During the Cabarrus County Commissioners meeting this past Monday, the commissioners made a decision on their board expansion plans. Remarkably enough it's not one of the options they had considered before.
After a lot of folks showed up and spoke up against the idea of quickly expanding the board haphazardly before the November election this year, Commissioners decided to expand the board in 2012 not in 2008.
There also seemed to be a majority on the current all republican board in favor of going to district representation and not keep the current at-large system. The consensus seems to be to have 5 members represent districts and have 2 at-large members next to that.
It will be interesting to see how those districts will be drawn. The final districting plan will more than likely be voted upon in a referendum on the ballot in 2010. We should all keep a close eye on this one.
For now I want to thank all the folks who showed up at the Board meeting or who made their voices heard in another way. Thanks to all of you sanity prevailed on this issue.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
And then there will be 7... in 2012
Sunday, June 15, 2008
And then there were 7?
The Cabarrus County Commissioners have to work too hard. That's why they say they need to expand the Commissioner Board from the current 5 members to 7 members. While hardly anyone disputes that expanding the board is a good idea, I'm all for it myself, there are a lot of questions about the timing of this move and about the way they want to do this.
Commissioners have been talking for years about expanding the board, yet they waited until the Primary of May 6th was over to bring this issue up again. Furthermore, they seem hell-bent on already having 2 more members after the November 4th election this year.
Proof that there has been talk for years about expanding our Board of Commissioners can be found in a Senate bill introduced in 1989 to expand the Cabarrus Board by 7 members and realize district representation.
Jim Johnson, former NC Senator and current Democratic candidate for NC Senate, introduced that one.
Our current, all republican, Board of Commissioners came up with 3 options on how to expand the Board.
I see big problems, and probably legal issues, with all 3 of these options.
First of all, we don't appoint people to new political positions in this Country. Last time I checked this was still a democracy and in a democracy we have something called an election to elect politicians. While the current Board of Commissioners seems to recently have abandoned this option they should be chastised for even bringing it up.
The problem with the second option (both parties nominating 2 extra candidates) is that these new candidates wouldn't have to go through a primary to get on the ticket. In the past May primary there was a big list of candidates on the Republican side duking it out for their 2 nominations. Some of those spent a lot of money to be elected. They would now be joined on the same ticket by candidates who didn't have to spend a dime to get on the ballot. If I was one of those candidates that won in the primary I would be very pissed and would probably weigh my legal options.
Also, in that second scenario the Executive Committees of the political parties would nominate candidates, leaving out the voice of the Cabarrus County voters.
Let the people speak, it's what a democracy is all about.
The third option, which they seemed to favor at the last Commissioner work meeting that I attended, has the problem that you would have 2 totally different races for the same political position. Is that even legal?
You would also have the same problem that the candidates running in the non-partisan race would not have had to go through a Primary race like the candidates we already have on the partisan tickets did.
My conclusion: The Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners should delay board expansion until 2010, so that a comprehensive plan can be developed with plenty of input from voters. There will be plenty of time then to introduce a State bill to expand the board and have the new candidates go through the regular political process of Party Primaries.
All this still doesn't explain why the current board wants to expand the board in an extremely fast and haphazard way. Please allow me to come up with a conspiracy theory.
Since it seems clear that in the current political climate a lot of voters in November will not want to vote for anyone with an R next to their name, maybe some smart republican had the brilliant idea of organizing a non-partisan race where the candidates won't have an R or D next to their name?
The Board of Commissioners is organizing a public hearing during their regular meeting about this issue, tomorrow, June 16th. I urge anyone who is opposed to the current plans to attend and speak up. The meeting is held at 6.30 pm at the Cabarrus County Governmental Center. I'll see you there.
The current Commissioners also seemed to be in favor of introducing district representation, something I strongly favor, but that's food for another blog post and that's also something impossible to realize in the few months between now and November.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Why doesn't it pay to recycle in Cabarrus County?
There was a lot to do recently about a pretty big hike in the fee for garbage pick up as Allied Waste Services added curbside recycling services for County residents that live outside the Concord and Kannapolis city limits.
Allied Waste added the recycling service for the unincorporated portions of the county at the specific request of the Cabarrus County Commission.
I'm one of the customers who now has to pay 43% more for my garbage pick up. While I love finally being able to recycle, I think something is not quite right.
