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All Muck is Local: North Carolina
Former Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA) used to cut seedy political deals over well-done steak at the posh Capital Grille. Jim Black had to settle for the bathroom at the local IHOP.
Black, a former Democrat in the North Carolina state legislature, was sentenced to five years in prison this week. (You can read the sentencing memorandum here.) Black admitted last February that he accepted bribes from three local chiropractors sometime between 2000 and 2002 in exchange for bringing chiropractor-friendly legislation to the floor.
But the real intrigue began in 2002, when state Republicans regained control of the House by a razor-thin 61-59 margin. Black, then Speaker at the time, had no plans to hand over the job. Enter the International House of Pancakes and long-time state Republican Michael Decker. Meeting in the restroom of the chain made famous for providing 24-hour access to flapjacks, Black struck a quick deal. In exchange for $50,000 and some party perks, Decker would switch affiliations and support Black in his bid for Speaker. Decker declared his newfound transformation into a Democrat, pocketed his $50,000 in cash and campaign contributions ad Black landed a job as co-speaker. Keep in mind that these charges did not come up in his criminal case, but he has admitted in civil court to paying Decker to switch parties.
It was this deal that cleared the way for Black’s chiropractor agenda (interestingly enough, at least one of the chiropractors also bribed Black while in a public restroom). But Black’s corruption doesn’t stop there.
Even though the 72-year old Democrat pleaded guilty to accepting bribes, he didn't roll over when faced with a harsh prison sentence. When Fletcher Keith, one of the chiropractors in question, was sent a grand jury subpoena, Black suddenly developed a sore shoulder. While Keith treated the injury, Black suggested that Keith tell the grand jury that the cash payments were simply “a little bit of money to help [Black] with expenses along the road while [Black] was out running around the country.” And when caught telling one of the bribers to lie about the nature of a contested $4,000 personal check, Black argued that his meddling was not obstruction of justice because the check wasn’t a bribe anyway (it was).
In the end, Black had a tough time finding leniency from the judge. His arguments for sentence reduction were not terribly convincing; Black claimed he had been honest for the first 70 years of his life (during the investigation it was uncovered that Black had violated campaign finance rules multiple times earlier in his career) and was too physically fragile (Black is an avid golfer and is in comparably good shape for his age). Of course, Black also asked for a sentence reduction because of his years of public service. For some reason, the judge didn't bite on that one either.
All Muck is Local Honorable Mention: It was a particularly mucky week, especially for stories involving public restrooms. But we wanted to make a special mention of Former Newark Mayor Sharpe James. James narrowly avoided corruption allegations through the nineties, but has just recently been indicted for abusing city credit cards while in office. We'll be keeping an eye on the upcoming trial.
Josh
Zachary
Not more water sports?
July 15, 2007 1:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm from North Carolina, and this is a cringeworthy story. Speaker Black is a stain on the state Democratic Party. He also tried to push through legislation to require every child to have an eye exam by an optometrist before starting school. sounds well and good, but just guess what he did for a living before becoming a corrupt pol...yes boys and girls, he was an optometrist.
I do think, though, that there is a case to be made fur lopsided prosecution on behalf of the local US Attorney, given that everybody that gets investigated and indicted seems to be a "D"
July 15, 2007 1:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
In AZ, some legislators went to jail for bribes of between $500-$1500 to promote legislations supporting gambling!
July 15, 2007 2:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tried to pass? It DID pass. It was only reversed by later legislative action after Black's corruption broke into the news.
Not to excuse the Dem sleaze that has been on display in the Black story, but I too am waiting for the news stories examining the GOP domination of federal prosecutorial and judicial ranks in N.C. and the role that has played in recent graft prosecutions.
When the production includes characters with names like Holding (the prosecutor) and Boyle (the judge), you know the entire cast is keenly aware of the backstory. Most of the audience hasn't been clued in.
July 15, 2007 2:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
So what we have here is a Black & Decker scandal.
July 15, 2007 3:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
So what we have here is a Black & Decker scandal.
July 15, 2007 3:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Besides all the general sleazy outrages committed by Cunningham, it's outrageous beyond measure to cook a good steak to well-done!
July 15, 2007 3:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Before you take a look at Sharpe James you should take a good look at the US Attorney prosecuting the case. Christopher J. Christie is a dream come true for Karl Rove. He prosecutes Democrats and extracts money from others for not prosecuting them. Some of that money goes to Seaton Hall, his alma mater.
