 |
| District Attorney Dist 14 | |||||
| Candidate | Votes | Percent | Winner | ||
| Mike Nifong (i) (D) | 24,805 | 49% |  |
||
| Lewis Cheek (I) | 20,189 | 40% | |
||
| Steve Monks | 6,050 | 12% | |
||
|
|||||
| District Attorney Dist 15B | |||||
| Candidate | Votes | Percent | Winner | ||
| Jim Woodall (i) (D) | 0 | 0% | |
||
|
|||||
Posted on 11/07/2006 4:01:12 PM PST by Howlin
Monks has always been a Nifong plant...
I shouldn't be so harsh---How do you vote for someone who says they won't take the job? It's just one screwy place!
Monks should be ashamed of what he's done.
I don't think Monks or Nifong have any shame.
Is that a high or low turnout?
|
| District Attorney Dist 14 | |||||
| Candidate | Votes | Percent | Winner | ||
| Mike Nifong (i) (D) | 24,805 | 49% | |
||
| Lewis Cheek (I) | 20,189 | 40% | |
||
| Steve Monks | 6,050 | 12% | |
||
|
|||||
| District Attorney Dist 15B | |||||
| Candidate | Votes | Percent | Winner | ||
| Jim Woodall (i) (D) | 0 | 0% | |
||
|
|||||
Stupid.
Posted by a poster at Talk Left, and reposted elsewhere, but still worth repeating :
"Would you rather be in Joe Cheshire's shoes tonight, or in Mike Nifong's. . .?"
At least Drudge has a link tonight up to the story about the security guard at the Palladium saying that the AV wanted money.
I think so too. Mission accomplished, I guess.
100% OF PRECINCTS REPORTING
Mike Nifong (D) 26,116 49%
Lewis Cheek (Ind) 20,875 39%
Steve Monk (R) 6,193 12%
Just a guess on my part, but I'll bet the fact that he got less than 50% of the total nags at him.
KC doesn't think too highly of that duplicitous backstabber either -
http://durhamwonderland.blogspot.com/2006/11/thank-you-steve-monks.html
[snip]
Monks and advisors Charlotte Woods and Cliff Brandt deserve the strongest possible censure; they can spend the next several months, or at least until the entire case comes crashing down, knowing that their actions helped the county's "minister of injustice" to slip through.
[end excerpt]
Nifong wins re-election
By John Stevenson, The Herald-Sun
November 8, 2006 1:00 am
DURHAM -- District Attorney Mike Nifong won re-election Tuesday by sweeping more than twice as many precincts as challenger Lewis Cheek.
But the victory was tempered by the fact that more voters cast ballots against him than in his favor in a hard-fought three-way race.
Nifong overcame deep dissatisfaction among many Durham residents with his handling of the Duke lacrosse rape case to win a four-year term as Durham's chief prosecutor.
He won in 38 precincts. Cheek, a county commissioner, took 17. Write-in challenger Steve Monks did not win any precincts.
Nifong's biggest pool of support was in the black community. He did not lose in any majority black precinct. In the eight precincts where more than 90 percent of the electorate is black, Nifong won by double-digit margins in every one, with the spread as wide as 29-1 at the James E. Shepard Magnet School polling place.
By contrast, Cheek's largest margin was nearly 3-1 at the Cole Mill Road Church of Christ. Most of his other precinct wins were roughly 2-1 victories, with others much closer.
Nifong garnered 26,116 votes -- or 49.1 percent of the total ballots cast -- in an election that many viewed as a referendum on the highly publicized, controversial lacrosse incident.
Write-ins -- Monks, chairman of the local Republican Party, likely dominant among them -- pulled 6,193 ballots, or 11.6 percent of the total.
Because enough voters petitioned that it be placed there, Cheek's name was on the ballot even though he didn't want the job. He received 20,875 votes.
If Cheek had won, Gov. Mike Easley would have appointed someone to replace him.
The Cheek campaign was officially billed as a "recall-Nifong" movement.
"People might not believe me, but for me personally, there was a lot to be said for not winning this race -- having a life and such as that," Nifong said as yellow-shirted supporters thronged around him and chanted his name at the county office building Tuesday night.
"This job has lost a lot of its appeal, not just for me but for anybody who might want to be DA," he added, citing intense national scrutiny of the lacrosse case.
Still, Nifong said it would have been bad for Durham if voters had ousted him.
"I'm glad it's over," Nifong said of the hard-fought election. "I will go back to work tomorrow and start moving forward."
Asked about the fact that he didn't obtain a majority of votes cast, Nifong said he "would have preferred to have 100 percent. If you can't have a landslide, you want a majority. If you can't have a majority, you want what you get. But if 99 percent of the people had voted for me, I'd still do what I'm doing. I can't let the voters decide what is the right thing to do. I just have to do the right thing."
