Triad Today

Immediately following incidents of high profile violence, like last week’s shooting deaths and riots in Charlotte, politicians are quick to say, “Now is not the time for assessing blame. Now is not the time to point fingers.” I disagree. Now is precisely the time we need to point fingers of blame. And since I have eight fingers, I will point them at eight different sources of blame for the death of Keith Lamont Scott, and subsequent civil unrest in our state’s largest city. First, some background.

Last week Keith Scott, a 43-year-old black man, was sitting in his car waiting for his child to get out of school, when several Charlotte Mecklenburg police officers rolled up on him. Actually they sort of stumbled onto him, because they were supposed to be serving a warrant on another man, when they noticed Scott had marijuana and a gun in his vehicle. We now know from videos released by Mr. Scott’s wife, and by the CMPD, that the officers repeatedly shouted, “Drop the gun!” Mrs. Scott then tells the police that Keith has no weapon (not true), suffers from a brain injury, and is taking medication. The police continue to demand that Scott drop his gun, but to no avail. At that point, Scott’s wife says, “Keith don’t do it! Don’t do it Keith!” A hail of gunfire follows, and Mr. Scott lay dead. Brentley Vinson, a young African American cop, reportedly fired the fatal shot.

Only days before in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Terence Crutcher, an unarmed black man, was killed in a similar incident. In that case, citizens of Tulsa responded by holding prayer vigils. Days later, Charlotte responded to its crisis in a very different way. Hundreds of people took to the streets in what they hoped would be a peaceful protest, but their assembly was hijacked by angry agitators, and a violent riot ensued. Confrontations with police left several officers injured and one protestor dead. Stores were vandalized and looted. Tear gas was dispensed, and dozens of arrests were made.

So why did residents of one city react responsibly, while residents of the other turn violent? No one seems to know the answer, least of all Mayor Jennifer Roberts, who told CNN, “This is not who Charlotte is”. Perhaps, but constructive finger pointing now could prevent a tragic encore in the future. Here then, are eight groups or individuals who I believe are most responsible for the violence which occurred in Charlotte last week.

1. Keith Scott

Fair or not, Scott is at least partially to blame for his own death. True, he was merely in the right place at the wrong time, but he also possessed marijuana and a handgun, both of which are illegal, especially for an ex-con with a history of violent crimes. We might not know for awhile, or ever, if his alleged brain injury and medication caused him not to respond to police commands, but if he was disabled by those factors, he shouldn’t have been operating a motor vehicle.

He also should not have been killed. Nevertheless, he still shares in the responsibility for his demise.

2. Police

A lot went wrong last Tuesday for the CMPD. For one thing, officers botched service of a warrant on one man, and instead confronted another (Scott) because they saw marijuana in his car. Second, whether true or not, once they were told that Mr. Scott had a brain injury and was on medication, the police should have remained behind the cover of their vehicles and held their fire. If Scott then advanced on them, then officer Vinson should have only wounded him. Either Brentley Vinson meant to kill Mr. Scott, or his aim was off. If the former, Vinson should be prosecuted. If the latter, he should go on desk duty until he can re-qualify with his weapon at a marksman level. No matter how well-intentioned, the police are partly to blame for the civil unrest in their city.

3. Rioters

Though inspired by the fiery rhetoric and involvement of others (see items 4-7), those who hijacked an otherwise peaceful protest, are, of course, directly to blame for the death and destruction that ensued during last week’s rioting. They vandalized and looted stores, set fires in the streets, and assaulted reporters, and none of it made any sense. Larry Elder, an African American radio talk show host, said it best when he told FOX News, “This is a black suspect who was killed by a black police officer, whose boss is a black police chief, and rioters are attacking white people. What’s wrong with this picture?” That question should be asked of the groups and organizations who fueled the riots.

4. Black Lives Matter

Perhaps in the beginning, BLM was a well-intentioned movement whose mission was to stop police from systematically mistreating and shooting African Americans in situations where such actions were not indicated. However, over time, BLM has devolved into a mob-like entity, with little tolerance for anyone of any color who doesn’t march in lock-step with their sociopolitical agenda. Earlier this year, BLM protestors vandalized police stations in California and called for the killing of police in New York. Not all BLM followers are violent, but their rhetoric has become increasingly inflammatory, so they must accept some of the blame for what happened in Charlotte.

5. Nation of Islam

No sooner had CNN turned on its cameras, than representatives from the Nation of Islam showed up to fan the flames. Standing before a gathering of the national media, Rev. B.J. Murphy shouted “There is no other God but Allah.” He also said what happened to Keith Scott was a “modern day lynching”, and he urged all black citizens of Charlotte, “Don’t spend no money with no white folks!”

Hours later, the riots started. Rev. Murphy must accept some of the blame for what happened that night.

6. Clergy and Peaceful Protesters

The people who first took to the streets of downtown Charlotte last week, did so in part to demonstrate their displeasure with what they believed was a growing national trend of unarmed black citizens being killed by police. Among the peaceful protesters were a number of local white church leaders, including Rev. Robin Tanner, who heads up the Charlotte Clergy Coalition. Once the violence started, she blamed police for using tear gas. Hey Rev. Tanner, you can’t stop looters and rock throwers by praying with them. Then there was Rev. Steve Knight of the Mission Gathering Christian church who implied to CNN that the police might have lied about who shot a civilian protestor. Comments like those did nothing to de-fuse the civil unrest, and only served to undermine efforts by the police to restore order. Unlike the epic marches of MLK, the one by Charlotte protestors was disorganized, lacked leadership, and offered no substantive path to reform. In the end, they did more harm than good, so they must accept some of the blame for how things turned out.

7. Social Media

Today, everyone who has a cell phone camera thinks he’s a veteran TV news reporter. Instead, what often gets videotaped is posted on youtube out of context, and can be damaging to innocent people, and obstructive to investigations. In like manner, people who tweet inaccurate and inflammatory information can cause great harm. Keith Scott’s family used social media to spread the message that their loved one had been murdered by police for no reason, and that Keith was a model citizen. Such video and tweets gave rioters and looters an excuse to do what they do best, and in the process, a civilian protester was killed. The DOJ and FCC need to work with Congress to pass and enforce new laws that would prosecute social media users whose actions incite violence.

8. Electronic Media

Asked about their role in the Charlotte protests, CNN’s Don Lemon said, “We have a duty to cover it.” Maybe yes and maybe no. It’s one thing to cover news, it’s another to help facilitate those who make it. In cases of escalating street violence, CNN might adopt the kind of on-air policy set by the NFL, who instructs their TV directors not to show bad behavior by fans, for fear that such coverage would only encourage more bad acts. CNN kept us informed about the unrest in Charlotte, but they also gave looters and agitators a world-wide forum. In that regard, CNN and other news media must accept partial blame for stoking the flames of unrest.

So there you have it. I’ve pointed all eight of my fingers at the people most to blame for the mess in Charlotte. I only hope it will do some good. And just in case you’re wondering which finger is which, my middle finger is the one pointed at the rioters. I hope they get the message.

