Coy Privette to the people who elected him: screw you!

Take action and protest with me. More information at the end of this post.

Coy Privette showed a big middle finger to his Party and his constituents today.
A statement he released clearly states he will not resign as County Commissioner.

"I realize the mistake I made in my private life affects my reputation. This mistake has been dealt with, and I am ready to move forward," the Republican said in an e-mail to area reporters.
"I intend to continue to serve the citizens of Cabarrus County."

First of all I want to say that no, the "mistake" he has made (at least 6 times) has not been dealt with. Privette is under supervised probation for a year, hasn't done a minute of the 48 hours of community service yet he was sentenced to and I'm sure the "psychological treatment" he was receiving isn't over yet either.
In a statement Coy Privette handed to the press right after his sentencing in court, he says:

"I am going to be dedicating considerable time and effort to repair myself. I am already seeking professional attention to this end."

I guess that by "considerable time" he meant exactly a week???

Coy privette has lost all credibility as a politician and admits to needing psychological help, yet wants to pretend that everything is business as usual.
The arrogance Privette displayed today by just wanting to carry on as if nothing has happened is incomprehensible.

Since Mr. Privette obviously can not understand why he should resign, the people of Cabarrus County will have to tell him.
The time for action has come!

You can help in several ways:
First of all you can surf to the websites of the Charlotte Observer and the Independent Tribune and participate in the polls these two papers are running on their front page, let it be known that you want Coy Privette to resign. I know from an insider that Mr. Privette pays close attention to these online polls, especially the one from the Independent Tribune.

Second, please send an email to coyresign@gmail.com and explain to Mr. privette why you want him to resign. Please try to stay at least halfway polite. All received emails will be personally handed to Mr. Privette at the next County Commissioner meeting. By not sending your emails directly to Privette we can keep track of the number of people who are asking him to resign, since Mr. Privette himself can not be trusted to give anyone accurate numbers about how his constituents feel.

Third, show up at the next County Commissioner meeting in Concord on September 17. A protest will be organized right before the meeting (6.15 pm) so the local press can see that the citizens of Cabarrus County are not willing to pretend nothing has happened. We will then also attempt to give all the emails you've sent to Mr. Privette himself.

This is not about political revenge. I'm openly inviting any citizen from whatever political party to join me in expressing our outrage. For political strategy purposes it would be much better for me as a Democrat to leave Privette on the commission, he would be an easy target for a next election. No, this is about doing the right thing and "practicing what you preach" Mr. Privette.
I'll see you at the next County Commissioner meeting.

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Cabarrus County deputies disciplined for "inappropriate" actions

Ok, I won't doubt My readers again. When an "anonymous" commenter posted the following comment on an earlier post of mine I was very skeptic:

Coy is not the only official in Cabarrus County dealing with sex issues - Does anybody know why 15 Sheriff's Deputies were fired after a wild party??? I hear there was wife-swapping going on...

I thought that rumor was so crazy that I refused to post the comment at first. Then I heard the rumor from a few other people as well. Then I saw an article in the Independent Tribune today.

An undetermined number of Cabarrus County deputies have been disciplined for inappropriate actions after an investigation of off-duty parties, according to Sheriff Brad Riley.

As far as I know nothing really illegal went on, so I'm not sure why the deputies should be disciplined, but I'm sure we'll learn more details in the following days.
The Sheriff himself is not involved at all and from the article is also doesn't look like the deputies were fired, but I guess this proves that old saying "where there's smoke, there's fire" again.

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Observer asks Privette to resign - pressure mounts

The Charlotte Observer published an editorial today that asks Coy Privette to resign.
It's nice to see a newspaper getting it exactly right and saying what I've been thinking as well:

"his criminal actions highlight a lack of judgment. He championed morals to fuel his political career, and clearly did not practice what he preached."

Mr. Privette has received a very sweet deal in court the other day.
His criminal record will be expunged if he completes 48 hours of community service and serves a year of probation. For some strange reason he will not be prosecuted for filing a forged affidavit, which would carry much more severe penalties, even though that is why the whole investigation started in the first place.

