Posted on 06/16/2006 10:17:16 AM PDT by freespirited
DURHAM -- The unfolding story of County Commissioner Lewis Cheek's potential write-in challenge to District Attorney Mike Nifong in November took a surreal twist Thursday when Nifong's campaign manager signed up to head up Cheek's bid to take his job.
Jackie Brown, who managed Nifong's primary win over two challengers just last month, set up a campaign committee for Cheek that plans a mass mailing to voters to get his name on the ballot.
"Women who behave rarely make history. We're getting ready to make history in Durham," said Brown, who claimed no campaign manager has ever won the same election for two candidates in the same year. "This has never happened."
Cheek, who says he was approached about running, said he hasn't made a firm decision to run yet, but needed to get the petition drive started to have a chance to appear on the ballot. His supporters have until noon June 30 to submit the signatures of 6,303 registered voters to make that happen.
"I'm still in the decision-making process," Cheek said, citing the need to weigh priorities including his law practice and his service as a county commissioner. He may not even decide by June 30.
"I haven't set any specific time frame for myself," he said.
Brown said Cheek, for whom she campaigned during his runs for City Council and the County Commissioners, approached her earlier this week about managing his potential campaign for Nifong's job. She accepted Wednesday.
"Durham has been the center of controversy for a long time and I believe it needs some leadership to take it in the right direction," Brown said. "Lewis is a leader; he's a gentleman."
While acknowledging, "We don't know everything Mr. Nifong knows," Brown said the Duke lacrosse rape case was a factor in her decision to help Cheek try to unseat the man she just helped elect.
"I don't see any progress made at this point," she said.
Claiming she was losing faith in Nifong "probably toward the end of the campaign," Brown denied her decision was influenced by a public disagreement the pair had after the election.
Brown was quoted in The Herald-Sun as saying that the Nifong campaign had written off some northern precincts in which one of his opponents, Keith Bishop, had strong support, but Nifong publicly disagreed, saying the campaign actually targeted those areas.
"I just let that roll off my back," Brown said. "Had a person looked at the results from the northern precincts, they would see I was telling the truth because we lost in virtually all those precincts."
Brown said she hasn't told Nifong she'll be working against him. She said she contacted him about 10 days ago, as rumors circulated about an unidentified possible write-in candidate, to ask if he would require her services and hasn't heard back. Nifong was unavailable for comment Thursday.
Barry Garner, Durham's deputy elections director, said Thursday that he supplied Brown, plus Cheek supporters former City Councilman Dan Hill and former Sheriff Roland Leary, with the names and addresses of the 37,530 or so voters who cast ballots in the last three elections.
Because of the looming deadline, Brown said the campaign plans to have mailers in just about 25,000 households, many of which contain more than one voter, by Wednesday. The mailing, basically a copy of the petition form, will request the signature of every voter in the home and for the form to be returned to the campaign.
"We will see if the voters feel the same way we do," Brown said.
A backup petition drive is also under way in the event the campaign misses the June 30 deadline. Signatures from 100 registered voters by Aug. 9 would be enough to have a space on the ballot for voters to write Cheek's name. Brown said that drive began on Wednesday afternoon and is almost complete.
Cheek said he's not worried Brown's switching sides might engulf his "fledgling campaign."
"Obviously, people can talk about anything they want to talk about," he said. "Any campaign I've ever been involved in has focused on the issues, not personalities."
If Cheek still sounds coy, Brown is already predicting an outcome.
"Believe me, we're going to win," she said. "Up to this point, I've never worked a campaign or managed a campaign that I've lost."
I guess he turned the other cheek............
Cheeky devil.
WOW...Nifong still not listening to reality..this might wake him up.
If I was the father of one of those boys, I would call a press conference, call for the immediate dropping of all charges, announce a defamation lawsuit and swear to my dying day that Nifong would be disbared and pay the price for ruining my sons reputation. Then challenge him to a duel.
Huge Ping!
Talk about things falling apart. Nifong contradicts his campaign manager publicly and unnecessarily. She writes to ask if he wants her services against a potential write-in candidate, and he doesn't bother to answer.
You can't say that this lady has deserted her candidate. He has foolishly thrown her away.
I like that quote she gave the reporter: "Durham has been the center of controversy for a long time and I believe it needs some leadership to take it in the right direction," Brown said. "Lewis is a leader; he's a gentleman."
Ha. What does that say about Nifong?
Reading between the lines his campaign manager is saying that she thinks he is FOS on the Duke case and bailing out.
The handwriting is on the wall. At least NiFong's CM read it........
Absolutely. I'm sure their lawyers are urging them against such a thing, but you can bet your bottom I would be doing it anyhow. I'm not in any way connected to the area/ the school/ the kids and my blood boils when I think about this case-- I can't imagine what it would be like if it were MY CHILD!!!!
ding ding ding, we have a winner!
AMEN!
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/gaynor/060613
This editorial says Nifong should be FROG-Marched, not Rove. Good read.
I would be quite pleased to see that idiot's career spiked, even if it's by another Democrat.
Ping
That's the kind of thinking, and action(s) I've been waiting for from Congress.
I can not believe how woosified 'our' politicians are.
When I was a kid ... hell, even as a grown man .. grabbing someone by the shirt and slamming them against a wall .. or even getting down and punchy .. usually cleared any misunderstandings up like .. in about a minute or two.
(I've slammed and have been slammed .. the technique works wonderfully well)
My TV is too expensive ... but if it wasn't ... the next " and my esteemed colleague on the other side of the aisle .. " would only anger me even more, because I would have to buy another TV.
The world is mad and our great United States is in the same danger as Rome was.
I hear you.
"Frog-marched"? They want him in the French Foreign Legion?
Gigged would be better IMHO!
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