My family of 3 members puts out a full recycling bin once a week, next to a big 95 gallon rolling cart with exactly one garbage bag in it. One of my neighbors down the street, who lives alone, doesn't recycle at all and puts her big rolling cart overflowing with garbage bags (usually the lid can't be closed) on the same curb.
The problem I have is that we both pay the exact same amount for our garbage collection.
Apparently nobody on the County Commission has ever heard of the internationally well known and accepted "the polluter pays principle".
Besides the "good feeling" you get from doing something positive for the environment, why should anyone recycle when it takes a lot more time and effort and your neighbor, who just pollutes away, only has to pay the same amount you do?
In a letter I received from Allied Waste Services, which was sent out after they received numerous complaints from customers about the raise in fees, they say that one of the main reasons they added the curbside recycling was that "Cabarrus County wishes to encourage more residents to recycle in order to better protect our environment".
Can someone explain to me how you are encouraging residents to recycle by having them pay more and ask them to invest more time and effort at the same time? Basically you're asking people to work harder for something they have to pay more for.
What's even worse is that people who say they can't afford to pay 43% more for their garbage pick up will now start dumping their trash everywhere or just burning it in their yard. Why not tell people they won't have to pay more if they participate in the recycling program? Let the people, who are too lazy to get of their butts and just want to dump all their trash in one pile, pick up the slack for everyone who does care about the environment.
Also, I don't see anyone talking about the fact that all that recycled material is worth money. I'm sure companies pay Allied Waste Services for their cans, paper and glass, because all that stuff is raw material for an industrial process.
So I'm pretty sure that Allied Waste is getting extra money from 2 ends now. We pay more for their services while at the same time providing them with more material they can sell to other companies.
Why not include the proceeds from the collected recyclable material in to consideration when Allied Waste Services rates are determined? One good example for this I found in the State of Washington where they require this.
Once again logic seems missing in Cabarrus County government.
Friday, January 4, 2008
2007: Back to the future (3)
In the final installment of my look back at 2007 I want to talk about My favorite chubby and extremely obnoxious hobbit: Bruton Smith.
After his generous efforts in providing a place for people who are physically challenged (they can't make a right turn) but still want to drive really fast, this angel of an individual wanted to build a place for racing professionals who have even worse physical challenges (they can't make a car turn at all). The problem was that he felt he needed to build it in people's backyards and that it's just a tad noisy.
Bruton Smith felt that he could do whatever he wanted on his own land, even though there's a whole subdivision of houses right next to it. Now if I started to build let's say a concert stage in my backyard and had some heavy metal bands play there every weekend, I would guess that eventually some people might complain about that, even though it would be on my land. I have a strong feeling that police might even show up and shut me down.
Apparently you can't apply the same rules to Bruton Smith for the simple reason that he's extremely rich and I'm not.
So when Mr. Smith wanted to build a drag racing strip on land he owns next to his Lowe's Motor Speedway, he decided not to tell anyone but just start building it and see if people would notice.
The rest of the story went something like this:
People did notice that Bruton was building something really close to their house and wondered what it was and what Bruton planned to do so close to the peoples houses. The big bad city council was worried too and they told Bruton that he should stop building and answer some of the questions they had first.
This made Bruton very angry and he stomped his feet and got into a big hissy fit.
He got so mad that he threatened to throw all of his toys away and take away a lot of peoples money and jobs.
The big bad city council realized they made a mistake and wondered how they could make it up to Bruton. Bruton said "why don't you all come kiss my rosy behind and give me lots and lots of money and then maybe I won't be angry no more".
And so it happened; the big bad politicians gave Bruton about 80 million golden dubloons and made planes fly around with banners that said "we love you Bruton". Then they named a whole street after him. They asked for forgiveness and probably kissed his behind too.
Bruton was happy again and said that he would keep his toys here forever. Now he can come to play with his toys by driving over the Bruton Smith Boulevard.
Some blogger man thinks that politicians could save some money on letters by calling the street BS Boulevard, but he's just jealous because Bruton got 80 million dubloons to play with and all blogger man got was higher taxes.
And they all lived happily ever after?
Saturday, December 29, 2007
2007: Back to the future (2)
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.
Monday, November 19, 2007
What a bunch of chickens!
