My second local highlight for 2007 is by far my favorite story of the year.
Yes, it's our own local "family values" republican turned perverted hypocrite: Mr. Coy Privette.
On July 19th, Former state legislator Coy C. Privette, a Cabarrus County commissioner and Christian activist, was arrested on charges of soliciting prostitution.
Privette, 74, was led to the Rowan County magistrate's office. He was charged with six counts of aiding and abetting prostitution. Privette on two occasions allegedly paid the prostitute, Tiffany Summers, with checks and then reported those checks as stolen, officials said.
When Privette had to appear in Court I was right there with him.
His attorney entered a guilty plea. Not surprising if you heard all the evidence the Rowan County DA had:
Mr. Privette 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.
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, which I'm not sure he's done yet, paying court fees and continuing psychological counseling (I'm sure he needs it).
The charges Privette was convicted of were misdemeanors and according to state law you can't force a County Commissioner to resign after being convicted of a misdemeanor.
Why Privette was never prosecuted for allegedly falsely reporting some of his checks stolen, which is a felony, is a question you have to ask his fellow republican Cabarrus County District Attorney Roxann Vaneekhoven. The answer might be important, because if Privette was convicted of a felony he would automatically lose his seat on the County Commission. The only excuses I've heard so far on why Privette wasn't prosecuted for a felony basically come down to "we have too much work to do" and "we have so little time that we want to concentrate on prosecuting more serious crimes".
It's pretty funny to look back at some of the political views Privette in the past always claimed to have and then look at this prostitution conviction. When he was still an NC State legislator for example, he sponsored legislation to require schools to teach sexual abstinence and the sanctity of marriage.
Can you say HYPOCRITE?
At first Privette blatantly refused to resign as a County Commissioner, stating that:"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."
I wonder if he was also "ready to move on" when the whole Clinton-Lewinsky scandal broke?
But thanks to the ever increasing public pressure, of which I, and about 100 other people, was a small part of, and the continued press attention, Privette finally caved in and announced at the September County Commissioner meeting that he would resign. At the same meeting he also had the balls to say the following:"All Republicans talk about being conservative," Privette said. "But there's a difference between talking the talk and walking the walk."
Apparently Mr. Privette needs to listen to his own words every now and then.
Why, 4 months after he announced his resignation, Privette is still very comfortably sitting in his County Commissioner seat, is a very good question which I'll try to answer in an upcoming post on this very blog.
Heck, these days you apparently can't even publicly say anymore that what Privette did was wrong. Hopefully that'll change in 2008.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
2007: Back to the future (2)
Friday, December 28, 2007
2007: Back to the future (1)
As the year winds down I wanted to look back at what, for me, where the 3 major local news events of 2007. They all seem to have one thing in common; we will still hear plenty about them in 2008.
So without further ado, part one of my 2007 review trilogy:
Philip Morris closes it's Concord manufacturing plant.
On June 26, 2007, Altria, The parent company of cigarette-maker Philip Morris, announced it will close its Cabarrus County factory by 2010. The production of 57 billion cigarettes will already be moved out of Concord by the end of 2008.
The 2.4-million square foot plant is the County’s third largest employer with about 2,500 workers.
Philip Morris paid nearly $5 million in taxes to Concord in 2006, so besides the massive loss of jobs in our area there will also be a significant impact on the city’s budget. Philip Morris is also a big contributor to local charities and arts projects.
The chance of finding another manufacturer that employs upward of 2,500-2,600 people paying the kind of wage that people at the cigarette plant are currently earning, apparently about about $29 per hour on average, is almost non-existent.
An idea that you often hear is that the site, instead of having one big factory on it, might be home to a future business park with a big group of small to medium size businesses. There don't seem to be any concrete plans yet that I know of.
Altria plans to get $174 million for the sale of their buildings and huge parcels of land on both sides of Highway 29. I'm hoping that they don't sell off every square foot of the massive 2,000-acre Philip Morris site for future development, but that the County and/or City manage to reserve part of the space for a big public park or nature preserve on this huge piece of land. But with our local crop of politicians who seem to only worship the almighty growth I might be hoping for a bit too much.
You don't have to worry about Philip Morris. Don't believe for a minute that they had to close the Concord plant because they're in some financial trouble or they're losing a lot of business.
