[abb]

http://www.newsobserver.com/138/story/497620.html

Durham's no-choice election

Ruth Sheehan, Staff Writer
There's an old Soviet Union joke that goes like this: Former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev approaches a man carrying a watermelon and asks for the melon.

"Which one?" the man replies.

"How can I choose if you have only one?" Brezhnev asks.

"The same way I chose you," the man says.

Ba dum bum!

I know, I know. Those Russkies aren't exactly causing Jon Stewart to lose any sleep.

But the old Soviet predicament of having few real choices is one that Durham voters might relate to these days.

Next month, Durham voters choose between the following:

* The sitting district attorney, Mike Nifong, who won a tight primary in a Democratic town just as criticism of his handling of the Duke lacrosse mess was starting to heat up.

* County Commissioner Lewis Cheek, a fellow Democrat whose supporters gathered a mountain of petitions to get him on the ballot -- but who later announced that, if elected, he would not serve. Cheek is endorsed by the Anybody But Nifong and Recall Nifong-Vote Cheek campaigns, which recommend electing Cheek and letting the governor pick his stand-in.

* Write-in candidate and local Republican Party Chairman Steve Monks, who would do everyone a favor by quitting his campaign, which is destined to further muddle an already murky situation. Sure to siphon off some of the "anybody-but" vote, Monks' biggest secret supporter might be Nifong.

What a choice. Or should I say, nonchoice?

No doubt all of us have had moments of holding our nose while voting for a candidate, or boycotting a particular race on principle.

But Durham's quandary illustrates why "none of the above" has become increasingly attractive in electoral politics in recent years.

In Oregon, "none of the above" actually made it onto the ballot as a referendum item for judicial elections. (It was ultimately defeated.)

And in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet states, "none of the above" has become a force unto itself -- coming in second or third in several races. In fact, it has become such a force that the Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, voted this year to remove it.

But Durham's quandary is different. It's one thing to elect "none of the above," requiring a whole new election in six months (which is the way the proposed system for judicial elections in Oregon would have worked).

It is quite another to vote for Anybody But Nifong and trust Gov. Mike Easley to read the tea leaves and appoint just the right person to fill Nifong's shoes and "do the right thing" with regard to the lacrosse case.

And, oh yeah, to also take care of the thousands of other cases that the Durham DA's office handles each year.

It is easy to forget about those when you live in Raleigh or New York or California.

Ironically, a goodly number of the people who have been critical of Nifong, including me, don't live -- or vote -- in the People's Republic of Durham.

This election is in the hands of voters whose town has been sorely misrepresented in the national media.

The question is: Which watermelon will they choose?
Ruth Sheehan can be reached at 829-4828 or rsheehan@newsobserver.com.

[abb]

http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/gaynor/061011
With Collin out of the attic, Nifong soon will be out of office

[pepperhead]

The question is: Which watermelon will they choose?

Well since one of the melons is clearly more rotten than the others, maybe Ruthie and her paper should tell them which one they shouldn't choose. A rebuke of Nifong or a front page endorsement for one of the other two candidates could go a long way in righting the wrongs they did to these kids. It's time for the media of Durham to stand up for what is right and tell the citizens of Durham that Nifong is unfit to be the DA of Durham.

[Locomotive Breath]

There's an old story, maybe true, about a visit Nikita Kruschev made to North Carolina. The then Governor began berating Kruschev about the Soviet Union's one party system. Kruschev is reported to have answered back that the Governor could keep quiet until North Carolina got rid of its own one party system. Still true today in much of the state, including Durham.

[JLS]

It is quite another to vote for Anybody But Nifong and trust Gov. Mike Easley to read the tea leaves and appoint just the right person to fill Nifong's shoes and "do the right thing" with regard to the lacrosse case.

I know newspaper columnists don't have to be particularly smart, but Ruth Sheehan is possibly the dumbest newspaper person I have ever read.

The WHOLE POINT of this case is that it does NOT take just the right person to fill Nifong's shoes. Any competent person who would not continue a prosecution of innocent people for political gain will do. It is that Nifong is willing to put people through this for his own self-interest and has failed to act as a "minister of justice" that requires he be replaced.

Is Sheehan really this slow?

[jennyd]

A joke in a Soviet Union that goes like this? Who is Ruth kidding? Soviet Union was not a democracy like US. Brezhnev was not elected by the people. He was the leader of the communist party. Why in the world would old Soviet Union joke claim what Ruth says it does?
Ridiculous comparison that makes no sense to me at all.

[Jezebelle]

Well, black Durhamites got Durham into this predicament. Nifong made fools of them or, more accurately, provided them with the perfect storm in which they could show what dumbass fools they are. It's up to them to get Durham out of it. They can accomplish this by either staying home on election day or voting for Cheek and taking Easley's potluck.