And to respond to some republicans that tell me "what about Clinton?", there's a ton of difference between those cases. The most important being that Monica Lewinsky was not a prostitute! She didn't get paid for her services by blank checks that later got falsely reported stolen. It was sex between consenting adults. Furthermore, Bill Clintons political career wasn't build on being the "champion of morals". Bill Clinton also didn't need "psychological treatment", which Privette was ordered to get and is already receiving. Do you really want a politician who is supposed to represent and take decisions for you to have psychological problems?

Even though I'm definitely not a fan of Privette, I'm not asking him to resign because I like to get rid of him, but because it is the right thing to do.
If I had political motives I would ask him to stay on, because he'd be such an easy target in a next election and I'd love to see him replaced by a Democrat at that time.

However, If you claim to be the "party of family values", you should act like it.
Mr. Privette, resign now.

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My day in court with Coy Privette - Guilty as charged.

Today was our republican county commissioner Coy Privette's day in court after being charged with 6 counts of "aiding and abetting" prostitution back in July.
I decided to get up early and go watch this circus.
I arrived at the Rowan County Court house in Salisbury at 8.30 am. The Court session was supposed to start at 9 am.

At 8.55 am Tiffany Summers arrived, the woman Mr. Privette paid for her "services".
She was immediately confronted with the press corps that had showed up "en masse". After giving no comment she entered the building.

Since the court cases were handled alphabetically everyone quickly figured out Mr. Privette wouldn't show up for quite some time (we were told 10.30 am).
Everyone went to get some coffee and returned an hour later.

At 10.25 Mr. Privette and his lawyer were escorted into the building by several police officers, while being swarmed by cameras.
I managed to get into the courtroom right in front of him and took a seat with the rest of the press corps (apparently when you show up with a little notepad and pen everyone assumes you're press).

At 11 am his case started.
Mr. Privette's lawyer entered a guilty plea on all charges.
Rowan County district attorney Bill Kenerly agreed to defer prosecution which means if Privette meets the conditions of the court orders, the charges against him will be dismissed. Those conditions include supervised probation for the next year, completing 48 hours of community service, paying court fees and continuing psychological counseling that he had already initiated (some people might say there are other republicans who also might benefit from psychological treatment).

Mr. Kenerly then listed the details of the case and the evidence they had against Coy Privette.
The whole investigation started on June 27th after Tiffany Summers cashed a check from Coy Privette for an "unusually high" amount. His bank then contacted Mr. Privette who stated that the check was stolen. The bank reimbursed Mr. Privette and contacted Kannapolis police in the matter.
When police interrogated Summers about the check she immediately said that it was a payment for sex and went on to tell the whole story.
Police found out that on several occasions Mr. Privette, who's 74, had rented a room in 2 motels under his own name. Closed circuit camera surveillance in those motels showed Privette and Summers entering the premises. Summers had taken pictures of Privette with her Camera cellphone, which she handed over to police. Summers then also agreed to make some phone calls to Privette which were recorded. In all I would say they had a very solid case.

Mrs. Summers case was heard at 11.30 am. She pleaded guilty to one charge of prostitution after being offered a deal by the prosecution. She only got 60 days of unsupervised probation, didn't have to pay any fines or court costs and couldn't have any contact with Privette anymore. She basically was rewarded for cooperating so well with the investigation. Afterwards I was able to talk with her lawyer, Mr. James Davis, for a bit who stated that his client basically "walks out the door" and said that he thought it was a "fair and reasonable arraignment". He also stated that they were offered this deal by the prosecution about 2 weeks ago.

When Mr. Privette exited the court he didn't say anything but handed out a statement which thanked everyone for their support and stated "As I undergo much needed personal and spiritual reflection I sincerely ask everyone to keep me in their thoughts and prayers in my journey to earn back the trust that I have lost.”