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.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Tomorrow the gloves are coming off.
This Monday evening our County Commissioners are having their, usually very entertaining, public get together again. It promises to be a doozy.
One thing the Commissioners will consider is a resolution to "censure" their fellow Commissioner Coy Privette.
I'm sure I don't need to repeat the whole Coy Privette saga, which started with him hiring a prostitute 6 times. There are plenty of posts on here that will tell you the whole story in detail.
"Censuring" Privette is basically the same as publicly reprimanding him. It's like giving him a slap on the hand, without any legal effect.
It is pretty much the only action Commissioners can take since there is no legal way to remove another Commissioner from the board for being convicted of a misdemeanor, which "aiding and abetting prostitution" 6 times is considered to be.
Some highlights of the proposed censure resolution are: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.
Ouch!
...violated the trust of the people of Cabarrus County.
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.
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.
Mr. Privette has already announced that if his fellow Commissioners censure him, he "will have a lot to say", so this meeting promises to be very entertaining.
Keep also in mind that Privette announced 2 months ago that he was resigning, if he got to handpick his successor and if his house got sold. 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.
Trust me folks, Coy isn't going anywhere for quite some time and until he does these Commissioner meetings are some of the best entertainment you can watch on TV.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
End of the jail trail?
In case you missed it, the County Commissioner meeting of last Monday was also interesting because a final "compromise" on the construction of the downtown jail housing unit got voted down.
Commissioner Grace Mynatt proposed to reduce the size of the building by leaving the top 2 floors off the planned 6 story building. Only Coy Privette agreed with her and so the proposition got voted down by 3 votes to 2.
Immediately after that Commissioner Juba introduced a resolution demanding that this would be the last time a jail "compromise" would be discussed.
Apparently Grace Mynatt felt personally hurt by this resolution saying that it was "totally unnecessary and uncalled for" and stating that "you know this would be the last time anyway". This resolution also got voted down because only Joni Juba and Bob Carruth voted in favor of it.
We now have to wait for the decision of the N.C. Court of Appeals in the lawsuit filed by 11 downtown residents against the city of Concord for granting the county a conditional use permit to build the jail, which should come within 3 months.
In case the court rules in favor of the City of Concord (and so also in favor of the County), the start of construction would be within a year unless the decision gets appealed to the NC Supreme Court. It could take up to a year for construction to really start because of applications that need to be done, reviewed and approved, and because after that the bidding process needs to run it's course.
In the probably unlikely scenario that the court rules in favor of the plaintiffs, we're back to square one.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Coy Privette isn't resigning (yet), seems to blame his wife.
I had a blast at the County Commissioner meeting last night. It was hard not to laugh out loud and at one point I did.
The antics of Coy Privette are getting more and more ridiculous. All the other Commissioners really can't stand him anymore and it shows. At one point Commissioner White accused Privette of not being able to read and there were a lot of "testy" exchanges between Commissioner Carruth and Privette.
The item on the agenda that dealt directly with Coy Privette was a "report by the County Attorney, Richard Koch, on possible actions with regard to Commissioner Privette". Richard Koch told the commissioners their legal ability to take action against Privette, such as restricting his participation on committees, was limited.
Koch said any move to curtail Privette’s activities as a commissioner would probably be overturned if challenged in court.
However, They could "censure" him, which is basically an official reprimand.
Commissioner White then made a motion to publicly censure Coy Privette, stating “I’ve heard judges say one time is a mistake, two times is a pattern,” he then added “Six times is a history.” (You will remember that Privette was convicted of 6 counts of "aiding and abetting prostitution".)
County Attorney Koch suggested that such a resolution should be drafted in advance of the vote being taken. All the Commissioners agreed with this and so the censure resolution is to come before the board next month.
Privette has stated he would resign his seat when a replacement is named, and only after his house in Kannapolis is sold. He's said moving away is the only reason he would leave the board and his possible resignation wouldn't have anything to do with his legal troubles. *cough* liar *cough*
The problem is that it's pretty hard to sell your house if isn't for sale at all. I drove by there again today and there is still no "for sale" sign on his lawn and his house isn't listed on any Realtor website. When asked about this by reporters yesterday, I heard Mr. Privette explain that his wife doesn't want to have any people in their house until it is in "tip-top shape" and that "there were painters over there today".
