SBOE: What a freakin' mess
Submitted by James on Tue, 08/17/2010 - 8:59am
Ever since the State Board of Elections gave Art Pope a "get out of jail free" card a few years back, the inner workings and hidden mechanisms of the Board have baffled me. At the time, the electioneering complaints against Pope by Richard Morgan were dismissed without even the illusion of serious consideration.
What has ensued since then brings to mind a slow-motion train wreck, a crushing tale of incompetence, conflicts of interest, questionable judgment, and now, good-old fashioned cronyism.
At least four hometown friends of state Elections Director Gary Bartlett have been hired at the agency he runs. Collectively, they are known in the office as the "Goldsboro Mafia," a reference to their cozy relationship with the boss and to the carpool three of them and Bartlett shared between Goldsboro and state election headquarters in Raleigh.
I'm sure someone meant well when they created this board in the first place, but from where I sit, the investigative and quasi-judicial functions of the organization can't possibly be squared with its statutory foundation of partisan politics.
I've rebutted 1 Biesecker story, skeptical of the rest
I am skeptical and have 1 op/ed rebutting a Biesecker 'story'. I personally know Biesecker got one of his story lines wrong, and it leads me to doubt his others.
OMG!!! "N.C. elections director surrounded by friends"
Lets all jump on the bandwagon and attack. NOT!
Ironically, someone around Bartlett is not a friend, and has been feeding Biesecker a weekly series of gossip and slanted view of events.
The Biesecker articles have a common thread - an investigator whose husband is a GOP operative.
I am very skeptical of what Biesecker writes after having to provide correction/rebuttal to his other attack NCSBOE storyline.
Where's the truth? I rebutted Biesecker's incorrect information about voting vendors and paper ballots in my blog
NC Ballot Printing mess-politics or excuse to gut Public Confidence in Elections Act? ... what questions did the media forget to ask? And what are the answers? Read more here...
Then the News & Observer published my op/ed about the ballot printing/voting vendor issue on Thursday, August 12, 2010:
Handle N.C.'s ballots with care
Nothing like a little guilt by association, McCarthyism.
Bartlett can't win if a single reporter can attack him week by week, slant by slant, now can he? Weird how no other reporter has picked up the story line. Notice who isn't "reporting" on this?
How many of the NCSBoE employees are Gary Bartlett's childhood friends? ALL of them? Dozens? Hundreds? We don't have the numbers so we don't have perspective.
How many regional technicians or election support staff telecommute? ALL of them, or those whose region is several hours away from Raleigh?
And if Bartlett insisted these employees work in Raleigh, even if their regions are hours away, would Biesecker attack him for that?
Let me guess, if Gary didn't carpool to work would Biesecker attack him for that? Say he's wasting gas? Polluting the environment?
The NC SBoE does a good job in administering elections.
I do a national voting newsletter 5 X a week, and can tell you that our SBoE works hard to enfranchise ALL voters equally, and does a good job of it.
Voters in NC have it better than in most states - we have accurate elections (proven by post election audits that are done before certification since 2005)
See An Assessment of the Recount and the Certification of the Election Result for the November 2008 Election
And we've cut our undervote rate for President from around 3% to only 1%.
The NC SBoE has been an advocate for ALL voters:
Our SBoE was applauded by national organizations for its work in getting govt agencies to register voters as per the Motor Voter Act.
I suppose NC Verified was the only group to applaud Gary Bartlett for being one of a hand ful of state election officials who urged SoD Robert Gates to instruct the Dept of Defense to help troops register to vote.
Remember, just because it is in print, doesn't make it so, and be suspicious of what you read when it is so slanted.
Also note that other reporters aren't digging into this "juicy" story.
Regards;
Joyce McCloy
Are you disputing the facts of the story?
It strikes me as more than a little unseemly that four Goldsboro "friends" were hired at the SBOE. If this were a private business, no one would care, but it's not.
None of this is to say that the SBOE hasn't done a great job in some areas, your points are well taken. But neither is it possible to pretend as though it's all goodness and light. The fact that other reporters aren't digging into this story means nothing. There are scores of important stories they aren't digging into.
Finally, your hypothetical questions are just that, and they're silly. If a reporter went after someone for carpooling or not carpooling, no one would care. And no one cares who commutes, telecommutes, or works from outer space. Those are red herring issues.
I believe the SBOE has done a very good job in administering elections. I also believe it has been used as a pawn by both parties when it's operating in its investigative and quasi-judicial roles. Let's not mix apples and orchards.
Do good. Be nice. Have fun.