This last sentence hints to me that he doesn't plan to resign as a County Commissioner, although I don't see how someone who's receiving "psychological treatment" can be a good and effective Commissioner. When press asked Mr. Privette if he would resign, His attorney simply stated "We'll address that later."

Since apparently a commissioner in Cabarrus County can not be forced to resign after being convicted of a misdemeanor, it is up to Mr. Privette personally to decide his political future. I hope he makes the right decision, but it wouldn't be the first time Coy Privette surprises everyone.

Update 07/23: Apparently our local NBC affiliate WCNC had an exclusive interview with Tiffany Summers. The article shows some of the pictures of Privette that she took with her cellphone and explains the reason why Privette reported checks stolen. A friend of Summers tried to cash the checks because Summers herself didn't have any ID. When the bank called Privette and asked questions about the checks he didn't recognized the friends name and said the checks were stolen.

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A compromise on the downtown jail: arguments for and against

After yesterday's Cabarrus County Commissioners meeting where a possible compromise on the downtown jail housing unit was discussed and ultimately tabled, I thought it might be a good idea to list all the arguments they talked about for and against a possible compromise.

I'm not going to list again what the suggested compromise includes,you can find that in an earlier post of mine.

The redesign of the jail housing unit will delay the construction of it by at least a year. It takes 3 months for schematic drawings and models of the building to be made. It takes another 6 to 8 months (because of applications that need to be done, reviewed and approved) before the final plans can be drawn and the bidding process can start. The bidding process itself can take up to 3 months. So in all it takes between 12 and 14 months before construction on a redesigned jail housing unit can begin.

The whole legal process could delay construction even longer than a redesign.
The N.C. Court of Appeals is scheduled on September 11 to hear an appeal of the lawsuit Concord residents have filed against the city of Concord to halt jail construction. A final ruling is not expected until the end of the year. If the same Concord residents then appeal this ruling with the NC Supreme Court it could take years before we have a final legal result. This depends on if the ruling of the Court of Appeals is unanimous or not. A unanimous ruling is usually handled much faster by the NC Supreme Court. As you know, the folks who filed the lawsuit have agreed to drop it if the County Commission approves the compromise.

A smaller, redesigned building would be cheaper to construct for the simple fact that it's smaller, thus a smaller square footage.
On the other hand a smaller redesigned building might also cost more, because of extra personnel that would be needed to work in it.
According to the sheriff this has everything to do with the layout of the building. I didn't quite understand this argument, but it was said.
Commissioner Mynatt then suggested to leave the building at its planned height (the original compromise lowered the building from 6 floors to 4), but "chopping of the last 1/3" in the back of the building.

The original plan, years ago, was actually to erect two jail house units on the same property (next to the jail annex which is being built right now), because the Sheriff and County Commission wanted to have a plan that could last 50 years and not 20 years like it always had in the past.
None of the Commissioners want to build that second building anymore, so that's off the table. Commissioner Carruth even suggested to share ownership of the piece of land that will not be built on with the surrounding residents so they can be assured it will always remain open space.

Since that second building has been off the table for a while, the jail housing unit that will be built (compromise or original plans) will be at capacity the day it will open. So the County will immediately have to start looking for some land to build yet another jail on.
Commissioner Mynatt suggested to use the plans for the jail housing unit, that have been drawn and paid for, on that new piece of land and spend the money instead on a redesign of the downtown concord location.

The Sheriff's dept. will have to set up a special new inmates transportation unit, that does nothing all day but transport prisoners because there will be a remote jail location then. They will have to do this whether or not a redesign will be built or the original plans will be used, because of the reason I just explained in the previous paragraph.

It is unclear how the Commissioners will now solve this whole issue, since they tabled the compromise last night, without agreeing on what will happen next.

Grace Mynatt wanted to go talk with local residents and the architects again.
Bob Carruth didn't want to spend the $375,000 for new schematics because he said he wasnt going to vote for a redesign anyway, he wants the original plans to be used.
Joni Juba seems to side with Carruth, while Privette is siding with Mynatt.
This leaves Commissioner Jay White to decide.