Until last week the biggest sports story making news was about the San Francisco 49ers’ multi-millionaire quarterback Colin Kaepernick refusing to stand for the national anthem because he blames America and all police for isolated incidents of deadly racism. He also wears socks emblazoned with cartoon images of pigs dressed as cops. No doubt, young Mr. Kaepernick has the right to protest, and I have the right to wish someone would stick those pig socks in his mouth. In any event, Colin’s misdirected angst has been moved off of the front page and supplanted with another sports story which also has wide ranging social implications.

Last week the NCAA and ACC issued back-to-back press releases (can you say collusion?), in which they announced that they were moving championship events out of North Carolina because of HB2, a bill they say violates the civil rights of transgender persons who cannot use the bathroom of their choice. HB2 as you recall was enacted at the end of March in response to an illegal ordinance passed by the Charlotte city council which would have required all private businesses to accommodate Transgenders who desire to use bathrooms that correspond to the gender to which they identify. That was five months ago. Now suddenly, 60 days before a gubernatorial election the NCAA and ACC have decided that they should take punitive action. NCAA President Mark Emmert told the Associated Press, “The decision of course, occurred completely independent of what kind of year it was around politics.” Hey Mark, don’t pee down my back and tell me it’s raining! I’m not that stupid, and neither are the majority of North Carolinians who know when someone is playing politics. Last week’s announcements were clearly political. They were also misguided and unnecessary. Here’s why.

First and foremost, no matter how odious it is, HB2 does nothing to restrict the use of bathroom facilities at any of the venues where championship events would have been held.

Second, HB2 is not enforceable on any level. That was made clear by a federal judge who recently ruled in favor of the UNC system.

Third, HB2 has nothing to do with civil or gender identity rights under Title IX, a fact ignored by President Lame Duck, who issued a letter to every public school superintendent in the nation, and threatened to withhold federal funds if they don’t make accommodations for Transgender students. Fortunately, a federal judge in Texas has ruled that Title IX is clear about biological gender rights, and has halted Obama’s social engineering, at least temporarily. Nevertheless, The NCAA and ACC have mistakenly tied Title IX to HB2, and feel they have the moral authority to
punish fans and athletes for living in a State where a handful of gerrymandered politicians have passed a confusing, unenforceable law.

That brings me back to politics. If the NCAA and ACC were offended by what they thought was a restrictive bill, they should have let the law take its course before banning major sporting events from our state. Governor McCrory has said he wants the Supreme Court to weigh in on HB2, and it probably will. Meanwhile the Governor, who did not write or create HB2, has made repeated attempts to work out a compromise with Charlotte’s crusading Mayor Jennifer Roberts, but to no avail. Thus far, Mayor Roberts has been unwilling to scuttle her illegal ordinance , but if she does, then there is reason to believe that HB2 would be repealed in short order. In any event, Ms. Roberts’ chess move to embarrass the Governor by passing an ordinance that she knew was unconstitutional, has been a gift from heaven for Roy Cooper, whose poll numbers continue to rise with every new boycott. And now the NCAA and ACC are trying to put the final nail in McCrory’s political coffin by taking punitive action just weeks before sports fans go to the polls. If you doubt Mr. Emmert’s motives, then just ask yourself why the NCAA didn’t also ban events from all of the other states which have similar laws to ours.

It is an understatement to say that recent sanctions by the NCAA and ACC have a lot of people upset. After all, we’ll forfeit over $150 million dollars from the loss of those championship events alone. Even some of the Republican and Democrat legislators who voted for HB2 are now running for cover, and everyone seems to be blaming McCrory for the whole mess. It’s the first time I can recall that a sitting Governor has been thrown under the bus by both parties over the same issue, and the NCAA and ACC have provided the fuel for that bus to keep moving.

Of course, HB2 still has its defenders, and there are also those of us who don’t appreciate being bullied and penalized by a sports association for something we didn’t do. The NCAA, after all, has a history of imposing arbitrary sanctions, and often penalizes incoming players for a rule that was violated by outgoing players. That’s why it pleases me that several members of Congress are looking into the possibility that the NCAA has violated its tax exempt status by interfering with and trying to influence our upcoming election. Theirs is a legitimate concern, and a Congressional investigation could have an impact on curbing unfair sports sanctions in the future.

In time, things will work out, and HB2 will go away. But what worries me is the possibility that the Transgender movement will use HB2 as a launching pad to re-visit Obama’s threat, which would force public schools to allow a 16-year-old boy who thinks he’s a girl, to shower with a 14-year-old who is biologically a girl.

A week ago I never thought I would long for the day when a disrespectful quarterback was the big news story. Now, thanks to the NCAA and ACC, I’m worried about lost revenues for the state, and lost innocence for our kids. The NCAA has overstepped its authority, and should have stayed out of the HB2 battle, at least until after the election. Of course, Mr. Emmert has the right to speak his mind, but I also have the right to want to stuff one of Kaepernick’s socks in his mouth.

Up until the last few decades, if I saw a surrogate being interviewed on the news, she was there to talk about carrying a baby to term for a couple who couldn’t conceive. Or if a surrogate appeared on an edgy daytime talk show, she might be discussing the benefits of helping couples learn how to couple. All that changed thanks to CNN. More on surrogates in a moment, but first, some background.

When CNN first went on the air in 1980 I was hired as a freelance reporter to cover special assignments. I found myself standing alongside Sam Donaldson where I asked candidate Ronald Reagan about the upcoming election. I camped out in the lobby of the State Department to await news of the return of our hostages from Iran. I also recall being laughed at by reporters from the major networks who thought CNN couldn’t do real news. Slowly but surely, however, viewers began to gravitate to the fledgling network, especially whenever there was big political news or an international crisis. Back then CNN was run and staffed by actual journalists who double-checked their sources before breaking a story. On-air anchors didn’t editorialize, and reporters didn’t spin. All that changed over time as ratings and revenues became increasingly important. In 1995, Ted Turner merged his beloved CNN with Time Warner, and five years later the cable giant was gobbled up by AOL. Somewhere along the way, the CNN that I knew had ceased to exist.

Today, CNN feeds the 24-hour beast by making news as entertaining as possible.

Producers no longer care if a story is right, so long as they break it first and milk it forever. CNN’s manic on-air approach led to the misidentification of family members and suspects at Sandy Hook and at the Boston marathon. And the network led viewers on an all-day tour de farce when covering the 2009 Colorado balloon boy saga, at one point reporting that the child might have fallen to his death. As it turned out, he was never inside the rogue balloon to begin with.

