I wish I would have known that Jim Black was taking cash bribes in return for political favors — we could have done so much together.
One of North Carolina’s most powerful politicos and former state House speaker, Black pleaded guilty last week to federal and state corruption charges. Black admitted to taking cash kickbacks from chiropractors in some of Charlotte’s swankiest bathrooms.
Black’s troubles did not end there. On Tuesday, the 71-year-old Matthews resident pleaded guilty to bribing former state House Rep. Michael Decker. With only $50,000, Black enticed Decker to switch his political party from Republican to Democrat. The move kept Black in the speaker’s chair for a third term. The chair was a little larger that time because he had to share it with the rather portly Richard Morgan, Republican co-speaker from the Sandhills area.
Again Black found himself wheeling and dealing in a bathroom. Apparently this time it was at an International House of Pancakes in Salisbury, a midsized town located between Greensboro and Charlotte on Interstate 85. The Black and Decker (no relation to the power tool company) deal also included a $46,000 a year job for Decker’s son in the legislature.
The money exchanges took place in bathrooms? What were they, scenes from the Godfather movie? I wonder if Black and his coconspirators ever considered using Harrelson Hall’s luxurious bathrooms for their covert deals. They could have gotten a lot more than just money out of the transactions — U.S. Attorney George E.B. Holding did say that Black “prostituted his office.”
A number of news agencies are reporting that Black entered an “Alford Plea” in connection with bribery and obstructing justice charges brought about by the state. An Alford plea, according to our online friends at Wikipedia, is when “the defendant does not admit the act and asserts innocence, but admits that sufficient evidence exists with which the prosecution could likely convince a judge or jury to find the defendant guilty.”
I would like to help set the record straight. Black is guilty — period. He admitted it in court. But just like a good politician, he tried to muddy the situation by using fancy legal terms. I asked my father, a civil rights lawyer, about the Alford plea. “Hogwash!” he said. Translation: no matter what it is called, it still amounts to guilt. An Alford plea may make a defendant feel warm and fuzzy on the inside, but it has little to no bearing on the sentence a judge hands down.
Black’s swindling eventually allowed him to stay in power as speaker for another two-year term — thank goodness it would be his last. He was, however, still able to exact damage on the state. He railroaded the state lottery, which won approval by only two votes, through the House. The lottery won final approval when Lt. Governor Beverly Perdue broke a tie in the state Senate. The tie was a result of two senators “being absent.” It is not far fetched to believe that Black and or his cronies paid those two senators to be “conveniently gone” during the vote.
Politicians on Jones Street are squirming, and rightly so. I have a few names I would be glad to share with people. Perhaps if our state government would like to instill some confidence back into our political institutions, it would revisit the lottery all together. Take a new vote — up or down. In fact, I am sure that there are multiple issues that the General Assembly should reconsider. Laws made in restrooms are worth as much as the “stuff” that is flushed down toilets. At least we all know now that Jim Black stinks.
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