Philip Morris USA made $4.6 billion in profits in 2005 alone.
The CEO of Altria Group makes $37 million a year.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Happy Festivus everyone!
December 23rd is the day we celebrate Festivus.
Festivus is the feast for the rest of us.
If you didn't get an aluminum Festivus pole this year, don't forget to order one for next year! And remember, no tinsel, it's distracting.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Kissell gets the lead out.
From LKSOC (the Larry Kissell School of Original Campaigning) comes the following event, which Under The Dome already calls "the most creative political event of the year".
The Democratic Congressional candidate will host free lead screening of toys from noon to 3 p.m. this Friday in downtown Concord.
"Not only as a candidate for Congress, but as a parent and school teacher, I'm concerned about dangerous imports and the safety of our children," says Kissell, "I don't believe you have to wait for an election to begin working on behalf of families in the 8th District."
A NC certified lead risk assessor using X-ray fluorescence, the most reliable technology available, will be on hand to examine items.
Millions of toys and children's items, many imported from China, have been recalled recently for containing lead. Lead paint is toxic and may cause brain damage, organ failure and even death in children.
While many popular toys like some lines of the Thomas the Tank Engine have already been removed from shelves, the list of toxic toys continues to grow and parents may be unaware that Holiday items purchased for gifts or already in their home may hold a deadly threat to developing children. The public is invited to join Kissell this Friday, December 21 from noon to 3 p.m. in Downtown Concord for the free toy lead screening service.
The event location is 9 Union Street, Concord, near the intersection of Union and Cabarrus Avenue. I hope to see you there!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Superpower no more.
The days of the USA being a superpower are numbered.
If we don't make education one of our top priorities we won't even be in the worldwide top 10 pretty soon.
If you don't believe me, just watch the following video.
I'm hoping our new head of the Cabarrus County School Board, Holly Blackwelder, will see this too.
You can stop yelling "we're number 1" now.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Monday Blues - Obama Edition
It's your weekly dose of chuckles to start off your work week!
This week it's all about, you guessed it, Barack Obama.
You might be getting sick of me talking about the guy all the time, but sorry, My adoration knows no boundaries.
It's good to be able to laugh with anything or anyone though, so enjoy some Obama humor.
(If you read this post with certain RSS readers or if you get it in your email, you might actually have to go to the site to see all the video's)
Anything Hillary does, he can do better:
Obama, the musical:
And we can't forget that classic: Obama Girl!
She has no shame: Hillary Accuses Obama of Bed-wetting.
All this Obama/Hillary bickering might be entertaining, but did you know what the most important issue for 2008 voters will be?
Have a great week!
Sunday, December 9, 2007
History being made in front of my eyes.
Today I spent my afternoon together with 30,000 other people in a football stadium in Columbia, SC. It felt like being part of history.
48 days before the Democratic primary in South Carolina, Oprah Winfrey joined Barack Obama on stage and made a passionate and convincing plea to explain why Obama is the candidate for President of the USA.
It was the biggest political rally for any non-incumbent candidate in the past few decades. The NY Times calls it a "staggering sight" and could come up with only one bigger number: JFK drew about 35,000 for a Labor Day rally in 1960.
After Arrested Development got the crowd to their feet by singing their hits, we allbroke a world record. When entering the stadium, everyone had received a little flier that had a phone script on one side and the name and phone number of 4 SC Democrats on the other side. After a signal from the stage everyone was asked to call all 4 people on their list and ask them to vote for Barack Obama. In doing so the crowd set a world record for "biggest phone bank". A representative of the Guinness World Record organization actually got on stage and handed over a world record certificate.
Then it was time to listen to the 2 people everyone had come for.
Oprah entered the stage under a thunderous applause and gave a 15 minute introduction to Obama.
Winfrey praised Obama for his wisdom and concern for ordinary people.
Invoking American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, she said: "We don't have to just dream the dream anymore. We get to vote that dream into reality."
She addressed some of the reasons the opposition always mentions when they say you shouldn't vote for Obama.
"There are those who say it's not his time, that he should wait his turn. Think about where you'd be in your life if you'd waited when people told you to," she said.