But CNN’s fall from journalistic grace is never more evident than it is in an election year. That’s when the network trots out a stable of partisan surrogates to fill up the airwaves. Sometimes the surrogates are retired military officers. Sometimes they are current or former congressmen and cabinet members. Sometimes, they are even family members of the candidate. And while blood relatives are loyal, they are not always helpful. Rick Perry and Ted Cruz, for example, suffered majored embarrassments when their respective spouses misspoke. And just last week, Hillary took a hit when Bill said that Donald Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again” was racist. It seems that Bill used that same slogan in his 1992 campaign, and then again in a TV ad for Hillary in 2008. Oops! Perhaps that’s why presidential campaigns rely so heavily on professional surrogates who are paid handsomely to parrot the views of the candidate, and defend his or her positions and gaffes at all costs.

This year, Trump and Clinton have sent over thirty different surrogates to appear on CNN, so you have to think there’s a method to their madness. However, according to Dan Schnur, a former Republican campaign official, the strategy of using substitutes isn’t going to matter at the end of the day. As reported by Nora Kelly in the May 24 edition of The Atlantic, Schnur said, “There hasn’t been much research to quantify surrogates’ influence, but they certainly don’t win or lose elections.” Perhaps that’s because these surrogates frequently engage in frenetic, on-air fight fests with one yelling over top of the other until neither can be understood. Or perhaps it’s just because they don’t say or scream anything new. Or, most likely it’s because what we as viewers really want, is to hear the candidate speak for himself. Ana Marie Cox probably agrees. Earlier this year she was invited to appear on Poppy Harlow’s program, and found herself seated across from Boris Epshteyn, a Trump spokesperson. As dailykos.com reported, Ms. Cox listened to Mr. Epshteyn spew his bilge until she couldn’t take it anymore. Speaking to Harlow, Cox said, “Before you ask me anything, I want to respond to Boris. I am not a paid surrogate. I’m not a Trump supporter, and I didn’t support Hillary in the primaries. I’m a journalist, and you’ve got me sitting here trying to debate a paid shill who can’t even stay on point.” Ms. Cox then proceeded to destroy Epshteyn with surgical precision. I wish all of CNN’s roundtable discussions were like that one.

The Cox/Epshteyn encounter notwithstanding, CNN obviously thinks it has a winning formula by subjecting viewers to an endless parade of paid spokespersons who argue with one another at the top of their lungs. But what I don’t understand is why Clinton and Trump need so many surrogates in the first place. After all, It only takes one surrogate to help you get pregnant. I guess it has something to do with the size of the baby you’re working with.

Candidates of the female persuasion have been running for president as far back as 1872, so the idea of their participation in that arena is not exactly big news. This year, however, a woman secured the presidential nomination of a major political party, and that IS big news. But if 2016 is to be the year that women break through the glass ceiling at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, then we should make sure that the right woman is doing the breaking. For me, that woman is Dr. Jill Stein, this year’s Green Party nominee.

Jill is a medical doctor and researcher. She is also a wife, and mother to two adult children. Stein and her husband live in Massachusetts, where she twice ran unsuccessfully for governor. Despite those political setbacks, Jill remained active and engaged, especially when it comes to health issues. In one instance, she led a successful campaign to reform the burning of waste at coal plants in order to protect women and children from mercury contamination. She also co-founded a state coalition for healthy communities.

Dr. Stein has also championed a number of environmental causes, such as renewable energy and the creation of green jobs, both of which she believes are inexorably linked. Speaking of which, in her 2012 run for the White House (also as the Green Party nominee), Jill proposed a “Green New Deal”, a plan inspired by FDR’s post-Depression program. Her goal was and still is to see that everyone who wants a job shall have one.

Stein’s platform also includes creating a “Medicare for All” system. And, she wants to eliminate student debt. “We found a way to bail out Wall Street, the guys who crashed our economy with their waste, fraud, and abuse… we need to bail out our younger generation who can be… the stimulus package of our dreams,” she said during a CNN Town Hall meeting.

Dr. Stein also wants to cut military spending by as much as 50%, mainly by closing most of our overseas bases, and bringing our soldiers home from all of the nations we have invaded, bombed, or otherwise interfered with. “Since 2001, we’ve spent three trillion dollars (on wars), and we’ve killed over a million Iraqi people. We’ve lost tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers, and what do we have to show for this? Failed states, mass refugee migration, and repeated terrorist threats that get worse with each cycle,” said Stein. A reduction in military spending, she says, together with new taxes on Wall Street speculators, would pay for her proposed reforms.

Jill understands public policy, and her proposals are sound. Moreover, she is a breath of fresh air in a campaign that has been filled with vitriolic bombast between two major party candidates, both of whom seem to be lacking in the character department. Stein is thoughtful and articulate, and she projects a kind of genuine compassion for others that is as evident in her smile as it is by the words she speaks. She believes in what she says, and her message never changes, no matter which audience may be listening. In short, Dr. Jill Stein would make an excellent president.

Unfortunately that doesn’t count for much here in North Carolina, where her name won’t even appear on the ballot this fall. That’s because our state’s collusionary two-party system requires a third party candidate to collect approximately 90,000 signatures to gain a spot on the ballot. We can still write-in Jill’s name on election day, but Republicans in the General Assembly may soon regret not having changed the requirements for ballot access, which would have made it more convenient for us to mark our choice. If Jill was on the ballot, she would siphon even more votes away from Hillary, and that could hand the state over to Trump. Spilled milk. Meanwhile, Dr. Stein is polling at about 4% nationally, which means she will be excluded from the upcoming debates. Jill commented on that exclusion during the CNN Town Hall. Said Dr. Stein, “This is America, and we not only have the right to vote, we have the right to know who we can vote for.”

This may sound naive, but if more people would open their minds, and listen to what Jill has to say, then she could win the election. After all, who wouldn’t like to stop paying healthcare premiums? Who wouldn’t like to see us stop going to war, and instead use that money to improve our communities and create jobs?

And what student wouldn’t like to start life after college without the burden of a lifelong debt? These are not rhetorical questions. In fact, Stein believes that if the 43 million students who struggle with college loans would vote for her, she could win the Presidency.

Asked at a recent rally to describe her candidacy and the movement that she is leading, Jill said, “We are what democracy looks like.” I agree, but here in North Carolina, it looks like Democracy means I’ll be bringing a pencil with me to the polls on November 8th.

If you thought “Don’t ask, don’t tell” was an ambiguous policy, try understanding the rules affecting transgenders. Until this past March, a transgender person could walk into most any bathroom in the state without drawing attention, providing that he or she went into a private stall. We should have left well enough alone. Unfortunately the crusading mayor of Charlotte decided to politicize the issue by passing an ordinance that would have required all private businesses to accommodate transgenders who wanted to use the bathroom of the gender to which they identified. In doing so, Charlotte City Council superseded its authority under the state constitution.

That illegal ordinance forced the General Assembly to act, and act fast. Given only a matter of days to respond before the Queen City law went into effect, Republican legislators drafted what became known as House Bill 2, or HB2. The bill was backed by House Republicans and supported by eleven House Democrats. A number of Senate Dems were also prepared to support HB2, so Senate leadership staged a walk-out, then claimed they were denied input. The walk-out was politically motivated and disingenuous.