Despite persistent rumors that he might retire after two years, Nifong vowed Tuesday night to serve his full four-term and possibly run for another.
Cheek said he was "always disappointed when I don't win something. I've lived my life trying to win. But I do know and understand you don't always win in life."
In a clear reference to the lacrosse case, Cheek said he hoped the election sent a message to the community -- and particularly to Nifong -- that "we need to be sensitive to the rights of people. We need not to prejudge."
Cheek said there was no chance he would run for district attorney again -- "absolutely not."
"I never intended to run for DA," he added. "I didn't run this time. You can scratch that one off the list."
Monks said a clear message emerged from Tuesday's election: "If you want change at the ballot box, you need to get off your duff. This made quite clear that the Republican Party needs to be better organized in Durham. I hope this motivates Republicans to get more involved."
Monks also denied allegations that he was a "spoiler" in the district attorney contest.
"That comment is as misguided as the campaign they [Cheek supporters] initiated, which put greater trust in the governor than it did in the voters," he said. "It was a critical mistake not to trust the voters."
Nifong's win will give him his first full term as Durham's chief prosecutor. He has been an assistant district attorney here for 27 years but didn't move into the top slot until the spring of 2005, when he received a gubernatorial appointment after his predecessor -- Jim Hardin Jr. -- became a judge.
URL for this article: http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-786125.html
Win doesn't reflect doubts of many voters
By Ray Gronberg, The Herald-Sun
November 8, 2006 12:59 am
DURHAM -- Mike Nifong's victory Tuesday in the Durham district attorney race came despite broad doubts among voters about his handling of the Duke lacrosse rape case, according to Herald-Sun interviews with people who had cast ballots.
The informal exit polling found that nearly two-thirds of those voters believed Nifong has mishandled the case, which turned a race normally settled in May's party primary into a three-way shootout.
Meanwhile, there was little indication that a get-out-the-vote effort among anti-Nifong Duke students produced significant results at the polls.
Though Duke vans hauled students to two precincts near campus, the precincts' turnout was far below the countywide average of 38.5 percent.
Watts School -- barely two blocks from where the alleged attack occurred in March near East Campus -- had a 23.5 percent turnout, and saw Nifong lead the three-man field.
At Patterson Recreation Center near West Campus, challenger Lewis Cheek led the field but turnout was just 18 percent.
Many who did vote said they were casting ballots against incumbent Nifong and for Cheek, who said he would step aside if elected and let Gov. Mike Easley select a new chief prosecutor.
"The case has been handled incredibly poorly," said Duke senior Robert Hughes, a first-time-in-Durham and Watts School voter who said he registered here instead of back home in South Carolina at the request of a friend on the lacrosse team.
"The job of the DA is to promote justice, not to solely protect the underprivileged,"
Hughes said, referring to the exotic dancer and single mother who said the Duke players gang-raped her.
In the end, enough voters disagreed with that sentiment to carry Nifong to victory.
Final but unofficial figures show he captured about 49 percent of the vote to fellow Democrat Cheek's 39 percent. Write-ins -- likely dominated by declared write-in candidate Steve Monks -- won about 12 percent.
Of the more than 70 people interviewed by The Herald-Sun, about 60 percent said the lacrosse case had not changed their views about the fairness of the criminal-justice system, and another 15 percent had a better opinion of the system because of the case.
"It was really good that the DA's first impulse was believe the accuser," said Jeanette Stokes, a MoveOn.org volunteer and Nifong supporter who voted at the Durham School of the Arts.
"Whether it turns out she was telling the truth or not, 30 years ago, nobody would have believed her," Stokes said. "It shows the effects of women's and rape-crisis groups to have a different understanding that people who say they've been assaulted may actually have been assaulted."
The rain came down steadily throughout the day, but judges in several precincts reported a stronger-than-usual turnout for an off-year election. So did Board of Elections Director Mike Ashe, who said he was surprised by the numbers reported to him as the balloting unfolded.
The final turnout figure was about 38.5 perecent, slightly below the historical average for similar elections without a presidential, gubernatorial or U.S. senatorial race topping the ballot.
Ashe said the day's one snag occurred at the River Church precinct on Holt School Road, when a worker from the church failed to show up to unlock the building in time for the polls to open at 6:30 a.m. About 100 people were waiting to vote. Twenty of them headed instead to the Board of Elections office on Corporation Street to cast ballots.
The church got the doors open by 7:20 a.m., and if it hadn't, elections workers were ready to set up shop in the congregation's parking lot, Ashe said. The delayed opening was, nonetheless, the fault of his office, he said.