Sharpe James, an influential black Democrat, is charged with 33 bad deeds totaling 58.000 Dollars after serving 20 years as mayor of Newark. Even if Christie can make all 33 charges stick, that amounts to illegal gains of 7 Dollars and 94 cents per day for Sharpe James.
If Mr. Christie spends only 6 minutes a day on personal business on an internet site during his workday (and I am not speculating where he might surf) he costs the American taxpayer that much money in wasted time.
The message Christie is trying to send to black voters is simple: De man is gonna git ya and take you down.
July 15, 2007 4:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
JohnW ---
Hahahahaha!!!! Very funny! A Black & Decker scandal.
What's even funnier to me is that I could read the whole article, focusing on the acts of corruption and the relationship of the parties involved and still not see the obvious "Black & Decker" joke, which you were kind enough to point out to us.
The locals must be yucking it up at neighborhood hardware stores.
July 15, 2007 4:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
N.C. is just dirty...lots of smart progressives to keep them from being Texas. A Dem. in N.C. has to prove they are honest as well as repubs.I thought when the Duke scandal broke , everybody in the story was probably guilty of something. As it turns out only the Duke students were innocent...Right.
July 15, 2007 4:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
what happened to Decker? Did he go back to being a Republican? He should have been prosecuted too.
I'm not forgetting the influence from the attorney purges on these prosecutions and no one should either.
Thats not to say I condone bribery, but like the woman in Wisconsin, some of these could be inflated,and over zealous, just like Karl and Kompany want.
July 15, 2007 5:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Decker's going to prison too -- four years -- for accepting a $50,000 from Black to switch parties and help Black remain in power.
July 15, 2007 5:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Note to Georgia Democrat:
I live in Newark. You are right on most of your points. Yep, Chris Christie is a politically ambitious prosecutor deeply connected with the Republican party. Yep, he often prosecutes Democratic politicians. He gets a few Republicans every now and then, such as Jim Treffinger, the former executive of Essex County. (FWIW, Newark is in Essex.) But I wouldn't be surprised if he targets Ds more often than Rs. And you are also right that the charges against Sharpe James are over ludicrously small matters. And to strengthen your case further, James was a relatively effective mayor. At least in my humble opinion. I voted for him twice.
All this being said, you are still wrong on the main issue. James was corrupt as hell, from day one. So was his predecessor, Kenneth Gibson, also black, and also jailed. So was Gibson's predecessor, Hugh Addonizio, white and jailed. So was the councilwoman Marie Villani, white and jailed by the Feds in the late 1990's. That's how Newark politics works. The current mayor, Cory Booker, might be changing this, but I'm not sure the results are yet in.
Christie finally got admissible evidence on a legitimate target. Yeah, credit card abuse is small beer compared with what people suspect James had done. But so were the tax charges upon which Al Capone was jailed. Christie is a political hack, but he is not in the habit of bringing highly visible prosecutions on weak cases. It is more his style to annouce political investigations that go nowhere just before elections, like he did to Senator Menendez.
I admit that black politicians do seem to have been disproportionately targeted on weak federal cases. I'm thinking especially of the tax prosecution against Floyd Flake. He may have been guilty, but the government had no good evidence and the jury acquitted. But that, if I remember, was done during the Clinton administration.
July 15, 2007 6:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
To Joe S.
Thanks for your kind remarks, but: Lets remember that, in this country, we are innocent until proven guilty. That applies to you, me AND Sharpe James. The US Attorney has all the money, tools and manpower it takes to bring a criminal to justice at his disposal and all he can come up with is 58k of questionable credit card charges that have not yet held up in court? That, my friend, is not enough to destroy the legacy of a person who spent 20 years of his career to breathe life in to a heap of rat infested rubble called Newark and make most of its residents proud to live there.
I have nothing but respect for Sharpe James, he is an enthusiastic and infectious politician and a great Democrat. When he entered a room you knew it, when he made you a promise he delivered. The residents of Newark worked in elections and they voted, which is more than you can say for my present environment. (I am surrounded by Republican academics in Northern Georgia, not much snow though.)
July 15, 2007 7:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gee, you wouldn't think about the triviality of the James charges from the MSM. They have him influencing land sales and the credit card thing, saying he holed up the Ritz Carlton, etc. trying to paint him as a criminal, but his major crime is he's a Democrat.