Joyce is right
But you don't even have to know anything about Biesecker or his "reports" to mow down today's piece.
Biesecker the Buffoon does it for you by quoting Johnnie McLean in his article about "terrizin the women folk"
Seriously.
He writes like there haven't been lawyers in Raleigh -- or at least Johnston County -- who salivate at a case like this and would have jumped at it for the past 2 or 3 decades.
And if it was such a problem, it's a damn shame The N&O took about 20 years to get around to it.
The feeding of stories doesn't just take place on JLF blogs. Actual people do it too. And gosh darn it, some of them are paid by the state!
The GOP is playing chess with the press and the Democrats aren't even at the table.
I know some think it's more noble not to fight back in the same manner, but I disagree.
Agree on one thing
And if they're going to be at the table, they'd damn well better be cleaner than god and twice and pure.
Do good. Be nice. Have fun.
Joyce is not right
And neither, usernamehere, are you. Your readiness to denigrate Biesecker says much about you, but it isn't anything we didn't already know from the fact that you are always ready to lash out and insult, whether you know what you are talking about or not.
It's clear you don't know Biesecker, don't know how journalists do their work, haven't the first clue what the back stories here are, and yet feel comfortable making these sarcastic (albeit ignorant) pronouncements.
Lawyers don't salivate for these cases, by the way. That statement, and your apparent certainty in making it suggest you don't understand how the law works, how lawyers work, how state government works, and how politics work in the capital city (or anywhere else).
The N&O's investigative reporters were not born yesterday. Surely it has occurred to some of you that one reason Democrats are the ones getting caught up in these webs of corruption or misbehavior is that the Democrats are the ones running the state. That's why they're the ones tripping over a big pile of hubris.
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing
-Edmund Burke
Because there haven't been any
...lawyers in the Wake or Johnston County who've inserted themselves in the political process in the past few decades (that's a bit of sarcasm there since you like it).
This pitched war is about redistricting after all. It's the reason the NCGOP has gone super-high gear this cycle.
The N&O investigative reporters (and other recent MSMers) may not have been born yesterday, but they sure haven't been in this state long enough to know -- or cared to learn -- the political history.
Shanahan and his friends most certainly salivate for this.
I do know how what's left of journalists do their work. I know plenty of how state government and politics work. And I know how you don't work.
Keep calling me ignorant. Na na, boo boo. Bounces off me, sticks to you.
The statistics of finding bad things to write about those that control the most does not explain away continued stories about the same people week after week. If this statistical theory were true, MSMers would have written about every state agency in a matter of months -- and done it long ago.
Strange how it hasn't turned out that way, isn't it?
Happy election season! Only a few short months away, ain't it?
You're trying too hard
And still wrong. There has been no shortage of lawyers "inserting themselves" from Wake, at least, into NC politics. Yes, political history matters, but politics is history in the making each day, so whether one knows our history is not as significant a measure of sophistication as whether one knows the current lay of the land.
No, I don't like your sarcasm. I think it detracts from your points because it causes you to seem insecure.
Yes, redistricting is very important, but if you think the GOP would not be in high gear whether or not redistricting were on the table, then you don't understand NC politics.
Shanahan and others may "salivate" at the negative headlines, but no lawyers "salivate" over sexual harassment cases -- especially where state employees are concerned. There are no contingency fees for these cases. If you have the money, you can afford the suit. If not, tough.
Now I have to sign off to indulge in one of the few good reasons left for having cable tv.
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing
-Edmund Burke
Hope you enjoyed the show
You're playing the role the GOP wants you to play in their show.
Sarcasm is used to only partially mask my disbelief that you can't/don't grasp the minor legal and political history of these cases. I'll let the lawyer look them up.
Stephenson v Bartlett
Morgan v Stephenson
This isn't about Shanahan or any lawyer salivating over sexual harassment cases.
It isn't about someone from the western part of the state bilking the state for fancy flights to Raleigh.
It's about practicing a little bit of law and a lot of politics. Like say, getting a judge in Johnston County to hear a redistricting case. Venue? What's that?
Gasp! Strach has signed statements about terrizin the womenz!
Swoon! Leake actually filed for reimbursement for flying a few times in a couple of decades of service instead of driving 100% of the time from west of Asheville!
The next redistricting show is being staged already, and I'm not talking about the elections.
Speaking of blinders
Nice. You are so determined to insist that this is about something you want it to be about instead of what it is that you ridicule the idea that sexual harassment at the workplace is a problem.
