They chickened out!
In an unbelievable example of "back room politics", the Cabarrus County Commissioners decided tonight to indefinitely table a resolution to censure their fellow Commissioner Coy Privette.It was clear to everyone attending that this was a deal that they arranged and talked about before tonight. Even some TV reporters were convinced this was premeditated and told me so.
Not even 2 minutes into discussing the resolution to censure Privette, which was drawn up by Commissioners Jay White and Grace Mynatt, Jay White himself made a motion to table the issue. All the other commissioners agreed within 10 seconds, without even blinking. It was an astounding spectacle to behold.
What made them change their minds???
How can you go from having the County Attorney look into ways of having Privette kicked of the board to not even want to talk about a resolution that basically would only tell Privette he's been a bad boy???
Why can't we tell a politician that hiring a prostitute 6 times is not exactly a kosher thing to do, especially not if your whole political career is built on supposedly being an example of "high morals"?
I strongly believe that the people of Cabarrus County deserve an explanation from the County Commission. Why did you do this? Why sweep this under the rug???
The only reason I can come up with is that the Executive Committee of the Cabarrus Republican Party got together with their Commissioners and asked them not to censure Privette in a desperate attempt to keep their Party together. If there's another explanation, I would love to hear it.
It is clear that a majority of the people of our County do not want Privette on the board any longer. Any sane person knows this and the County Commissioners surely know this too.
The County Commission wants this issue to disappear, never to be spoken of again. I can assure you the complete opposite of that will happen. Stay tuned.
P.S.: For anyone interested, this was the complete text of the proposed resolution:On December 4 2006 Coy Clarence Privette took the oath of County Commissioner pursuant tothe laws of North Carolina to faithfully execute the Office of County Commissioner implicit inthat oath is the obligation that he set an example of high moral standards and conduct himself in a manner that fosters respect for the truth.
Nice resolution! Unfortunately it has now landed in the waste basket.
Whereas Mr Privette while county commissioner of Cabarrus County engaged in an
inappropriate relationship with a prostitute in a Salisbury hotel room on six occasions from May 4 through June 25 2007;
Whereas Mr Privette while County Commissioner of Cabarrus County was charged and
arrested on July 19 2007 with six counts of aiding and abetting in prostitution;
Whereas Mr Privette while County Commissioner of Cabarrus County plead guilty on August 22 2007 to six misdemeanor counts of aiding and abetting in prostitution;
Whereas Mr Privette's conduct in this matter is unacceptable for a County Commissioner of Cabarrus County, demeans the office of County Commissioner and disrespects the laws of the land which he swore to uphold;
Whereas Coy Clarence Privette through his conduct in this matter has violated the trust of thepeople of Cabarrus County;
Whereas future generations must know that such behavior is not only unacceptable but also impinges on the integrity trust and respect of the Board of County Commissioners;
Therefore be it resolved that:
The Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners does hereby censure Coy Clarence Privette
County Commissioner of Cabarrus County and does condemn his wrongful conduct in the
strongest terms;
The Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners recognizes the historic gravity of this resolution and trusts and urges that future Cabarrus County Boards of Commissioners will recognize the importance of allowing this statement of censure and condemnation to remain intact for all time;and
Be it further resolved that:
The Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners now moves on to other matters of significance to the people of Cabarrus County for the benefit of the people of Cabarrus County.
Monday, November 19, 2007
What a bunch of chickens!
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15 comments:
That's a picture of a turkey
Actually it's not. It's a featherless chicken.
I was hoping for a little more substantial comment from you by the way :-)
Rooster - my bad...just got done with a long trip.
I'd imagine that the move might have something to do with the "for sale" sign on his house.
Look to the obvious, first...then you can start cooking up conspiracy theories.
If his house really is for sale, which would be excellent news, why does that prevent the other commissioners from saying Privette's "conduct is unacceptable for a County Commissioner of Cabarrus County".?