Like in the Black case, the only thing they got him on is changing that guy's voting affiliatation from R to D, not quid pro quo. Again, not to diminish his sleaziness,but just sayin'. It screams for term limits. Lets try limiting these people to short term service,I'm for it.
The American people are being manipulated and fed "news"what the powers that benefit the corrupt thieves in power. America is transforming into a unpalatable nation.
I'm honestly thinking of moving.
July 15, 2007 7:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
At least he didn't blow them.
July 15, 2007 11:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Amen, Tarheel 2. Lots of folks seem to have forgotten Judge Boyle's ties to Senator Jesse Helms. back in the day. As to Molly's points, you're wrong. As I've said before, North Carolina is NOT Texas! Our state is usually quite dull in comparison, thank you very much. Apparently, you've never been to any meetings when the General Assembly is in session. Also give credit where credit is due. In NC, moderates in both political parties outnumber progressives, thank goodness.
As a moderate, I do have to wonder: who's paying Joe Sinsheimer? Why did the "former Democratic party consultant" became a so-called ethics watchdog only after starting a venture capital fund? Why has he targeted only Democrats? For someone involved in VC, he sure has a lot of time to be a gadfly.
July 16, 2007 7:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
DOJ directive, CA 2002...
"Leave all "R" guys alone, but go after "Dem!"
July 16, 2007 9:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, another former crony of Jesse's, and a former US Attorney, Sam Currin, was prosecuted and convicted recently on federal charges.
The Dems in North Carolina are the targets because they're the power holders...pretty much the same reason that most of the targets in DC are Repubs.
That said, I don't see any evidence that most of the Dems or Repubs in NC have jumped into the pay to play pool. The new speaker, Joe Hackney, has done a very creditable job of getting behind ethics reforms. When another of ex-speaker Black's allies was indicted recently on charges of shady dealings with campaign funds, Hackney strongly encouraged him to resign, and when he would not leave, stripped him of all available responsibilities.
If there is an institutional problem, it is that the structure of the legislature vests way too much power in a small inner circle of leadership in both houses. Most rank-and-file members just show up and vote the way they are told. The consequences of doing otherwise are loss of any perks, and being shut out of the biennial pork barrel.
Security code: profit. Do you have a psychic assigning these?
July 16, 2007 11:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
Goldspinner: I too wonder who J. Sinsheimer is and where he is coming from. It seems only Dems are soulght out in NC. The FBI never even so much as questioned former Congressman Charles Taylor regarding his bank's scandal. I also seriously wonder how the DOJ under Bush has affected US Attorneys and their Asstistants when going after cases.
I no longer believe prosecutors are after justice; they are after winning. Nifong, Darryl Hunt, Allen Gell, the list goes on. NPR is doing a weeklong series (WUNC) on what is wrong with our criminal justice system and how politized it has become.
NCDem: Sam Currin left the DOJ because he said it would one day implode because of their tactics. So maybe he was singled out as well. At any rate, he was right...the DOJ does seem to be imploding.
July 16, 2007 12:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
My old man was in banking in the Asheville-area when Charles Taylor had his banking problems. My father's take was very similiar to what you mentioned above. I think his exact words were, "If anyone had been looking hard, Charles Taylor would have gone to jail."
Well, better late than never I say.
People should take that into consideration when they think they will all get caught and go to jail. When you have a Rep. like Taylor who's been around and has become powerful - well, lets just say sometimes they get caught and nothing happens. When you have over $50,000,000 in personal assets in your finacial disclosure reports, I guess you get to play by the new rules.
So long Jim Black - you had it coming.
July 16, 2007 12:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
From one Georgia Dem to another: Don't waste your emotional outrage on Sharpe James. The main is poison. Christie is a politically motivated weasel, but, as they say down here: "Even a blind hog finds an acorn now and then."
This is no more racism- or party-related than the case against Bill Jefferson is or Atlanta's own Bill Campbell.
Sharpe James is, as you say, quite the personality, but anyone who lived in Newark for any length of time knew he was a crook. That doesn't mean they didn't vote for him; however.
July 16, 2007 3:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
If there is an institutional problem, it is that the structure of the legislature vests way too much power in a small inner circle of leadership in both houses.
Not as bad as NYS. "Three men in a room" is the saying: the leaders of the Assembly and Senate control *everything*.
July 20, 2007 4:58 AM | Reply | Permalink