Nine years after bitter campaign, Vinroot working with Easley's son

In 2000, Democrat Mike Easley beat Republican Richard Vinroot in a rough and tumble gubernatorial campaign. They've rarely spoken or even seen each other in the years since.

But now Easley's son, Michael Jr., is working with his father's erstwhile rival at Vinroot's Charlotte law firm. The younger Easley, a law student at the University of North Carolina, is one of a handful of summer clerks at Robinson Bradshaw & Hinson.

He and Vinroot have hit it off, going to lunch at places such as the Diamond. Vinroot and his wife Judy have even talked about inviting Easley and other clerks to their home for dinner.

"He's a nice young man and his parents are nice people," Vinroot says. "I just happen to have a different political philosophy and we happened to bump into each other running for governor. He won and I lost."

Vinroot didn't want to comment on the Easleys' legal troubles. A federal grand jury in Raleigh is looking into free air trips the former governor took. Prosecutors have also interviewed the Fayetteville car dealer who loaned a 2000 GMC Yukon that was driven by Michael Jr.

Ex-Dole aide named 'Rising Star'

His candidate may have lost, but Brian Nick has won.

The former aide to ex-U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole today was named a "Rising Star" by Politics magazine.

The award goes to people 35 or under "who have already made a significant mark in political consulting or advocacy," the magazine said. It chose 10 Democrats, 10 Republicans and seven nonpartisan activists out of hundreds of nominees.

Nick, a 33-year-old Republican, served as Dole's chief of staff.

He joins a list of past winners that includes David Axelrod, Paul Begala, Donna Brazile, James Carville, Ed Gillespie, Karen Hughes and George Stephanopoulos.

No secret: Shuler aide to lead Democratic Party

The party chairman wants to keep it under wraps. The man in question isn't talking. But it's a not very well-kept secret that Andrew Whalen is about to become the new executive director of the N.C. Democratic Party.


Whalen has been a spokesman for Democratic U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler. He helped run Shuler's successful 2006 and 2008 campaigns.


"I like him, he’s a great guy, and we’re going to have an official announcement shortly," said party chairman David Young of Asheville.


A letter from one party official last week was addressed to Whalen as executive director at state party headquarters in Raleigh.


Whalen didn't return calls. But his old boss acknowledged his new job.


"It was very difficult to see Andrew walk out of the office, but obviously it's an opportunity for a young person to make a huge impact on the state," Shuler told the Asheville Citizen-Times. "This really fits his personality and who he is - to help run the state party. I'm very, very proud of him."

John Edwards: He's No. 1 (in unpopularity)

Democrat John Edwards can now claim a singular distinction -- the lowest approval rating of any N.C. politician.

Eleven years after they elected him U.S. senator, only 19% of N.C. voters have a favorable opinion of the former presidential candidate, according to Public Policy Polling,a Democratic-leaning firm in Raleigh. At 69%, his unfavorables are the highest the firm ever recorded.

Though PPP has only been in business since 2001, it's a pretty safe bet that no other N.C. politician has ever had worse numbers than the candidate who cheated on a wife with cancer.

Elizabeth Edwards, despite dredging up her husband's scandal in a new book tour that raises questions about her own involvement in her husband's cover-up, was viewed positively by 58% of the voters in the poll.

Former Charlottean Alex Sink may run for governor -- of Florida

A decision by Republican Gov. Charlie Crist to run for the U.S. Senate could open the door to the governor's mansion to a former Charlottean.

Democrat Alex Sink was the first woman elected statewide in Florida in nearly a decade when she was elected the state's chief financial officer in 2006. She also was the first Democrat elected to the state Cabinet since 1998.

Crist is expected to announce Tuesday that he'll run for the Senate. Sink has told supporters that if he does, she'll run for his seat next year. Emily's List, a group that supports women candidates who favor abortion rights, Monday asked supporters to back Sink.

In 2002, Sink's husband, Bill McBride, beat former Attorney General Janet Reno in a primary but lost the governor's race to Republican Jeb Bush.

A Mount Airy native, Sink came to Charlotte in the 1970s for a job with N.C. National Bank, now Bank of America. She became president of the Charlotte Women's Political Caucus and a rising star in the banking world.

The bank transferred her to New York and later Florida, where she ended up running all the bank's operations until retiring in 2000.

She has another claim to fame: She is the great-granddaughter of Chang Bunker, a conjoined twin born in Thailand, then Siam, in 1811. He and his brother Eng were the original "Siamese twins." They settled in Mount Airy and married sisters from Wilkes County.

Edwards' book mystery: Who is 'Jim'?

In Elizabeth Edwards' new book, "Resilience," she scorns her husband's former mistress (Rielle Hunter, whom she refuses to name). But she brushes another former campaign worker with the same brush, calling them both "pathetic."

Edwards compares the mistress with a young man who first volunteered in John Edwards' 1998 Senate campaign. She describes him as "John's obsessed fan."

"I will call him Jim," she writes.

Jim "volunteered for everything," drove the candidate around, washed his car, took care of his dry-cleaning. "There was no job too menial for Jim," she said.