That "for sale" sign on His house must be something from the last few days, because I regularly drive by there and never saw a sign.
And if that really is the reason, then why not say that? Why not say "I propose to table this resolution, since Mr. Privette seems to be moving, so I believe censuring him wouldn't serve much of a purpose anymore"?
Even reporters e-mailed me saying they were not given a reason for the tabling. Jay White told one of them "The public already knows how we feel". Well they already knew that months ago, so why did you draw up the censure resolution then?
To dispell the first conspiracy theory, I can tell you without qualification that the Cabarrus County GOP Exec Board has had NO contact with the commissioners regarding the censure.
Think about it: less than a week after Coy Privette's convictions, the GOP effectively 'censured' him with a demand that he resign. If anything, we'd likely prefer that more people within the party take a similar position on the issue.
In a previous article, you said,
Problem is, until today, there has never been a "for sale" sign posted on His lawn and the Cabarrus GOP refuses to look for a successor until Privette leaves his post
I think I'm the only person in the County that's not been keeping vigil on Coy's lawn. The way I read that is that there is a "For Sale" sign in his yard.
Also, I don't think that the censure resolution was that big of a deal in the first place. As someone who's presided over one recently - I can tell you that censure resolutions cause more problems than they fix.
Between being shuffled around on board and liason assignements, being taken out of the spot of running the Cabarrus Republican Men's Club, and the apparent death of the Cabarrus Taxpayers' Association - Coy is not the boogie man he used to be.
Chickens, the lot of them...
I'm with you on this one, why not just slap the wrist and move on? I can't imagine there being enough folks out there who think Coy's not washed up to make a stink about his being "censured." But I can think of more than a few who wont look favorably at them for deciding it was a waste of time...
Chris: Duly noted. As the chair of the Cabarrus GOP I would hope you'd know.
Justin: If the censuring wasn't that big of a deal, why put it on the agenda in the first place?
Aaron: We finally agree on something!
Let me start by saying, if I were a Commissioner - I would have voted to censure him.
If you pay attention, they moved to postpone indefinitely. That means that they can bring it up at any time - which has its uses, too. Privette's strategy during this whole thing has been to weather this storm that he saw as dying out the middle of this month or so. This frustrates that.
As for this not being a big deal, censure was the remnant of a three part deal that would have involved barring Privette from traveling on the County dime, representing Cabarrus County by serving as a liaison to community boards, and censure. After legal review, all that was left was censure.
I'm sure that the Commissioners would reconsider if there were significant public outcry; but, you were there at the meeting last night, and Coy has rallied what's left of his forces.
"Coy has rallied what's left of his forces."
I'm glad to see then that his forces are reduced to 3 individuals.
I'm getting the message though, It's time to rally some forces of my own again.
See you at next month's commissioner meeting?
Justin- Tabling a motion does give them that option but the CCC has routinely used it as an option to kill their proposals without having to grow a spine and withdraw them.
The same thing happened when they were going to ban the use of firearms within X amount of distance from a house. The ban would have effectively destroyed the shooting sports and hunting in the county (except for hunting with your car bumber)
When a bunch of good ol' boys (myself included) packed the chamber they "tabled" it as a way to get us to shut up without pissing off the 2, that's right 2 citizens who complained about the shooting laws in the first place...
Justin- Tabling a motion does give them that option but the CCC has routinely used it as an option to kill their proposals without having to grow a spine and withdraw them.
I'm planning on discussing this on Monday when I get back
It seems increasingly clear that the Cabarrus County Council is not fit to carry out their elected duties. It seems to be one incident after another, with the Speedway being the ultimate display of incompetence. They really need to just be completely swept out of office in the next election.
Sam,
The County Commision had nothing to do with the speedway debacle. That was our wonderful Concord City council (who won re-election inspite of it all)
Anyone could see that as soon as Concord Officials started throwing money at Bruton, the county folks would follow suit.
Oh, that's right. My bad
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