Officials decided to compensate by keeping the River Church precinct open until 8:30 p.m., an hour later than normal. Ashe said the move followed a unanimous vote by the local Board of Elections and consultations with the state Board of Elections in Raleigh.
At the Miller-Morgan Building on the campus of N.C. Central University, roughly 40 voters had cast ballots by about 10 a.m. Still, an election worker said that wasn't bad for a precinct that saw only 64 of 1,934 registered voters show up for the May primary.
While located at NCCU, the Miller-Morgan precinct doesn't only serve students. But junior Brandon James still was wondering where the rest of his classmates were.
"They just don't understand how serious it is," the political science major from Charlotte said.
Staff writers BriAnne Dopart, Kelly Hinchcliffe, John McCann, Tara McLaughlin, Bill Stagg and John Stevenson contributed to this story.
URL for this article: http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-786124.html
http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/hsletters/
Pay off lacrosse case?
A great deal of senseless and bombastic rhetoric about the Duke lacrosse scandal seems to be going nowhere. Finger-pointing and hate mail are not contributing to progress in the case or to a resolution of the issues. Very recently, some ideas have been bruited about that seem worthy of bringing the various factions into alignment.
We begin with the notion that a trial is unnecessary because it's not in the interest of any parties concerned. If all charges are dropped, the prosecution, the indicted students at Duke and the Durham community would all heave a sigh of relief. Is that outcome worth $3 million? Half would go to the complainant and half to the attorneys. Obviously, it would take some effort to raise the money, but given the benefits, it is a small price to pay for the solution of this painful affair.
JOE DIBONA
November 8, 2006
Non-suspects in lineup
I would like to submit an answer to Gary Friedman's question in his letter of Oct. 26, "Has the DA ever before not included non-suspects in a photo line-up? If so, when?"
Not all 46 lacrosse players were at the party. Those not at the party would not be suspects. Therefore, non-suspects were included in the line-up. If the defendant had picked someone not at the party, that would be a wrong answer for her.
NORMA CONE
November 8, 2006
Shame on CBS
The thoughtful piece by Amanda Smith [Herald-Sun, Nov. 1] made me recall my reaction to the recent CBS segment: "Shame on CBS."
I did not need to watch "60 Minutes" to know that wealth; power and influence were at work. Clearly, the adage is true, "one gets the defense one pays for."
At a time when there has been a great deal of public recognition that rape is a crime of power; that rape leaves victims traumatized, in shock and eventually with feelings of shame, how dare CBS promote the defense of the accused prior to trial! In the decision to move forward with this segment, apparently no consideration was given to the plight of the powerless victim.
Shame on CBS! This was a blatant display of submitting to power and influence. This issue should be decided in the courts.
ANNETTE MONTGOMERY
November 8, 2006
Lacrosse case through the lens of history
It took courage for Mike Nifong to charge privileged white men with rape of a black woman. A strong, black presence enabled his action. Black people my age, north of 75 years, recall few situations when white men were held accountable for violation of black women. It was often the violated black woman who left town, never to return. Black men accused of raping a white woman were often beaten and sometimes lynched before reaching the jailhouse. The word of the white witness was often stronger than fact, law and reason when the alleged aggressor was a black man. The memory of past experiences and present reality causes some people to hope that the accused lacrosse players will be treated as black men have been and would likely be treated by the legal system. Others want to fire the district attorney and run the accused out of town. The community should reflect on ways the legacy of racially tainted justice has created different memories. I hope the call for accountability will be tempered by wisdom and fairness rather than a reach toward retribution for generations of unequal treatment and neglect of the rights of black citizens. Notwithstanding judgment by Fox and CBS, let us see and hear the evidence in a court of law.
JOHN HATCH
Durham
November 7, 2006
http://www.newsobserver.com/100/story/507805.html
Nifong fends off two challengers
Benjamin Niolet, Anne Blythe and Michael Biesecker, Staff Writers
DURHAM - Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong on Tuesday won a bitter political battle over his handling of the Duke University lacrosse rape case. He next must fight the case in a courtroom.
With all but provisional ballots counted, Nifong, a Democrat, had 49 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results. County Commissioner Lewis Cheek, who lent his name to an effort to unseat Nifong through gubernatorial appointment, received 39 percent. Write-in ballots accounted for about 12 percent of the vote, and it was unclear how many of those went to lawyer Steve Monks, the only official write-in candidate.
As in the primary, when Nifong also had two challengers, he won the election without a majority of the votes. On Tuesday, whoever had the most votes was the winner; there will be no runoff.
Nifong said that the fact that he didn't get a majority of the vote would not change anything for him.
"What decides what I'm doing is what I think is the right thing to do," Nifong said. "I'm not somebody who rules by referendum."
