jim black

Speaker Jim Black said that he is seeking a fifth term as speaker and is innocent of all charges. In fact he claims there is no investigation. According to the Daily Reflector:

N.C. House Speaker Jim Black on Monday called news reports about a federal investigation involving his office inaccurate and reiterated his intention to remain in his leadership position.

In an interview on the Talk 1070 (WNCT-AM) program "Talk of the Town," Black maintained he is not being investigated and is not guilty of any crime.

Perusing today's papers, I found two interesting links that readers might want to check out:

1) The Winston-Salem Journal does an interesting roundup of recent clashes between branches of the North Carolina government and how separation of powers is working here. The article includes a brief summary of an action to invalidate the state's recent lottery.

2) The N&O has an article that begins:

Like country singer Tammy Wynette, North Carolina House Democrats are standing by their man.

And concludes that Jim Black is staying in power despite all of his recent troubles here. I was previously saying that Jim Black must go, but you cannot argue with country music.

Yesterday, Jim Black came out with a muted apology. Nothing specific that he did wrong, just "mistakes" (from Winston-Salem Journal):

"I have made some mistakes in judgment, and if I could do some things again, would do them differently," Black told reporters.

But in the same paper, it is revealed that Black spent money on criminal defense attorneys from his campaign fund. Again from the W-S Journal:

There's a story in the N&O today that, if accurate and complete, is pretty sad. Luther Hodges Jr. served on Jimmy Carter's cabinet, was chairman of NC National Bank, and CEO of the First Bank of Washington. When he came back to NC, he'd switched parties to become a Republican, and was appointed to a term of service on the Ports Authority. The N&O says that he did good work there. Now that Democrats are back in control of the state legislature, Hodges can't get his Ports Authority gig renewed. He also wanted to be considered for a spot on the UNC System board, but couldn't even get his name on the list. Hodges thinks its because he's a Republican.