Winfrey urged voters to consider Obama's life experience instead of focusing on the amount of time he has spent "in the hallways of government."
"I'm sick of politics as usual," Winfrey said. "We need Barack Obama."
After Oprah announced that it was "Obama Time", Barack Obama got on stage and gave a 45 minute long speech.
He received a minute long standing ovation when he said that "Next year the name George W. Bush will not be on the ballot." He said voters will need to cast ballots in favor of a candidate, not against an incumbent who is leaving office.
Obama had several remarks that where obviously addressed at his main opponent, Hillary Clinton, but never mentioned her name.
He said if he's the party nominee, an opponent won't be able to say he supported going to war in Iraq, supported a resolution which might lead to war with Iran or doesn't want to talk to leaders we don't like, all things Clinton did and said.
"I'm tired of Democrats thinking the only way to look tough on national security is to act like George Bush," he said. "We need a bold Democratic Party that's going to stand for something, not just posture and pose."
"It's not good enough to tell the people what you think they want to hear, instead of what they need to hear. That just won't do. Not this time," he said. "We can't spend all our time triangulating and poll-testing our positions because we're worried about what Mitt or Rudy or Fred or the other Republican nominees are going to say about us."
He said he was "riled up" that some believe that as a black man, it would be hard for him to win the race."I remember some folks saying, 'Oh no, a black man can't win," Obama said. "I remember that. When folks tell me I can't do something, that's when I want to do it."
He closed off with the, by now familiar, "fired up, ready to go" chant. It was impressive to hear 30,000 voices yell it out.
Today's rally coincides with a new McClatchy-MSNBC poll that puts Mr. Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, his chief rival, in a statistical tie in South Carolina. meanwhile, the republican candidate that seems to be surging ahead in the polls, Mike Huckabee, also had a "rally" in Columbia this weekend and had 400 people show up.
Obama can win this and after today 30,000 more people will make sure he will.
You can view the complete speech of both Oprah and Obama on video on Obama's website.
Friday, December 7, 2007
Democratic Christmas party this Tuesday.
The Cabarrus County Democratic Party holds it's annual Christmas party this Tuesday December 11th.
As customary the party will be held at Troutman's BBQ restaurant on hwy 601 (see map below for directions). We start at 6.30 pm and, contrary to some other political parties, you only have to pay $7 to get in and enjoy a special Christmas buffet.
There's usually a really big turnout for this event and it's always a lot of fun.
I'll see you there!
View Larger Map
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Obama - Oprah 2008?
I'll be traveling to Columbia, SC this weekend to spend some time with my in-laws but mostly to spend more time with My favorite presidential candidate, Barack Obama.
It looks like I won't be alone...
The Obama campaign had planned a rally with Barack and Oprah Winfrey this Sunday in the Colonial Center in Columbia, which seats about 18,000, but on Tuesday Obama's state director Stacey Brayboy announced that "overwhelming excitement" had caused a run on free tickets. The rally will therefore be moved to the 80,000 seat college football stadium.
Even though the campaign doesn't expect to completely fill the stadium, it is clear that several tens of thousands will be attending.
Tickets to attend the rally are no longer required, but the Obama campaign requests that you RSVP on their site if you plan on attending. Doors open at 12.30 pm.It could be the largest political gathering in South Carolina since 1976, when Jimmy Carter captured the Democratic nomination and spoke to tens of thousands from the Statehouse steps, said Alex Sanders, who introduced Carter at the time.
If there still is such a thing as people power, I do believe we have found our presidential candidate.
I'm trying to reach the campaign to see if I could do some live blogging from the event, but they are understandably overwhelmed by the success of this thing, so I can't promise yet that I'll be able to report live from Williams-Brice Stadium. If not, look for my report Sunday evening.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Monday Blues - damn yankees
It's been quiet on the "Left on 49" front this week because I've been working in another part of the state to get this guy elected.
I'm not going to withhold your weekly dose of chuckles to start off your work week though. This week I'm having the "damn yankees" issue.
Don't like those liberal yanks from New York? Let's just have them bombed. I hope you caught this new Country hit song:
Even American flags don't like those yanks:
I'd like to see how the party of "family values" can have this yankee as a candidate:
Have a great week!
