In party blame game, pot calls kettle Black
By Paul O'Connor
Winston-Salem Journal
RALEIGH — Shortly after last month’s revelation that a lobbyist had “lent” former House Speaker Jim Black $500,000, the N.C. Republican Party issued a press release saying that things had hit an all-time low.
The message from the GOP was clear: This is a Democratic Party scandal.
That will be a campaign theme until November 2008, and if voters believe it, things will never get any better in state government. This scandal is neither Democratic nor Republican. It’s not just about Jim Black, nor the wider bunch of politicians and lobbyists mentioned in press accounts and indictments. It’s about the underlying ethos of political service in the state capital.
Winston-Salem Journal
RALEIGH — Shortly after last month’s revelation that a lobbyist had “lent” former House Speaker Jim Black $500,000, the N.C. Republican Party issued a press release saying that things had hit an all-time low.
The message from the GOP was clear: This is a Democratic Party scandal.
That will be a campaign theme until November 2008, and if voters believe it, things will never get any better in state government. This scandal is neither Democratic nor Republican. It’s not just about Jim Black, nor the wider bunch of politicians and lobbyists mentioned in press accounts and indictments. It’s about the underlying ethos of political service in the state capital.
posted by Andy W. Rogers | 10:48 PM
1 Comments:
At one time, the little game of scandal tennis played by the two factions of our single political party had a bit of entertainment value. Now it's just tiresome.
In Raleigh, as in Washington, the advent of the career politician has ensured two things:
Anything resembling democracy is a complete sham. We live in a functional oligarchy, albeit willingly, but an oligarchy nonetheless.
There will never be a shortage of unscrupulous people willing to line their pockets with the taxpayers' money.
A return to the small, part-time legislative bodies of the past along with a few public hangings is the only solution to the problem.
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