N & O says Jack Nichols / Paul Coble race in Wake "turns caustic"

From the Raleigh News and Observer, Oct. 18, 2010:

"Paul Coble has been the most divisive person in Wake County for the past 25 years," Nichols said. "You can compare that to my history of consensus-building."

[Note to readers from Martha: Paul Coble, former Raleigh Mayor, is the nephew of former "Senator No" Jesse Helms (R-NC).]

But wait, Coble says, wasn't the unseen hand of then-party chairman Nichols behind a failed Democratic ploy in December, when Republican Tony Gurley emerged as chairman of the Board of Commissioners?

Coble alleges that Nichols was making mid-meeting cell-phone calls advising Democratic board members to pull parliamentary high jinks such as Betty Lou Ward's unexcused trip to the bathroom.

No way, Nichols says. Ward has also denied the charge.

"Sometime that afternoon Stan Norwalk called me on one of the breaks, and I advised him to get Harold Webb on the phone," Nichols said of the ailing commissioner whose absence had created a stalemate on the seven-member board. "It's a red herring."

Coble portrays himself as less caught up in partisan politics than Nichols.

"People don't like insiders, people who play political games," he said. "Jack has been the chair of the Democratic party. He's been in the background of things that are very partisan."

This is the final story on the Wake County Commissioner races in 2010. There are 4 seats up for grabs this year. --MB