Apparently it took Mr. Privette a month to be able to hire painters.
Of course while i drove by his house I also didn't see any painters, nor any vehicle in the driveway. It certainly doesn't look like there is anyone at work in that house and from the outside it looks in perfect shape to be sold.
When asked by a Charlotte Observer reporter when his house would be ready for the market, he answered, "I don't have the slightest idea."
When it comes to finding a successor, Mr. Privette is in a complete stalemate with the Executive Committee of the Cabarrus County Republican Party, because Privette doesn't want to resign until a successor that he likes is chosen, while according to state laws the Republican Party can't search for a successor until there is a vacancy on the board.
Privette said that Robert Freeman, a previous member and chairman of the Board of Commissioners, would be his first choice as a successor. It figures that Mr. Privette would say that since Mr. Freeman has always been in the back pocket of Privette and I'm sure Coy would love to have a puppet that he could control on the Board of Commissioners.
Regarding the censure resolution to be presented next month, Privette told a Salisbury Post reporter during a recess at Monday's meeting that he wanted to see what it contained.
"They might say something favorable about me," Privette said.
I think Mr. Privette will be sorely disappointed.
So next month's Commissioner meeting promises to be one filled with fireworks.
Keep the evening of November 19 free on your calendar, I might need you to be there ;-)
Sunday, October 14, 2007
The next chapter in the Privette soap: tomorrow!
As a kid I used to watch "Dallas" on TV with my parents.
I must say that these days Coy Privette outperforms Dallas By far.
From refusing to resign as commissioner after hiring a prostitute 6 times, to announcing he will resign after all, to basically saying he will only resign if he can handpick his successor, to saying he will resign after his house will get sold while his house isn't even for sale, this soap keeps going on and on.
I wholeheartedly invite you to join me at the County Commissioner meeting tomorrow, because this is the best live entertainment you can see and it's totally free!
The meeting starts at 6.30 in the County Governmental building on Church Street in Concord. You can click here to see a map and get directions.
You might recall the last chapter in the Coy soap as i reported about it in an earlier post.
As far as I know the story hasn't really evolved much since then, although I'm sure there have been a lot of discussions going on behind closed doors. Basically, Privette refuses to resign until he agrees with whoever succeeds him, while the Executive Committee of the Republican party (who by law needs to appoint the successor) refuses to discuss any successors until Privette resigns.
To turn up the pressure on Privette, his colleague commissioners have asked the County Attorney to make report on how they can limit Privette’s role as representative of the board and the county. They will receive that report tomorrow and then decide on further actions.
Knowing Privette a little by now, I'm sure he'll pull another surprise out off his hat.
Speaking of soaps, there's another one on the program for tomorrow. Commissioners will also review a “final” (we've heard that before) compromise proposed for the controversial 480-bed downtown jail housing unit. Commissioner Grace Mynatt has worked with local residents, who filed a lawsuit against the City of Concord for granting the county a conditional use permit to build the jail, to find a redesign that could meet current jail space needs, but also end the lawsuit.
Other important items on the County Commissioner meeting agenda tomorrow are:
* Commissioners will consider beginning the process to issue up to $145 million in certificate of participation bonds (COPs) in January to address major school construction funding.
* Commissioners agreed to partner with Kannapolis and contribute up to $168.4 million in taxes for 20 years from a district surrounding the campus to pay off bonds for community improvements needed for the campus’ success.
Commissioners want to see if the county’s contributions to the bonds may begin to decline once Kannapolis sees revenue from campus taxes.
You can find the complete agenda for tomorrow's meeting on the Cabarrus County website.
It promises to be an exciting meeting tomorrow. I'll see you there.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
The Privette circus is keeping its tent firmly pitched.
You might recall that Coy Privette last week announced his intent to resign as Cabarrus County Commissioner. It turns out that you're a fool if you believed him. Of course you're a fool if you ever believed him before, but I digress.
You see, the key word in his statement back then was "intent".
What it comes down to is that Mr. Privette will only resign if he gets to hand-pick his successor and if his home in Kannapolis gets sold.
In an article published in The Independent Tribune today, the Privette soap continues:Privette, 74, said in a statement Tuesday that “a committee of non-partial community leaders” should be appointed to consider candidates for the seat he plans to vacate.