Despite the uproar and objections, HB2 does not prevent private businesses from accommodating transgenders. It only requires transgenders to use state-owned bathrooms and facilities in accordance with their biological sex. The problem is that such a law is virtually unenforceable. Moreover, language in HB2 included extraneous provisions that had nothing to do with the Charlotte ordinance. For example, state employees who have a workplace grievance would have to take their case to Federal court. Meanwhile HB2 left out language that made it seem as though people of color and sexual orientation could be discriminated against. Clearly the wording in HB2 was ill-advised, but with no time to conduct public hearings before the Charlotte ordinance went into effect, Governor McCrory signed the bill into law.

Before the ink was dry on McCrory’s signature, HB2 ignited a firestorm of controversy in which performers cancelled concert tour dates in North Carolina, and businesses threatened to leave the state. And, just recently, the NBA announced it was moving its 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte. Regardless of how odious HB2 is, nothing in the bill would prohibit transgender patrons from using the bathroom of their choice at the Charlotte Coliseum. Nevertheless, the NBA commissioner opted to make a political point. In the meantime, various courts as well as state and federal officials have weighed in on HB2, leaving government agencies, businesses, and sports venues in a quandary as to how to deal with HB2. But while McCrory awaited a definitive ruling from the high court, President Obama jumped into the fight and superseded his authority in the process.

For better or worse, HB2 had nothing to do with public education per se, yet the President sent a letter to 13,000 school superintendents, ordering them to accommodate transgender students or else face the loss of federal funding. It was a cruel threat which, if enforced would harm the students who could least afford the loss of federal support. McCrory was compelled to take legal action, and that caused Attorney General Loretta Lynch to double down on her boss’s threat, by claiming that HB2 violated the civil rights of students under provisions of Titles VII and IX.

Apparently Ms. Lynch hadn’t read either regulation. Title VII deals with discriminatory employment practices, not school bathrooms or locker rooms. It also does not extend protections to anyone who merely “identifies” with a particular race, color, religion, or gender. HB2 also does not violate Title IX, a law enacted in 1972 to ensure that female students would have access to educational and athletic programs on par with those of male students. In fact, Title IX lists ten specific criteria for determining if equal treatment exists among the sexes. Criteria number 7 deals with locker rooms, showers and bathrooms in public schools, and defines them as “competitive facilities”. Applying HB2 to Title IX, that means a transgender student is only guaranteed an “equal” facility, not the same shower as a student whose biological gender is one with which the transgender student “identifies”.

It’s no wonder that Judge Jeanie Pirro said, “The White House does not have the force of law. They cannot force the schools to do this. This is a local issue. This is a state issue. This is not about discrimination, it’s about accommodating students”.

Last week, a federal judge in Texas agreed with Pirro. U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor blocked Obama’s misguided threats to schools, by ruling that Title IX “is not ambiguous about sex being defined as the biological and anatomical differences between male and female students as determined at their birth.”

Suddenly HB2 has gone from being a bill designed to invalidate a Charlotte ordinance, to an excuse for the White House to order that educators allow a high school boy who thinks he’s a girl, to shower with a high school girl who is biologically a girl.

Right now, everything is up in the air, but if Hillary Clinton leads a Democratic sweep in November, look for Roy Cooper and the General Assembly to repeal HB2. And look for Attorney General Lynch (who will undoubtedly retain her job under a Clinton administration) to resurrect Obama’s threat to schools, which will be upheld by a newly liberal Supreme Court.

HB2 opened up a can of worms that no one wanted or needed, yet it may end up affecting every school and business in the nation. I’m no fan of Donald Trump, but if you don’t want your daughter having to shower with a boy who identifies as a girl, then you better not vote for Hillary. And if you’re too embarrassed to admit that you’re voting for Trump, then just keep your vote to yourself. In other words, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Nothing stirs up pride in America like watching our Olympic athletes win gold medals. Michael Phelps, Simone Manuel, Winston-Salem’s own Kathleen Baker, and others have become national heroes and role models because of their accomplishments in the international games. It’s no wonder, then, that the number of parents naming their newborn babies “Simone” has spiked by 230%. By all accounts, the 2016 Rio Olympics was a success, at least for the International Olympic Committee. For the seven million residents of Rio, not so much.

For months prior to the start of the games, some in the media reported on the possibility of visitors and athletes contracting the Zika virus, while others warned of polluted waters in which athletes would compete. As a result, a few Olympians chose not to attend. However, most news coverage was positive, but even the stories about disease and pollution didn’t fully explain what the two had in common, why the conditions existed, or how they affected families in Rio.

In order to understand the severity of Rio’s crisis, we must start in Copenhagen where, in 2009, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that Rio de Janeiro had won the rights to host the 2016 Olympics. The city turned in a bid of $15 Billion dollars, and that was $9 billion more than the next closest bidder. We should have known then that something was rotten in Denmark. According to HBO Real Sports, the IOC netted $4 billion dollars out of the deal, and the rest was spent on construction of nine, state-of-the-art sports complexes and thirty-one residential towers in which to house the athletes. It was $15 billion that Rio didn’t have to spend, especially with mounting social problems and a falling oil market. As it turns out, the Rio government used money for the Olympics that had been earmarked for improvements to healthcare, education, and sanitation.

NBC’s cameras showed beautiful vistas during the games, but what viewers didn’t see was the raw sewage that flowed into the streets and into the bodies of water where 1300 athletes competed in 40 events. That same, untreated human waste also served as a breeding ground for mosquitoes that then carried the Zika virus. Moreover, the unsanitary conditions also contributed to other diseases including dysentery, TB, cholera, and hepatitis. It also resulted in babies being born with brain damage and other birth defects. And with cutbacks in social services and medical care, many of those who needed care, couldn’t even get a hospital room. Dr. Jorge Darze, president of the Rio Medical Union told HBO’s Jon Frankel that the city’s medical system, “is a public calamity.” Dr. Amir Attaran concurred, saying of the Olympics, “They’re holding a party in the middle of an epidemic, with sewage running freely in the streets.” Frankel’s conclusion was stark, “Rio has sacrificed the welfare of millions of people to give the IOCwhat it wants.”

According to IOC’s charter, the Olympic games are supposed to promote a positive legacy in the host city. Unfortunately just the opposite has happened in Rio. “The money being spent on the Olympics is revolting to me. It’s a crime against humanity,” said Dr. Darze. No doubt Brazil didn’t have the best track record for providing quality human services prior to the 2016 games, but diverting $15 billion dollars away from those services has resulted in horrible living conditions for millions of people. Going forward, the IOC should be prohibited from accepting bids from economically depressed cities, but then, who’s going to make and enforce that rule?

Right now we don’t need more babies named after famous Olympic athletes. We need more babies born healthy in the countries where those athletes become famous.

