richard morgan

:::sigh::: He's ba-ack! And this time, he's not alone! That's right folks, just when you thought Moore County could settle back into the quiet of non-Richard Morgan existence, through stealth and deception, he.....okay.

Since the news broke today about lobbyist Don Beason's lavish spending habits, I've been struggling to understand how and why this story has been covered up for so long. After doing some digging today, I have to conclude it's a pretty ugly picture of North Carolina's political press.

First off, Beason is not a household word in North Carolina, even though he should be. Up until today, the only definitive story on the influential Republican I could find was written in 2005 by Dan Kane, full of cushy stuff like this:

Top legislators say they like Beason, who was ranked as the most effective lobbyist last session, because he gives solid information and he's honest. "The operative word with Don Beason is 'professionalism,' " said Rep. Richard Morgan, a former Republican House speaker from Moore County.

But there might be other reasons for Beason's success, too. He has skillfully worked with his business clients to direct money to top legislators' campaigns and to cover the costs of their political meetings and events.

Dan Kane wrote that story in 2005, right? And now here we are in 2007, with everyone wondering who's the mystery man that funneled a half-a-million dollars into Jim Black's dirty pockets. And no one fingers Don Beason?

What gives?

In a Nation book review John Powers writes about "All Governments Lie!": The Life and Times of Rebel Journalist I.F. Stone, by veteran reporter Myra MacPherson. Powers writes about "I.F. Stone's Weekly" the paper Stone started in 1953:

"boasting such early subscribers as Bertrand Russell, Eleanor Roosevelt and Albert Einstein. (J. Edgar Hoover read it compulsively, in order to be outraged--he downed Stone's words like Red Bull.)"

I often wonder if the Pope political empire is located along Morgan Street so that the name Morgan can act "like Red Bull" to the many Pope operatives, a constant reminder to eschew bi-partisanship and to persist in divisiveness with renewed vigor.

Some stories, like the decline and fall of Jim Black, refuse to die. Which is exactly the case in the blood feud between Art Pope and Richard Morgan, two luminaries in the North Carolina Party of Greed.

As you may remember, Art Pope (fondly known around these parts as the Puppetmaster) dumped half a million dollars of his family's corporate money into the 2006 Republican primaries. He focused particularly on stomping out Richard Morgan, who had the audacity to work with Democrats over the years in the General Assembly. In hopes of purifying the party and remaking it in his own arrogant image, the Puppetmaster bankrolled a campaign to support Joe "the Hairdresser" Boylan against Morgan in Moore County. Morgan challenged his spending as electioneering, but was rebuffed by the idiots at the State Board of Elections.

Democracy took a sucker punch this week when the North Carolina State Board of Elections voted to allow the sale of legislative seats to fat-cat corporations. In an embarrassing display of incompetence, board chairman Larry Leake and his hapless colleagues went through the motions of hearing Richard Morgan's complaint with barely a nod in the direction of decorum or seriousness. Loony Larry even had this to say to a reporter from the Southern Pines Pilot:

Asked if the board could not really have ruled just the same way in about 20 minutes - without all the testimony and argument - Leake just smiled.

In a local squabble reminiscent of infighting around Connecticut for Lieberman, Hairdresser Puppet Joe Boylan tells a Pilot reporter that he doesn't know how to pull strings the way the Puppetmaster does.

The Moore County Republican Party's Executive Committee has adopted a resolution asking state Rep.-elect Joe Boylan to help squelch the actions of one of his supporters. The resolution doesn't name Boylan backer Ed Kennedy, though it clearly refers to him.

"I don't have any more control over Mr. Kennedy's actions than I do over those of supporters of my opponent," Boylan said Thursday.

The Pilot ran an interview with Richard Morgan today that covers lots of ground.

Q: Just curious: Have you given any thought to running for U.S. Congress next time around?

A: My second term, there were some folks -- who are my enemies now -- that talked to me about filing for Congress in the 2nd District when Moore County was split in two districts. They felt that I could beat [David] Funderburk on his first time, 1992. And I looked at them at that time then and I said, "I just got to the General Assembly, and I've still got a lot to do. And besides, I don't want to go to Washington."

When I schedule appointments there, honestly, I fly up there and get there about 9 or 10 o'clock and schedule appointments midday so that I can be on a flight back at 4 o'clock. I don't like to be in Washington more than two or three days.

I finally got my hands on the Petition for Judicial Review by Richard Morgan, who is challenging the decision in favor of Art Pope's electioneering organization by the North Carolina State Board of Elections earlier this year. As you may recall, Pope's money was poured into the contest between Morgan and Hairdresser Puppet Joe Boylan, tilting the playing field and handing Boylan a surprise victory.

For new readers to BlueNC, this has been covered exhaustively, and with good reason. What's at stake is the integrity of our elections. Specifically, the state board found that a rich guy with unlimited corporate cash can spend as much as he wants to influence the outcome of elections. To be clear, no one (in this case) is questioning Pope's ability to spend his personal money. That's not the issue. Rather, the money used to influence this election came directly from Pope's business - which means it's corporate money.

If Pope wins this appeal, businesses in North Carolina will be free to pour millions into elections, effectively swamping the voices of We the People who are limited by campaign contribution laws in the amounts we can give.

The petition for review is 11 pages long. I've excerpted part of the section called "Bases for Appeal," which you can see if you click on the image. It's a bunch of legal mumbo jumbo, which you may find interesting, but there's an even more startling basis for appeal, which I wrote about on the day of the hearing.

Momo is at work, but took the time to point out an article in this morning's Pilot. It deserves our full attention.

Remember watching the coverage of the SBOE meeting where Morgan challenged the contributions made by Art Pope's Variety Stores to the 527 he used to send mailers intended to oust Morgan?

More below the fold...

Some days the miasma of North Carolina politics makes me want to blow shit up. Today is one of those days, and what I want to blow up is the whole god-damned system. And I mean god-damned in the most literal sense of the word. Because if there is a god, she is most certainly pissed off at how We the People and our elected officials here in North Carolina are behaving.

Today's deep depression got started by this editorial in the News and Observer.

Tucked into this year's ethics law changes was language transferring that approval power to the speaker of the House, currently Democrat Jim Black of Matthews, and the president pro tem of the Senate, who for several years has been Dare County's Marc Basnight, also a Democrat. That arrangement holds the potential for a glaring conflict of interest regardless of who holds the post.

Richard Morgan released a copy of his Federal Grand Jury subpoena today. There is an AP story out right now such as this one at the Durham Herald Sun. I'm not sure where they are going with this but the subpoena states that documents may be furnished to the IRS prior to the Grand Jury 11/15/06-11/16/06. It names 37 "Relevant Parties" and requests documents related to transactions with these "Relevant Parties" and copies of State and Federal tax returns 2002 through 2005. The subpoena also requests financial account information and photographs, videotapes and/or tape-recordings of any of the "Relevant Parties".

It looks like they are taking a money laundering angle. For anyone who wants a peek at the actual documents take a look below:        ( read more below the fold.....)