I have no doubt this story will continue for a while...

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Cabarrus Commissioner meeting highlights: Coy lives! - no decision on jail yet.

I just got back from tonights' County Commissioner meeting.
Commissioner Coy Privette crawled out of the cave he's been hiding in since his "aiding and abetting prostitution" charges, just to come vote on the main issue on the agenda: "the Jail compromise".
Mr. Privette didn't look too good physically. He looked tired, worn down and seemed to have aged a few years in the past weeks.

I had expected there to be a big turnout of jail opponents at the meeting (like we had at last month's meeting), but instead the room was only 2/3 full and only 2 people spoke during the public comments moment at the beginning of the meeting, one for the compromise and one against.

The actual item on the agenda that dealt with the whole jail issue was to approve an amendment to the contract of the Ware Bonsall architectural bureau, which would pay them to come up with schematic drawings and models of the kind of jail housing unit that the compromise talked about. You can read more about the outlines of that compromise in yesterdays' post on this blog.

As you could read yesterday, the order for the schematic drawings would cost the county $375,000. I was surprised to hear that this is the price for just some schematics and models that will give you an impression of how the redesigned jail housing unit would look. These are definitely not "ready to build" plans.
It would take 3 months to come up with these models. If the county would then decide to go ahead with a redesign, it would take another 6 to 8 months before definitive plans would be ready and the bidding process could start. The bidding process would end another 3 months after that.
Conclusion: if the County wants to redesign the building, it would take at least another year before they could start the actual construction.

There was some confusion about how many beds the redesigned building could hold. Apparently Commissioner Mynatt and White had used some wrong numbers when debating a compromise with the jail opponents. Mynatt said she wanted to meet with the architects again and this time use the correct numbers, so they could conclusively say how many jail beds a redesigned housing unit could hold.
After this the commissioners decided to table the issue and vote on it next time. Kind of an anti-climactic end to the evening if you ask me: they decided not to decide yet.

Tomorrow I'll talk more about some of the issues (and there were a lot) that were raised in the whole debate tonight. See you then!

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Coy Privette will play the leading role in an exciting week for Cabarrus County Politics.

Coy Privette is set to play the staring role in a busy political week for Cabarrus County.

First of, we have the County Commissioners meeting in the County Governmental Center, tomorrow at 6.30. The one item on the agenda that will draw the most interest deals with the whole downtown jail issue.

During their last meeting the Commissioners agreed to try and reach a final compromise on the design of the jail building. This debate is not about the Jail Annex/Sheriff's headquarters building which you can currently watch being constructed on the corner of Corban Ave SE and Corban Ave SW. The issue of the debate is the actual jail housing unit which is to be built directly behind the annex. Commissioner Mynatt and White were charged with meeting with opponents of the current jail plans and try to reach a compromise over a new plan. In return for the new plans opponents would drop the lawsuit they have pending against the City of Concord, challenging the city's approval of a conditional use permit for construction of the jail.
The 2 commissioners and the jail opponents did indeed come up with a compromise proposal and the complete County Commission will vote on this proposal during Monday's meeting.

The proposed compromise from plaintiffs cuts two stories from the main housing unit, reduces the number of beds to 288, extends the housing unit to the east and relocates a laundry and loading dock. Combined with a 96-bed jail annex set to open at the downtown site this fall, that would make for a total of 384 inmate beds.
A reconfiguration of the jail project will require $375,000 and three months of design work. While the redesign would cost the county $375,000 now, the reconfigured building would cost $19 million less than the current design.
However, Jail and county officials have said projections show that 350-384 beds would be at capacity upon the opening of the new jail. So the $19 million not spent if commissioners choose the redesigned jail will be spent to purchase land and build another housing unit at an out of town site. Nobody seems to know right now if that $19 million would be enough to build that new jail unit.