Last week I addressed the threats that have been made upon Donald Trump’s life, or what we might call, “The Dangers TO Donald.” However, given the Republican nominee’s recent gaffes, and a rash of articles that call into question his mental stability, it seems appropriate to also address the threats that Trump himself might pose to the rest of us. In other words, “The Dangers OF Donald.”

Mr. Trump’s outrageous behavior has included: mocking a disabled reporter; suggesting that FOX anchor Megyn Kelly was a hostile debate moderator because she could have been having her menstrual period; saying that women should change jobs if they are sexually harassed in the workplace; attacking the Gold Star family of a fallen hero, then claiming to have made an equal sacrifice (“I’ve hired thousands of people”); saying that the world would be a safer place if more nations acquired nuclear weapons; referring to a black man at his rally as “my African American”; doubling down on his claim that POWs are not heroes; claiming to have seen a video of an Iranian cash drop, when no such video existed; flippantly accepting a Purple Heart from a veteran; and, most recently, implying to a crowd of supporters that if Hillary is elected, they might take a shot at her.

The preponderance of these Trumpisms has caused some leading Republicans to denounce his candidacy, and question his fitness to occupy the White House. Soon after President Obama’s declaration that Trump is “unfit to be Commander-in-Chief”, fifty former Republican security officials and cabinet secretaries issued an open letter saying that if Trump is elected, he would be the most reckless president in our history. That letter followed a public statement by former CIA Director Michael Morell, who said Trump, “may well pose a threat to our national security… and would be a dangerous Commander-in-Chief.” The timing of these criticisms coincided with the announcement that both Trump and Hillary will soon begin receiving security briefings. Pundits of all political stripes have suggested that neither candidate should be trusted with classified information. But while Hillary’s lack of credibility in that regard is based on her mishandling of emails, Trump’s lack of trustworthiness seems to be tied to his mental fitness. Libertarian vice-presidential candidate William Weld, who has served as a governor and in the Justice Department, didn’t mince words, telling CNN’s Anderson Cooper that Trump has, “a screw loose.”

But last week, the American Psychiatric Association issued a warning to journalists and partisans who are suggesting that Trump is mentally ill. Said APA President Maria Oquendo, “The unique atmosphere of this year’s election cycle may lead some to want to psychoanalyze the candidates, but to do so would not only be unethical, it would be irresponsible.”

Ms. Oquendo also reminded us that such armchair analysis of presidential candidates is nothing new. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson’s campaign ran a TV ad that suggested Senator Barry Goldwater was unfit to be president because he (Goldwater) was likely to drop an atomic bomb on Russia. The media and others jumped on the “Goldwater is dangerous” bandwagon, and the senator lost in a landslide to Johnson, who turned out to be the real military aggressor of the two candidates. Fifty-two years after the hatchet job on Goldwater, Trump has also come under fire from his opponent and from the media. But unlike Goldwater, Trump’s own words and actions have contributed to the perception that he is somewhat unstable. In fact, one need only to read the Mayo Clinic definition of “Narcissistic Personality Disorder”, to see that Donald Trump displays nearly all of the clinical symptoms of NPD, which include:

• Having an exaggerated sense of self importance
• Expecting to be recognized as superior without achievements that warrant it
• Taking advantage of others to get what you want
• Having an inability to recognize the needs and feelings of others
• Having a lack of empathy for others

It is important to note, however, that one can be narcissistic without having NPD. In fact, the Pew Research Center recently released a ranking of U.S. Presidents according to their level of narcissism (LBJ was #1, JFK #5, Nixon #6, and Bill Clinton #7). Regardless of their ranking, none of those men were diagnosed as having NPD, and none were precluded from doing their job effectively because of their narcissistic traits. The question then remains, if in fact Donald Trump suffers from a clinical disorder, can he be an effective commander-in-chief?

Unlike other diseases and disorders (like depression or bi-polar) whose chemical imbalances can be controlled with medication, NPD is purely behavioral in nature, thus not so easily checked or treated. Clearly Donald Trump can function effectively as a TV host and real estate developer, but his extreme narcissistic behavior would seem to preclude the kind of clear thinking and diplomatic restraint needed to be the president of 350 million people, and commander-in-chief of the world’s most powerful military.

In his defense, Trump assures us he will act presidential once he’s become president. Translation? His goofy behavior is all just a carnival act designed to energize disaffected voters and close the deal. The problem is that his act is wearing thin, and every day he falls further behind in the polls. That means we may never get to see him act presidential. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

Years from now, historians writing about American politics will surely mention a firebrand idealog who once ran for president.

They will recall that his rallies attracted thousands of followers who were treated to speeches filled with outlandish demagoguery. They will say he also attracted large numbers of protestors who accused him of being a racist. And history will record that this candidate was a lightning rod of controversy, so much so, that he became the target of death threats. They will be describing Donald Trump, but they’ll also be describing his bombastic soul mate from a half-century ago: George Wallace.

As a third-party candidate in 1968, Wallace made prejudice and bigotry the centerpiece of his presidential campaign. But the tone for that campaign had been set in 1963 when, during his inaugural address, Alabama’s new governor proclaimed, “Segregation today! Segregation tomorrow. And segregation forever!”. In 1968, Wallace’s slogan was “Stand Up for America”. That’s the year he shocked Washington insiders by running on a third-party ticket and winning five states while collecting 46 electoral votes. He ran again for President in 1972, this time as a Democrat, and was on a clear path to winning his party’s nomination, when he was gunned down at a rally in Maryland. Wallace was paralyzed for the rest of his life.

Unlike Wallace who had held elected office, Donald Trump is a newcomer to politics. Yet both men managed to position themselves as Washington outsiders. Trump has also made prejudice the centerpiece of his campaign, not so much against blacks, but against immigrants, especially Mexicans and Muslims. Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again”, channels Wallace, and is, to some people, code for “Make America White Again”. We already know that Trump’s xenophobic rhetoric has lead to violence by and against protestors, but the question is, will it also lead to violence against Trump himself? Could he suffer a similar fate as Wallace? There is evidence to indicate that the unthinkable is a possibility.

Last September, a private jet carrying five Saudi nationals was forced to land in Lebanon where the passengers were detained for questioning. During their investigation, Lebanese authorities seized one of the Saudi’s laptops, and attempted to read its contents. But the information was encrypted, so the computer was flown to Moscow where Putin’s tech team was able to unscramble the secretive material. In the process they uncovered documents containing Donald Trump’s entire travel itinerary and private security plans for the month of October. According to USA Today, Putin then warned Trump of what was believed to have been an assassination plot against the future Republican nominee.

Fortunately the Saudi attack was thwarted, but the candidate has faced at least two other attempts on his life that we know of.

At a rally in Ohio, Tommy DiMassimo made it up onto the stage to attack Trump, but Secret Service agents stopped him. According to CNN, the man later told authorities that he was prepared to become a martyr by killing Trump.