There's one problem. What Mr. Privette is demanding isn't even legal.
State statutes say there must be a vacancy on the county commission before the local Republican Party can begin seeking a replacement. The North Carolina General Statutes state:If the member who vacated the seat was elected as a nominee of a political party, the board of commissioners, the chairman of the board, or the clerk of superior court, as the case may be, shall consult the county executive committee of the appropriate political party before filling the vacancy, and shall appoint the person recommended by the county executive committee of the political party of which the commissioner being replaced was a member, if the party makes a recommendation within 30 days of the occurrence of the vacancy.
Since Coy hasn't resigned yet, there is no vacancy.
As you can tell the statutes also clearly say that the executive Committee of the Cabarrus County Republican Party needs to recommend a replacement for Mr. Privette, not any other group or committee.“The Cabarrus County Republican Men’s Club Executive Committee could be that vehicle to recruit such a group to seek out prospective appointees for the public to consider,” Privette said in his statement.
Contrary to Mr. Privette's "glory days", the Cabarrus Republican Party these days is run by a more moderate group. The last "bastion" of extreme right wing republicans is exactly the Republican Men's Club, so it figures that Mr. Privette would like to get them involved.
The second condition Coy cited for him to retire was that his house in Kannapolis would have to be sold. If he sells his home in Kannapolis and moves to a retirement community in Thomasville like he announced, he will have to resign because he will no longer live in Cabarrus County. The problem is that Mr. Privette's house doesn't seem to be for sale.
Privette’s home doesn't seem to be listed on the market, and there is no “for sale” sign in front of his home. I know, because I drove by his house this afternoon and took this picture:
Do you see a "for sale" sign?
In a reaction, his fellow commissioners are once again exploring their options to limit the activities of Privette as a commissioner. They had a "censure" item on the agenda of the last Commissioner meeting, but at the start of that meeting Mr. Privette announced his "intent" to resign, so his fellow commissioners dropped the censure debate. It seems now they will revive the debate at their next meeting.
So watch for the next episode of this soap then.
It's almost sad to see a guy that used to be a very influential politician turn himself more and more into a crazy, sad, embarrassing old man. Almost.
This story will, no doubt, be continued...
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Talking the talk and walking the walk - Privette resigns
As promised I showed up at the Cabarrus County governmental building this past Monday at 6 pm for my protest against Coy Privette. With me were 15 other folks. A smaller turnout than I had hoped for, but I guess it's better than nothing.
There was plenty of press around and you can catch our protest in a lot of the press coverage from that night.
In newspaper articles:
* Independent Tribune
* Charlotte Observer
* Salisbury post
On TV (please ignore my face, it's not a pretty sight):
* WSOC TV
* WCNC
* News 14
As you know, the Cabarrus County Commissioner meeting started at 6.30 in the building we were protesting at.
Mr. Privette snuk in through the parking garage and was intercepted there by Beth Feeback, a reporter from the Concord Standard newspaper. Mr. Privette said he didn't care about the protest, but proceeded to ask how many people showed up. When Ms. Feeback told him 15, he replied "15 people? That's some demonstration," and chuckled.
Of course Mr. Privette didn't know at that time that exactly one protester showed up to support him. That one protester was "Ric" Starnes.
He drove by as we were standing outside and was honking and hanging half out of his car while screaming at us in a rage.
At 6.25 pm we stopped our protest so I could head on in and participate in the public speaking opportunity during the County Commissioner meeting. I had prepared my 3 minute speech and brought the 105 emails I had gathered, through the coyresign@gmail.com address, from people who wanted Mr. Privette to resign. I had planned on handing all those emails to Coy himself after my comments.
Right before the Public comment moment however, Mr. Privette had planned a "preemptive strike".
He requested to speak and read a prepared statement."I believe it is important that I publicly disclose my intentions to resign as a Cabarrus County commissioner as soon as matters are resolved related to whom my successor may be."
Once that's resolved, Privette said, he'll submit an official letter of resignation.
"It has been very important to me that the citizens who elected me have a strong voice to speak for them and that my successor will be someone who will have the courage to speak out even when he or she may be in the minority on a particular subject."
In other words, Mr. Privette said he will resign but only if the Republican party can find a successor who's as much of a crazy ass conservative as he is."All Republicans talk about being conservative," Privette said. "But there's a difference between talking the talk and walking the walk."