Two commissioners, Joni Juba and Bob Carruth, seem to want to stay with the current design. Two others, Grace Mynatt and Jay White, seem to favor a redesign.
That would leave Commissioner Coy Privette, who has not attended a commission meeting since he was charged July 19 with six misdemeanor counts of aiding and abetting prostitution, to cast the deciding vote. In the past opponents of the jail could count Privette on their side. It remains to be seen if Privette will show up at tomorrow's meeting to support them again. According to an article in the Independent Tribune, Privette told County Manager John Day that his attendance at the meeting is “under consideration.” I highly doubt that he will show up. If he doesn't he will apparently have completely given up on his political career and he will abandon a lot of jail opponents who have voted for him in the past. It's time to put up or shut up Mr. Privette.


In his second staring role Coy Privette will show up in the Rowan County Court house on Wednesday, to hear the verdict on His prostitution charges.
From what I could find out online it appears that his case is set for Wednesday morning August 22nd at 9 am in Court Room 1 of the Rowan County Court House in Salisbury. His Judge apparently will be Beth Dixon, a registered Republican.
The charges Privette faces are misdemeanors, so more than likely if he's found to be guilty he will just get a slap on the wrist and will have to pay a fine. As a consequence though his political career will be over.

I plan on attending both "events" and will tell you more about my observations right here.

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Another republican County Commissioner bites the dust!

No, sorry, he doesn't live in Cabarrus County this time...
Harry Foy, a republican County Commissioner from Franklin County, right to the east of Raleigh, was arrested late Wednesday.

Harry Foy is charged with one count of assault on a female, possessing less than half an once of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, said Dare County Sheriff Rodney Midgett.

You can find all the sordid details and a nice mugshot on the News & Observer website.
By the way, our own scandal-plagued commissioner, Coy Privette, is scheduled to appear in a Rowan County Courtroom next Wednesday. I plan to be there and will keep you posted.

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Dick Cheney is right ?!

Watch this remarkable piece of video from 1994 and observe how bad your judgment can change over the course of a decade.

Subscribers to my posts through RSS or e-mail will have to visit the website to watch the video.

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Renovation

I hope you like what I did with the place.
From new wallpaper and paint, to a new photoshop creation of mine on top, my goal was to make this little corner on the web a little cleaner, nicer to look at and easier to navigate.
I also installed a code hack that allows me to only post the first paragraph or so of every post on the front page. If you're interested in reading the whole post you just have to click on the "read more..." link and you'll be transported to a separate page that will have the whole post on it.
This allows you to have a quicker overview of all the recent postings and saves that scroll finger of yours. After all, with the health care system we have I think it's probably smarter to make sure you don't get carpal tunnel syndrome.
If you have any suggestions and/or comments, let me know.
Suggestions like "I wish you liberals would shut up" will be happily discarded :-)

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Turd Blossom is leaving.

Karl Rove, who masterminded President George W. Bush's two White House victories but was slammed by opponents as a divisive figure in U.S. politics, said on Monday he was resigning and heading home to Texas.
The political strategist, known as "The Architect" for guiding Bush from the Texas governorship to the presidency, but also known as "Bush's brain", which makes me think he must have left years ago, is the latest aide to quit as the clock ticks down on Bush's second term.
"This closes the chapter where George Bush and Karl Rove thought they were building a new Republican majority that would last a generation. That is clearly off the table," said Cal Jillson, a political analyst at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
Bush himself reportedly has another nickname for his pal: "Turd Blossom".

Rove helped create a climate of bitter divisiveness and remains under suspicion for his role in administration scandals.
A special prosecutor investigated him on allegations of leaking covert CIA officer Valerie Plame's identity in a scandal linked to the Iraq war, but he was never charged and Bush gave him unbending support.
Democrats in Congress have also had Rove in their sights as they look into why nine U.S. prosecutors were fired. The Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenaed him over the issue, but Bush cited executive privilege to reject it. Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has been trying to force Rove to testify before the committee about Rove's role in the firings of eight United States attorneys.
"Mr. Rove's apparent attempts to manipulate elections and push out prosecutors citing bogus claims of voter fraud shows corruption of federal law enforcement for partisan political purposes, and the Senate Judiciary Committee will continue its investigation into this serious issue," Leahy said.