Then there was 19-year-old Michael Sandford, a citizen of the UK and current resident of New Jersey, who traveled to Las Vegas in hopes of assassinating Trump. While attending a Trump rally at Treasure Island Hotel, Sandford approached the candidate as if he was seeking an autograph or a handshake, in much the same way Arthur Bremer had done with Wallace back in 1972. Suddenly, Sandford lunged for a security officer’s gun, but was subdued and taken into custody. He told police that he had tried to take the gun, “to shoot Trump.” The young man wasn’t acting on impulse. Not only had he followed Trump around the country, but the day before the Vegas incident, Sandford went to a nearby shooting range to practice his marksmanship.

In addition to the Ohio and Vegas attacks, Trump is also the object of countless death threats on social media. “BigSpoon” (@schmuck_u) tweeted, “I’m anti-gun, but I’m thinking of buying one just to assassinate Trump”. “Kayne” (@thjnketh) said, “I’m gonna kill Trump. If I go to jail, I’m saving America”. Tianna McHenry (@metizzlefashizz) wrote, “Someone, anyone assassinate Trump and his offspring. I don’t care if this gets me on the FBI watch list. I f#*%ing hate the man”. And Henry Del (@ohhsnapitsdel) tweeted, “Who wants to go with me on a mission to assassinate Trump?”

Trump and his security team take these and other threats seriously. According to InfoWars.com reporter Paul Joseph Watson, the candidate always wears a bulletproof vest at public events.

“You just can’t go around preaching hatred however you cloak it, however you dress it up, and somehow or another, it will not come back to bite you.” That statement was made by civil rights activist J.L. Chestnut. He was commenting for a PBS documentary about the Wallace shooting, but he might as well have been referring to Donald Trump. Chestnut went on to recall the reaction by African Americans to the attempted assassination. “Black folks in Alabama did not rejoice that Wallace had been shot, but there was a feeling that, ‘Well, the chickens have come home to roost'”.

There’s something to be gleaned from Mr. Chestnut’s observations, because the kind of rhetoric that led to George Wallace being shot in 1972, could also threaten Mr. Trump in 2016. It’s time for Trump to tone down his rhetoric, refrain from personal attacks, and resist the temptation to post childish, inflammatory tweets.

In many ways George Wallace and Donald Trump are already linked by history. I just hope there’s one thing they won’t have in common when all is said and done.

When I was finally old enough to play outside, my Mom would say, “look both ways before crossing the street, and watch where you’re going.” I just assumed everyone’s mother served up that same kind of sage advice, but I’ve since come to learn different. Today it seems like common sense is a scarce commodity, and nowhere is that more evident than in how we use so-called mobile devices.

It used to be that cell phones had one purpose. They allowed us to place and receive calls. It wasn’t long, though, before everyone was using their cell phones to text instead of talk. The logic of this phenomena still escapes me. If I want to tell someone something, I CALL them on my cell phone. It’s fast, it’s convenient, and there’s no chance that my message will be misinterpreted by typos or bad grammar. On the flip side, proponents of texting say that if the person you wish to speak with is in a meeting and can’t take your call, they can still communicate via text. But if you’re in a meeting, chances are someone is paying you to be there, so you shouldn’t be texting. You should be focused solely on that meeting, and on doing the job you’re being paid to do. Remember, multi tasking is not necessarily a badge of honor. Mostly it’s just rude behavior.

In addition to fostering rudeness, texting also causes accidents, some minor, some fatal. I can’t tell you how many times a text-head has walked right into me because he never looked up to see where he was going. And nearly every week, we hear of a car crash that was caused by someone who was texting while driving. Let’s face it, people with mobile devices often endanger themselves and those around them. Unfortunately, texting while walking or driving is no longer the worst of our worries.

Last month, careless behavior reached new heights with the advent of Pokemon-Go, an augmented reality game based on the 1990s cartoon, which can now be downloaded onto most mobile devices. The point of the game is to hunt animated monsters. However, Pokemon players have become so obsessed and focused on the game, that they are not watching where they’re going. For example, a 15-year-old Pennsylvania girl was recently hit by a car while crossing the street. She was playing Pokemon Go, instead of paying attention to traffic. Meanwhile, a Baltimore man was engaged in the game while driving, and he slammed into the back of a police car. And in North San Diego County, two men fell off of a 75-foot cliff because Pokemania had them looking into their mobile devices instead of straight ahead. These Pokemorons are also finding themselves victims of other kinds of related mishaps. In O’Fallon Missouri, four teenagers used the game to lure a dozen other Pokemon players into a remote area, where the clueless gamers were robbed. Sgt. Bill Stringer explained the scheme. “Using the geo location feature of the Pokemon Go app, the robbers were able to anticipate the location of unwitting victims.” Sadly, these are not isolated incidents.

I keep coming back to Mom’s warning, “Look both ways before crossing the street, and watch where you’re going.” It’s the kind of advice that keeps you from bumping into cars, walking into traffic, falling off cliffs, and being lured into alley ways. Of course there are Pokemon Go apologists who say that the positives of hunting digital monsters far outweigh the negatives. For one thing, they say playing the game gets kids out of the house, and that helps to reduce our obesity epidemic. I say all they’re doing is shifting the fat from their bellies to their heads.

Sure I know that not all Pokemon Goers are irresponsible, but injuries and incidents will continue to increase exponentially, and that should concern parents. According to Fortune.com, the game was downloaded ten million times in its first week, and is now on more Android phones than the highly successful dating site Tinder. That means some people would rather chase cartoon characters into moving traffic than have social interaction with a member of the opposite sex. Moreover, many Pokemorons are obsessed with the game even when they’re not even playing it. Evidence of that occurred two weeks ago during a press conference at the State Department. While briefing members of the fourth estate about the escalating threat of ISIS, State Department spokesperson John Kirby was distracted by a reporter who was doing something with his mobile device instead of taking notes. “You’re playing the Pokemon thing right there, aren’t you?” asked Kirby. “I’m just keeping an
eye on it”, replied the reporter.

I think Greensboro Police Officer Ben Wingfield said it best when he told a local TV station, “When you’re involved in a game and not paying attention to what’s going on around you, your situational awareness can go down.” Translation? If you’re chasing cartoon characters and fail to look both ways and watch where you’re going, then you are by definition a Pokemoron. It’s just too bad there’s not an App for common sense.
 
 

For the past ten months, independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has led a revolution to reform government, and eliminate the staggering disparity in wealth between the one percent and the rest of us. He was the real deal. He talked the talk and walked the walk. Bernie didn’t accept PAC money. The average donation to his campaign was $27, yet he constantly outpaced fundraising by the Clinton campaign. He proposed a “Medicare for all” system and free college tuition which would be funded by a slight tax increase, along with fees charged to Wall Street speculators. He railed against bad trade agreements which had cost us millions of jobs. Everywhere he went, he drew capacity crowds. The new mantra for millions of young and first-time voters, independents, and economically strapped Americans was, “Feel the Bern!”. But last Tuesday at a rally in Portsmouth New Hampshire, that slogan changed to “Feel the Burn”. On that day, Bernie endorsed and embraced Hillary Clinton, a career politician who lied to Congress, was careless with national secrets, and became a multi-millionaire from making speeches to the same Wall Street big shots who caused the great recession. In one brief moment, Sanders and Clinton hugged, and a promising reform movement died.