When he made that last statement, I had a very hard time trying not to erupt in loud laughter. Keep in mind that this comment comes from a man who once sponsored legislation to require schools to teach sexual abstinence and the sanctity of marriage, yet was caught having sex six times with a crack whore.
After Mr. Privette's comments it was My time to speak. Of course my prepared speech at this time didn't serve any purpose anymore, So i just told Coy that i had received 105 emails and thanked him for getting people interested in politics again (snark).
I closed off by saying that I wholeheartedly agreed with Mr. Privette when he said that there was a big difference between "talking the talk" and "walking the walk".
After the meeting Privette gave an interview to WCNC TV in which he claimed that his announced resignation had nothing to do with the prostitution charges against him or all the protests against him, but that he and his wife have just decided to move to a Thomasville retirement community. They had planned to retire there for years and decided recently to make the move now.
Right.....
If you believe that, I have some waterfront property in Arizona that i want to sell you. Hearing him say that made me even happier with the fact that he will resign. A person that can tell a bald-faced lie like that without even blinking doesn't need to be making any political decisions again. And even if you believe him to be speaking the truth, which he wasn't, he totally cheated his voters less than a year ago by running for re-election. Because why would you do that if you had been planning to retire in Thomasville for years?
The Republican party executive committee will now have to come up with someone to succeed Mr. Privette. This person will be in office until next years' election and not until 2010 like Mr. Privette was supposed to. So next year there will be 3 County Commissioner seats up for election instead of the 2 that were already planned (Bob Carruth and Joni Juba). Commissioners' Chairman Bob Carruth said he's heard four names unofficially mentioned as possible replacements -- former commissioner Robert Freeman; Mark Smith, a former commissioner candidate; and David Black and Larry Griffin, both former chairmen of the local party.
I look forward to seeing who they will come up with.
For Mr. Privette I have 2 words left: good riddance.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
My case against Coy
Ever since I started my protest asking for the resignation of Coy Privette, I've talked to dozens and dozens of people on this issue. Most are positive about what I'm trying to do, but every now and then I get a reaction from a Privette supporter (yes, they still exist), asking if I never made a mistake, if I'm not a "forgiving person" etc...
What they don't seem to get is that for me personally this isn't about the hiring of a prostitute. If any other person had done this (including any of the other County Commissioners) I wouldn't make such a big stink about it.
For me this is all about the kind of person Mr. Privette has portrayed himself to be and about how this "mistake" has made his whole carefully crafted image crumble to the ground.
So let me sum up the reasons why I personally believe Mr. Privette should have resigned as a County Commissioner already:
1. Total hypocrisy
What bothers me most about this case is not the details of what was done, but the total hypocrisy behind it.
Mr. Privette has built most of his political career by persuading his voters that he was a sound religious man with high moral believes. He also never hesitated in the past to judge other people over their “moral decline”. Now we find out that Coy Privette’s public image was all a lie.
If the foundations of your whole political career seem to be a lie, how can we ever believe you again?
2. Lack of sound judgment and common sense
What Mr. Privette did was really bad, but the more disturbing aspect of it is his total lack of judgment and common sense. Most of his actions in this case were just plain stupid, e.g. renting rooms in your own name, paying a prostitute with (blank) checks and posing for pictures with her. If you lack common sense in silly things like hiring a prostitute, how can you possible be entrusted with things as important as the well being of our community?
If his judgment is that poor how can he represent us in a reasonable way?
How can we believe that Mr. Privette will make sound political decisions that will affect our daily lives for years to come?
3. Lack of respect
Doesn’t Mr. Privette think his community deserves the same respect as the various Christian organizations he immediately resigned from even before he was convicted of anything? Wouldn't he expect any other elected official in Cabarrus County to step down under the same circumstances?
I want to close by saying that I believe this also wasn't a one time mistake (he admitted to 6 counts) and if you believe what several people have told me, including several high ranking republicans who should know, this allegedly has been going on for years.
I hope to see you at the protest meeting in front of the County Governmental building on Monday at 6 pm!
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
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.
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.
"I intend to continue to serve the citizens of Cabarrus County."
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.
Friday, August 24, 2007
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. Read More......
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
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.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
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...
Monday, August 20, 2007
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!