April 9th / 11th
"Bev Perdue Should Resign"
Last week, two different factions targeted their ire toward Governor
Beverly Perdue. One was the Guardians of the Free Republics, the other was the
North Carolina Republican Party. The former is a radical anti-government
group who is demanding that all 50 Governors vacate their office or else be
removed. The Guardians made no threats of violence, but the FBI is
investigating nonetheless. Meanwhile, the state GOP is on its own warpath against
Perdue. Specifically, party chair Tom Fetzer called on the State Board of
Elections to move faster on, and broaden the scope of its investigation into
Perdue's 2008 campaign. While it is always good to keep an eye on right wing
nuts like the Guardians, and prudent to take rantings of the GOP with a
grain of salt, perhaps the most serious threat to our state government may just
be coming from the common object of their collective derision.
Among the campaign irregularities being investigated are $48,000 in
contributions from nine donors who might have been reimbursed by their employers.
Knowing the heat was on, Perdue returned the money, but that shouldn't
affect the investigation, or lessen the possible crime. And while corporate
reimbursement of employee political contributions is illegal, the Perdue
transgression that concerns me most is her acceptance of 31 free flights, which
went previously unreported.
One problem is that, thus far, the media and the SBE have miscategorized
those flights. We are being told that the 31 flights had a "value" of
$25,000, but that is not accurate. $25,000 might be what the flights would cost
had Perdue paid for them out of pocket, but in this case, cost has nothing
to do with value.
Then candidate Perdue used the free flights to travel to important
campaign events, raise money, and meet lots of people. Those trips translated
directly into votes. They also translated into donations which fueled her
negative TV ads against opponent Pat McCrory ,which reached millions of other
voters. This should concern every citizen because Perdue only defeated
McCrory by 145,000 votes, and the fruits of those 31 flights could well have made
the difference. If such is the case, then Bev acquired her office
fraudulently, and that is not only a violation of SBE rules, it is a crime.
In the real world, someone who commits fraud pays a fine or goes to jail,
or both. And, when practical, they are ordered to return the "property"
which they illegally obtained. We know that Perdue accepted tainted money, and
we know that she accepted tainted flights. If she was able to win an
election because of those factors, then she should return her title (the
property) to its rightful owner. But politics is not the real world. At most, the
SBE might refer these matters to prosecutors who could recommend jail time
for Bev. The same has happened with Meg Scott Phipps, Jim Black, and a host
of other tarheel pols. But, again, even prison time doesn't make the victim
whole. If Pat McCrory was denied an election because of campaign
violations by Perdue, then the Governor's office should be awarded to McCrory. It
should be noted that the state Democratic party alleges McCrory is also
guilty of campaign violations, and should be investigated. That's fine with me,
and if it turns out that both Perdue and McCrory are guilty, then Lt.
Governor Walter Dalton would replace Bev.
Clearly, my fantasy scenario for justice will never happen. Still, Perdue
should do the honorable thing now, and resign her office. McCrory would
still be denied his "property", but the public wouldn't have to endure more
scandal and investigations. Meanwhile, the radical Guardians might think they
won their crusade, and decide to leave the other forty-nine Governors
alone for awhile. Also on the plus side, leaving Raleigh is something Bev is
good at. It would be gratifying to see her take flight one last time.
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