My conservative friends tell me that I was a fool to think Sanders could deny Clinton the Democratic nomination, but as I pointed out in my April column, Bernie had a clear path to the White House throughout most of his campaign.

Week after week, Sanders kept winning primaries and caucuses. Week after week he kept pace with Hillary for pledged delegates. And each week, his war chest grew considerably. All along, Clinton’s ace in the hole was the 500 super delegates who had pledged their support to her long before primary voters even went to the polls. These super delegates were comprised of Democratic elected officials and party hacks who, to some degree or another, curried favor with the Clintons. But even accounting for those super partisans, Bernie was making a case for a brokered convention so long as he passed Hillary in actual pledged delegates. That scenario remained a distinct possibility until the Sanders campaign was eventually derailed by a series of closed primaries where independents were barred from voting. Yet even as Hillary closed in on the nomination, Bernie still had a clear path to the White House. Here’s how it would have played out.

Bernie would show up at the convention with 13 million votes and roughly 47% of the pledged delegates. As soon as Hillary was nominated, he would bolt the party and launch an independent run for the presidency, either on his own, or as the Green Party nominee. His doing so could deprive Hillary and Trump of the requisite 270 electoral votes needed to win the general election. Should that happen, the contest would have been turned over to the House of Representatives. According to the 12th Amendment, the Speaker would then direct all 50 states to cast one vote each for the candidate who received the most popular votes in their state. The House would tally the 50 votes, and whichever candidate collected at least 26 votes would be the new president. This might seem like a convoluted scenario, but it is plausible, and still could have occurred had Bernie accepted Dr. Jill Stein’s offer last week to assume her mantle as Green Party nominee. He refused, and by endorsing Hillary, Bernie turned his back on the movement he once ignited.

Some pundits have said that Sanders forced Ms. Clinton to the left, and forced the DNC to adopt several of his proposals into their party platform. But as Dr. Stein tweeted to Sanders following his endorsement, “I wish Hillary believed what you believe, but it just doesn’t pass the laugh test”. Translation? If elected, Hillary will not push for Bernie’s reforms. One former Bernie supporter blogged, “For the past ten months Bernie said Hillary was in bed with Wall Street, has questionable judgment, and was not qualified to be president…suddenly he asked his supporters to forget all that, and endorse Mrs. Clinton.” After ten months of hard work, an entire movement had ended with a hug between two rivals with very disparate beliefs.

That hug also gave hope to greedy Wall Street bankers and health insurance companies. It meant that the #1 cause of personal bankruptcy in America would continue to be from unpaid medical bills, and it meant that millions of people would keep on struggling to pay their monthly health insurance premiums. It also meant that college students would continue to be saddled with debt. The hug meant that our tax dollars would continue to be spent on sending our soldiers into harm’s way every time warring factions couldn’t solve their own problems. And the hug meant that we would continue to honor trade agreements which have thrown millions of Americans out of work, with more of the same to come (can you say TPP?).
In all fairness to Bernie, some observers at last week’s endorsement rally say that the now infamous hug was actually initiated by Hillary, and that Sanders had only wanted to shake hands. Nevertheless, Sanders embraced the embrace. It was a seminal moment in American politics. Mainly, it was a moment in which Hillary felt the Bern, and the rest of us felt the effect.
 
 

Transparency is important these days, so in the spirit of full disclosure let me confess that I am a 62-year-old unaffiliated white man, and a card-carrying member of the NAACP. As such, I am particularly troubled by the rising trend in what I call WCBC, or “White (Cop) on Black Crime”.

2014 was marked by the shooting deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland. Both were unnecessarily killed by white police officers. In 2015, Walter Scott of North Charleston met a similar fate. And if just being black and unarmed isn’t enough of an offense, earlier this year, white cops in Los Angeles shot and killed an African-American homeless man who resisted arrest. Then, earlier this month, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile were gunned down by white cops in Baton Rouge and St.Paul respectively. In addition to the way they were killed, these victims shared something else in common—transparency regarding how they were killed.

Increasingly over the past decade, just about anyone with a cell phone can capture just about anything, and post it just about anywhere. Whether the officers who committed recent shootings knew it or not, their brutality went viral, and, in some cases almost in real time. Of course, that kind of techno transparency isn’t exactly new. In 1991, Los Angeles resident George Holliday looked out his balcony door, and saw four white police officers savagely beating a black man. Digital, mobile cell phones were not in common use back then, so Holliday grabbed his camcorder and videotaped the incident. The man being beaten was Rodney King, and despite Holliday’s video evidence of police brutality, the officers were acquitted. That miscarriage of justice sparked violent riots throughout the city in which over 50 people were killed and another 2,000 injured.

But here’s where we should acknowledge an important difference between the Rodney King era and the Black Lives Matter era. For the most part, protests and riots used to be staged after the criminal justice system had produced a verdict. Back then many African-Americans, though distrustful of police, judges, and juries, still held on to some hope that justice could still be served. After all, O.J. was acquitted in 1995 mainly because a key witness revealed himself to be a racist, and that derailed the prosecution’s case.

But today, thanks to the 24-hour news cycle, and to BLM’s ability to mobilize quickly, protestors no longer wait for grand juries or judges to even hear a case of police brutality, much less wait for a verdict. While the Sterling and Castile families were just beginning to mourn, BLM was staging protests across the nation. In Oakland they reportedly vandalized a police station, breaking glass doors and spray painting the word, “Murderers” on the building. Meanwhile protestors in Minnesota shouted “pigs in a blanket” (a call for cops to be killed). And in New York City, they chanted, “What do we want? Dead cops!”

On July 7, less than 72 hours since the Baton Rouge and St. Paul shootings, BLM took to the streets of Dallas shouting “Hands up! Don’t shoot!”, and carrying placards accusing police of being racists, and worse. The Rev. Jeff Hood, a white pastor helped to organize the BLM rally. He dressed in African garments and spewed hate speech to the crowd. “I’m going to channel Rev. Jeremiah White, and I’m going to say, ‘God d#*n White America”. He also told the protestors that police were their enemy, and that they needed to get a “fire under their (butts) and do something”. Ironically Hood and others were free to speak and march unmolested only because they were under the protection of the same officers he was unfairly indicting by association. Nevertheless, Hood’s heated remarks continued until suddenly, shots rang out from an upper deck of a parking garage. The barrage of gunfire seemed endless, and was interrupted for a time while police negotiated with 25-year-old Micah Xavier Johnson, an African-American former Army reservist who served a tour in Afghanistan. During those negotiations, Johnson told authorities that he was angry about black people being murdered by white cops, and that he wanted to kill as many white officers as possible. Negotiations eventually broke down and Johnson was killed. In the end the sniper had executed five officers and wounded seven others. At least two civilians were also wounded, including a 37-year-old African-American mother of four children.

