours before the company disclosed his payments in a filing with North Carolina's Secretary of State's office. The commission's chairman, former Glaxo head Dr. Charles Sanders, says he was surprised by the revelations and felt that Geddings had misled him.
Middleton worked feverishly to push the lottery when it was under consideration. He even retained Meredith Norris, an unpaid key political aide to Black and professional lobbyist, to keep the company posted on the lottery's progress. Middleton said, however, that Norris was not lobbying for his company. The Secretary of State is looking into whether by not registering as a lobbyist for the company, Norris violated state regulations.
Story in records
Alarming, even outrageous, facts keep coming to light about the lottery's route to passage and the aftermath. For instance, this newspaper disclosed that Middleton engineered language in the lottery law that was intended to benefit his company. And as The N&O reported yesterday, records show that Norris, not registered as a lobbyist for Scientific Games and then still Black's political adviser, was reimbursed more than $3,800 by the company for numerous fancy dinners involving legislative leaders between April and August at upscale restaurants. Black was the chief recipient listed in the company's report: He got 10 meals.
Scientific Games, clearly trying to stay in the hunt for the lottery business and vowing to be transparent in its dealings, said in its reports that it couldn't find "clear guidelines" in state law that would show Norris was actually a lobbyist. This speaks to the infamous "goodwill" loophole in lobbying regulation, which lawmakers now have closed -- effective in 2007. (Goodwill expenditures, said to be entertainment expenses not for the purpose of specific lobbying, would have to be reported.)
In any case, legislators who bellied up to the Scientific Games table ought to be ashamed of themselves. Did they honestly believe the company was wining and dining them because of their sparkling personalities?
And of course, it worked.** The legislature passed the lottery, barely, giving Easley a long-sought victory** that now looks to have tarnished legislative leaders' reputations and embarrassed the governor as well.
The News & Observer's editorial position has been dead set against the lottery for many years. But what's going on now isn't so much about the virtues of having a lottery or not having one. It's about the aura of sleaze that quickly has come to surround it.
A special session, lasting a week or so, should reconsider the lottery in light of what's now known about the circumstances of its passage. That also should be enough time to move up the date, to right now, when "goodwill" lobbying disclosures are required. Goodness knows, no pun intended, action on both counts is needed.
"Pinging" you to the Duke thread.
Nifong and Chalmers are only the tip of the iceberg in my opinion. Baker and most of the city council need to be taken out as well. The corruption is so deeply ingrained in the political and judicial structure that it make take 20 years to correct unless something more extreme than elections can be done. A justice dept investigation is definitely in order in this place.