Rove's political legacy is a binge of hate-filled niche campaigning, polarization and short-term expediency. If you're interested in learning more about some of the really nasty tactics Rove used, I highly recommend the movie "Bush's brain".

Just a few examples of rove's "tactics":
In 1986 Rove ran the texas gubernatorial campaign of , just before a crucial debate, Rove claimed that his office had been bugged by Democrats. The police and FBI investigated and discovered that the bug's battery was so small that it needed to be changed every few hours, and the investigation was dropped. It is widely suspected Rove had bugged his own office to garner sympathy votes in the close governor's race.
In 1994 Rove ran the Alabama Supreme Court race of Harold See, who was running against Mark Kennedy, an incumbent Democratic justice. A former Rove staffer reported that "some" within the See camp initiated a whisper campaign that Kennedy was a pedophile. Kennedy won by less than one percentage point.
In 1993, Rove was the adviser of George W. Bush in his successful campaign to become governor of Texas. In this campaign he used push-polling, a tactic Rove is well known for. Rove has been accused of using supposed pollsters to call voters to ask such things as whether people would be "more or less likely to vote for Governor Richards if [they] knew her staff is dominated by lesbians."
During the bitterly-contested 2000 Republican primary, allegations were made that Rove was responsible for a South Carolina push poll that used racist innuendo intended to undermine the support of Bush rival John McCain: "Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for John McCain for president if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?"
Rove has played a significant role in shaping policy at the White House. One oft-cited example is that terror warnings were regularly made at times when John Kerry's ratings rose during the 2004 presidential election.
On August 29, 2003, retired ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV claimed that Rove leaked the identity of Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, as a CIA employee, in retaliation for Wilson's op-ed in The New York Times in which he criticized the Bush administration's push for the war in Iraq.

Politics is a dirty business, but Karl Rove dragged it into the septic tank. It will be up to the new (and no doubt Democratic) administration to start cleaning up from January 2009 on.
Rove leaves behind an everlasting stain in the underwear of politics. Turd blossom indeed.

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Know your municipal election candidates

Tuesday November 6th this year you can go vote! Surprised? Then this post is for you.

This year we don't have a big shot election for a President or Congress, but you can vote on how you want to represented in your town or city council. Voting day will be the first Tuesday in November, but early voting will start October 18th.
These local elections might have an even bigger impact in your daily life then the "big" elections on even numbered years, yet the turnout for municipal elections is traditionally shamefully low.
I'd like to contribute a small step towards getting more people involved this year.
I made up an "interactive Google map" that shows you all the candidates in every single town and city in our County. The map will show you the name of every candidate, where they live, their political Party affiliation and provide a link to their website if they have one.
Since all these elections are "non-partisan", you won't see any of these candidates' Party affiliation on your ballot on election day.
I know a lot of people are interested to know what Party a candidate is affiliated with because it can guide them towards what candidate they want to vote for and who they don't want to support at all.

If the candidate is registered Unaffiliated, I did some research to track down what party this candidate "leans" towards. I looked into the person's voting past to see what Party primary elections they voted in and how their immediate family is registered. For example, if candidate X is registered Unaffiliated, but they have voted in several Republican primaries in the past and His wife is a registered Republican, I concluded that candidate X leans towards the Republican party. Before you think that I work for the Department of Homeland Security, all this information is public record and can be found by anyone who's willing to do a little research.

If any candidate doesn't agree with his or her "Party designation" please contact me and explain why. I will be more than happy to adjust the map accordingly. This map will be constantly updated as new information (e.g. candidate websites) arrives. Get involved, have fun and on to the map!


If you click on the link to the map you will see a column on the left that lists all the candidates. When you click on a name, the map will show you what area this candidate lives in and a little window will pop up that shows their Party affiliation and their website (if they have one).

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