From the moment the assault began, those same Dallas police who had been assigned to protect BLM protestors, and were forced to listen to aspersions cast upon their fellow officers, were suddenly putting their lives on the line to move the hate speaking marchers out of harm’s way. It is important to note that the Dallas PD is considered a model organization when it comes to diversity and community policing. Over 46% of the force is comprised of minorities, and the Chief himself is African-American. That begs the question, Why was Black Lives Matter marching in Dallas to protest isolated incidents in Louisiana and Minnesota? Solidarity is one thing, but protesting in a city that prides itself on excellent race relations not only seemed inappropriate, but was an insult to the men and women in blue who died protecting those very same protestors. It is even likely that the last words some of the slain officers ever heard were words of hate aimed at them. Words that stereotyped them as racists and murderers.

I’m not blaming Black Lives Matter directly for the Dallas massacre, but the kind of hate speech spewed by Rev. Hood and others certainly served to inflame and incite those who sought to protest against two recent officer related shootings in other States. It also inspired the deranged Mr. Johnson to act on his anger, which had been fueled by BLM’s inflammatory rhetoric. When asked by FOX News anchor Meghan Kelly if he regretted the language he used at the BLM rally, Rev. Hood said, “If I had it to do over again, I think I would have chose different words.” Unfortunately there are no do-overs for the five slain officers.

Today there are about 30 million blacks living in America, and their lives matter. There are also about 700,000 police officers living in America, and their lives matter too. Rodney King once asked the rhetorical question, “Can we all get along?” The answer is “Yes”, so long as we advocate for reforms that include more diversity of hiring in local police departments, implementation of more community policing programs, more thorough screening of police academy applicants, and a commitment from BLM to dial down the hate speech associated with their protests. We will never be totally safe from deranged lone gunmen, but enacting these kinds of reforms might help to diffuse the anger that torments such troubled souls. We all live under the same flag, let’s just make sure we’re not always flying it at half staff.
 
 

Somehow when we weren’t looking, Washington DC was apparently gerrymandered into North Carolina’s 13th Congressional district. I know this because last month, a DC-based super PAC decided the outcome of a high-profile Republican primary in our own backyard.

The old 13th district was represented by veteran incumbent George Holding of Raleigh. But a federal court ordered the NC General Assembly to redraw the 1st and 12th districts, and those new lines affected the boundaries of the 13th. The new 13th excludes Holding’s home base of Raleigh, and now includes part or all of Guilford, Davidson, Davie, Iredell, and Rowan counties. Holding decided he would stand a better chance of returning to Washington if he ran in the new 2nd district against fellow Republican incumbent Renee Ellmers. Holding was right. He handily defeated Ellmers for the nomination.

Meanwhile, absent an incumbent in the new 13th, candidates came out of the woodwork to run in the GOP primary. A total of 17 Republicans were on the ballot, including a number of veteran public servants like Davie Commissioner Dan Barrett, 14-term state Senator Julia Howard of Mocksville, state Senator Andrew Brock also of Mocksville, eight-term state Senator John Blust of Greensboro, High Point Commissioner Hank Henning, Rep. Harry Warren of Salisbury, and Iredell County’s popular register of deeds Matt McCall.

The original primary had been slated for March 15, but the court order forced a move to June 7, with no provision for a run-off. That meant any of the 17 candidates could win the nomination with a simple majority. And since Republicans outnumber Democrats by about 53% to 46% in the new district, whoever prevailed in the GOP primary would be favored to win the general election as well.

Political pundits were predicting that Barrett, Blust, or Howard would take the prize, but a funny thing happened on the way to the primary. According to my sources, and to reports on TheDailyHaymaker.com, state Republican party chairman and former congressman Robin Hayes got together with long time party donor Richard Budd, and the pair convinced Budd’s son Ted, a conservative gun shop owner, to run in the GOP primary. Hayes also reportedly held a fundraiser for young Mr. Budd, and helped to arrange for a DC Super PAC, the Club for Growth Action, to pledge up to one million dollars to Ted’s congressional campaign. By some accounts, Ted spent $500,000 on the primary, but it might as well have been 500 Billion, because the other 16 candidates couldn’t come close to matching Budd’s booty, especially on such short notice. WXII reported that by mid-May, Ted had already spent over $150,000 just in local TV ads, and that was three times the amount either Barrett or Howard spent, and 100 times more than the rest of the field could muster.

In a media market like ours, megabucks on TV translates to name recognition, and name recognition translates to votes. People who had never heard of Budd, suddenly thought they had, because his name and image kept emanating from their TV screens at regular intervals. Not surprisingly Budd won the primary, leaving his GOP veteran opponents stunned and frustrated. Next up for Ted is a fall contest with Democratic nominee Bruce Davis for the chance to represent some 700,000 Piedmont residents in the halls of Congress.

Davis, like many of the Republican candidates who were vanquished by Budd’s PAC money, is a long-time public servant, having served as chairman of the Guilford County commissioners. He is a Marine Corps veteran with bronze and silver stars to his credit. And he runs a successful business in High Point. But Bruce does not have a DC PAC behind him, and unless he can convince tens of thousands of Democrats to move into the district by November, he’s starting out in a huge hole.

If ever there was a case for overturning Citizens United, it’s the 13th district Republican primary that allowed Ted Budd to lap the field, not based on his legislative bona fides or a cohesive platform to deal with major issues, but on his powerful connections, and the money they poured into his coffers.

In addition to having an outside super PAC controlling an election, It is troubling that Hayes was so involved with and supportive of Ted, and even reportedly held a fundraiser for the political novice. A party chairman should never take sides in a primary. It is also troubling that Ted, who by all accounts is a nice guy and a dedicated family man, isn’t allowed to make his own decisions. Immediately following the June 7 primary, I invited both Ted and Bruce to appear together on my Triad Today television program. Bruce immediately agreed. Ted said, “I’ll have to get my guy to call you.” The next day Ted’s “guy” called me and said that Ted wasn’t interested in being on Triad Today. Having been at this for over 40 years, I’ve learned that when a handler turns down free TV exposure for his candidate, that generally means he thinks the candidate already has the election won, and doesn’t want to risk having him say anything stupid on air that might derail the campaign. I hate to think that Ted will continue to hide rather than engage in discourse, but that remains to be seen.

For now, it’s not likely that Citizens United will be overturned any time soon, and certainly not before November 8. But it would send a powerful message to Congress if the sixteen also-rans and other notable Republicans took a stand against unlimited campaign donations. They could call a joint press conference and refuse to endorse Budd if he spends any more PAC money in his contest against Davis. It might look like sour grapes, but such a united front could open a crack in the political wall that stands in the way of reform. Until that happens, Ted Budd will go on thinking that the primary voters chose him because he had a lot of character, when in truth they chose him because he just had a lot of money.