The "minor legal and political history of these cases?" These women aren't involved in redistricting. Neither, by the way, is the idiot who harassed them.
Redistricting may be the only thing you think matters, but it isn't the issue here. It is an issue you're afraid will be affected by whatever fallout ensues. I can understand your concern, because yes, there is a lot at stake for the Democrats if they lose control. Any politically informed person following this story is thinking about what could happen if we lose the house or senate or -- in 2012 -- the governor's office. I know I'm thinking about it and it scares the hell out of me. But that doesn't, or shouldn't, obscure the fact that something is rotten in Raleigh.
The reality is that day to day functioning within a state agency actually involves real human beings, not stage props.
It was you, not I, who brought up Shanahan and the idea of lawyers salivating to jump on sexual harassment cases. I guess it was a throw-away line, like so many other snide toss-offs that turn out to be irrelevant to any point other than satisfying an apparent desire to sneer for sneering's sake.
What's the purpose of the "Gasp" exclamation or your cute little "terrizin the womenz" spelling if not to ridicule what these women are saying? You clearly have no concept of what they went through or what it took for them to come forward. These are human beings we are talking about. Do you seriously believe they were prompted by party affiliation or by the GOP agenda? They sure as hell weren't inspired by the idea of how their careers would be affected, let alone their daily lives.
Do you honestly believe this is all part of an elaborate strategy by Kim Strach in the cause of a GOP plan to overcome obstacles for their redistricting cases? You think she somehow coached them? Really? You may need to get out more. Your theory makes for a great movie plot, but real life is much messier than a John Grisham novel.
The arrogance of the party in power has nothing to do with redistricting, and for that matter it has little to do with party, since there is no reason to believe that Republicans are inherently less prone to abuse office than Democrats. But the fact is that the people who have been in power a long time are the ones abusing that power. It is showing on them.
Meanwhile, people who show up for work each day trying to earn a living deserve more consideration than to be treated as dispensable characters in a play.
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing
-Edmund Burke
the facts and the story
the fact is that no laws have been broken, yet there is a slanted article each week against Gary Bartlett.
My OpEd in the News and Observer on Augu 12 cleared up misinformation presented as "facts" by Biesecker in the paper ballot voting vendor story.
The irony is if Biesecker would have listened to me when I called, he would have learned that Gary Bartlett didn't PICK the vendors. The 5 member appted board certified 3 vendors. There was a public RFP allowing vendors to submit bids. Diebold submitted their bid late and also filed TRO to get judge to excuse them from standards for voting systems and companies.
I went to court and thanks to Electronic Frontier Foundation had that TRO reversed. Eventually Diebold fled, not without a little help from both sides of the aisle.
See Warren County GOP Chair says 'Dont Buy Diebold'
There is no state contract for ballot printing. Our ballot printing costs are much less than what many states pay. Unlike other states, our state has not had election fiascos caused by ballot printing errors.
In spite of the ficticious argument that ES&S had a ballot printing monopoly, 15 counties get their ballots elsewhere, but have them tested by the NC SBoE to ensure they will be read accurately by the machines. That vendor says he can't handle ballot printing for additional counties!
By the way, NC company PrintElect has been printing the ballots for many counties for decades, not all of a sudden.
Where do you think the (then) Diebold counties got their ballots? Or their repairs? Why do you think that often Diebold counties bought their ballots from PrintElect or other local vendors?
And Gaston Co used Diebold touchscreens in 2004 and had to hire the Diebold technician to run the election. And 12,000 votes were not tallied on election night.
Since SL 323 was passed, our elections have improved, and our SBoE also instituted "wellness" checks of all 100 counties, to audit County BoE offices and ensure that voting machines were stored in climate controlled secure facilities.
What the State Board has done is administer the laws as written, and each week there's a different article aimed at assassinating Gary Bartlett's character, but no laws broken, and with the SBoE conducting good elections.
There's alot that wasn't listened too, and as Bob Hall said, no one wanted to talk to anyone with different "facts".
If you don't like the SBoE ethics policy, blame the NC Gen Assembly, who instead of drafting the policy in 2005, instructed the SBoE to draft it.
If the SBoE is breaking laws, then lets see that in the N&O. But that isn't what the articles are about. Its a game of throwing anything out there and hoping something will stick, and none of it about breaking laws or any crimes.
Regards;
Joyce McCloy
Facts
As a person with a definite agenda of her own, I don't expect you to have an unbiased perspective on any of these matters.
But this isn't about verified voting, even if verified voting, like so many other important issues, stands to be affected by what happens at SBOE
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing
-Edmund Burke