Throughout Durham on Tuesday, voters said they cast their ballots on strong opinions about Nifong and the case.
Beverly Meek, 56, and her husband, Dennis Meek, 57, work for Duke and voted Tuesday evening for Nifong. Both are Democrats.
"I think that he's doing his job," she said. "I think he's just following the law."
Nifong's win sets the stage for a war in the courtroom. The lacrosse defense team is a formidable collection of lawyers, and they are likely to soon clash with Nifong over issues such as a controversial lineup procedure in which the accuser picked out the three indicted lacrosse players. Nifong plans to continue the case.
"This case should be decided by a Durham County jury," he said Tuesday.
His opponents in the political fight were unready to surrender.
"I hope the North Carolina State Bar will do what the Durham citizens could not," said Beth Brewer, spokeswoman for the leading anti-Nifong group.
Robb Myers, 31, voted for Lewis Cheek Tuesday, saying he's frustrated with Nifong's handling of the Duke lacrosse case.
"Basically everyone in the country thinks it's a joke and thinks Durham's a joke," said Myers, a Republican.
In the few campaign mailings or appearances Nifong put forward, he tried to emphasize the many duties and responsibilities a district attorney must discharge in a four-year term. But the lacrosse case and Nifong's behavior have always been at issue.
When news of the investigation into rape allegations at a March lacrosse team party became public, Nifong began a blitz of news interviews denouncing the lacrosse team and promising to prosecute harshly.
Nifong ended his media interviews about the facts of the case when players were indicted.
After Nifong won the primary, attorneys for the lacrosse players and news reports turned up the pressure on Nifong, highlighting weaknesses and problems in the prosecutor's case. That's when separate petitions began circulating in Durham to get Cheek and Monks a place on the ballot.
Cheek, a Durham Democratic stalwart and civil lawyer, announced that he would not take the job. A committee campaigned against Nifong, using Cheek's name as a placeholder. On Tuesday, unindicted lacrosse players, their parents and girlfriends and other Nifong critics gathered at the county commissioners' chambers to watch the results.
As the election neared, Monks' and Cheek's supporters accused one another of keeping the other from winning, and they argued over who should quit. On Tuesday, Cheek's backers said that Monks kept Cheek from winning.
"We've told him for weeks that he could end up being the one that spoiled it, and he was," said Brewer, the anti-Nifong spokeswoman.
Monks said Tuesday that the people who voted for him wanted to vote for an actual candidate.
"If they hadn't voted for me they would have voted for Nifong," Monks said. "I know that's the case because I talked to them."
Nifong*49.1%
(26,116)
Cheek39.3%
(20,875)
Write-in11.6%
(6,193)
100% PRECINCTS REPORTING
*INCUMBENT
Staff writer Benjamin Niolet can be reached at 919-956-2404 or bniolet@newsobserver.com.
Not surprised. Marion Berry and Ray Nagin both got re-elected.
I hope this motivates republicans throw his ass out of the party.
Anybody know how and when Robert Sirleaf, the son of the Liberian president, became affiliated with Wachovia (which has its Capital Markets subsidiary HQ in Charlotte)?
And his mother (the President of Liberia) naturally came to Charlotte when she was in the US :
http://www.thewhitehouseproject.org/v2/audio/EllenJohnson-Sirleaf.html
"Pres. Johnson-Sirleaf is also expected yesterday to travels to Charlotte, North Carolina, to attend a private fund-raising dinner for the Liberia Educational Trust (LET)."
http://www.analystliberia.com/ellen_arrives_in_the_usa_oct18.html
"The event sponsored by one of America’s leading banking institutions, Wachovia (WA-KO-VIA) Corporation, is intended to raise funds for education in Liberia. The goal of the Liberian Educational Trust, among other objectives, is to build and renovate 50 schools; train 500 teachers; and award 5,000 scholarships to girls."
Nothing suspicious or unusual.
Except for the activities of Brian Taylor, and the fact that he is the stepson of the Liberian Internal Affairs minister Ambulai Johnson (and with relatives like that, why is he driving a woman to an appointment to strip?)
Is Ambulai Johnson related to Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson, the president?
If so, or even if not, did Brian Taylor get to meet the President when she came to Charlotte?
Is he in regular contact with his father?
Does his father have as part of his job the repression of the narcotics trade? (He has come out in support of female genitle mutilation, but that's all I can find out about him) Maybe not.
Maybe Robert Sirleaf is an extraordinary individual whose merit alone catipulted him to the heights of the financial world. And maybe it does him a great disservice to suggest otherwise.
But West Africa is West Africa, and their politicians are almost as bad as ours. And banks are banks.
Questions. . . questions. . .(and maybe this is just barking up the wrong tree, and a completely dead end. . .)
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