Jim and his wife, who worked a late shift, would leave McDonalds breakfasts outside the Edwards' door until Elizabeth told her to stop. Jim's obsequiousness got to Elizabeth until a lie on his part finally forced his departure from the campaign. But he hung around. He tried to vacation where they vacationed and sent daily emails to the Edwards' friends.

"The existence of a Jim made it easier to accept the existence of this woman," Elizabeth wrote. "...My life at some level is tragic. Theirs is worse; theirs is pathetic."

Campaigns, particularly those as intense as John Edwards', are close-knit communities. A lot of people who worked on the campaign probably know him. Wherever he is, he may be as unhappy with Elizabeth's description of him as Rielle Hunter is.

DSCC lauches new Web ad against Burr

Now that 2008 is so last year, the 2010 campaign has begun.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee today put out a new Web ad blasting Republican Sen. Richard Burr for telling his wife to take money out of an ATM during the banking crisis.

"When the banking crisis hit, Sen. Burr reassured the public saying the systems and protections were working," a narrator grimly says. "In private, Burr panicked, and told his wife to go to the ATM and take out as much of their money as she could ... In times of crisis, we need steady and responsible leaders."

Liberal bloggers and Democrats jumped on Burr last month when his ATM comments were reported. Burr has downplayed the flap, saying he did what many people did.

"When you look at the financial industry that is not exchanging capital, it immediately says you better have a little bit of cash set aside," he told a reporter later.

Burr consultant Paul Shumaker says the new ad is typical of what voters should expect.

"No great surprise, considering (Democrats) are still struggling to find a candidate to run in North Carolina," he said.

"North Carolina is a competitive state, these races are national races. We are going to be on the national stage for the next year and a half. This is part of what one can expect from both sides."

Virginia Foxx sends apology to Matthew Shepard's mother

Last week U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx stood on the House floor and called the case behind Matthew Shepard's 1998 murder "a hoax." A short time later she wrote a letter apologizing for the comment to Shepard's mother.

Foxx's comments came during debate on a hate-crimes bill that bore the name of Shepard, who was brutally attacked in Wyoming and left hanging on a fence to die. Foxx said he was killed during a robbery, not because he was gay.

Judy Shepard was in the House gallery when Foxx made her comments.

In an interview with a Winston-Salem TV station, Foxx said she "simply chose a poor word."

According to today's Winston-Salem Journal, she said she sent a handwritten note to Shepard's mother. She told the station, "if I said anything that offended her, I certainly apologize for it and know that she's hurting, and I would never do anything to add to that."

The paper said the Matthew Shepard Foundation confirmed that Judy Shepard received Foxx's note, but declined to comment.

"We are not commenting any further on Rep. Foxx's remarks on the House floor, or anything that was contained in a letter," Logan Shepard, the foundation's communications associate, told the paper. "Everything that has been said already, is enough. We are trying to focus on the positive, which is, that the (hate-crimes bill) has been passed onto the Senate."

Judge Bill Belk: 'I'm in it for the ride'

In his first interview about his unfolding case before the N.C. Judicial Standards Commission, Judge Bill Belk says the ordeal has been "painful."

Belk made his comments in a story published online today by The Charlotte Post. Defending his own actions, he criticized the commission for what he called leaks to the media and implied it had denied him due process. The commission charged him with violating a canon of the judicial code by continuing to sit on the board of Sonic Automotive.

“I went back, studied the canon, got legal advice and then I wrote a letter and asked what was the due process," he told the Post. "Really, this is all about due process because I didn't want to do anything behind closed doors. “I wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing."

Belk has consistently refused to talk to the Observer about the case.

"The system has to be addressed," he told the Post. "We have a lot of good judges and attorneys and they don't like this either. I'm in it for the ride. If I have to go to every paper that'll listen, if I have to go to every church... The reason why we're here is we want balanced judiciary. It's been very painful to go through what I've gone through."

Dear Erskine: Evesdropping on the Dirty Book Guy and the UNC president

If I ever got bored, all I'd have to do is check my inbox.

There, through the magic of a blind copy, I find things like this dialogue between Charlotte mayoral candidate Martin Davis (aka the Dirty Book Guy) and Erskine Bowles, president of the University of North Carolina system. Davis was complaining about UNCC Chancellor Phil DuBois. Here's an edited version.

Dear President Bowles: Chancellor Dubois is up to his old
tricks yet again. In an effort to assist pro-mass transit local government, last night he appeared before Charlotte City Council to indicate his public support for spending even more taxpayer money on yet another wasteful, unnecessary, public capital project which will benefit primarily the government institution he is being paid by the taxpayers to operate. This is just another example of blatant conflict of interest on
his part. You let him get away with exactly the same behavior several years ago during the campaign to repeal the half cent sales tax for transit, so I have no real hope you will take disciplinary action. An ethical, proper, just response would be to remove him. I won't hold my breath. Most Sincerely, Martin Davis 79' UNC-Chape Hill

Martin-- Thank you for writing me . I appreciate your taking
the time to express your point of view. I , however , don't see anything
"partisan " about Phil speaking out in favor of mass transit . In fact the
last time I was lucky enough to be home , our Mayor , a republican, and our County Commission Chair , a democrat , both spoke in favor of mass transit. I hope you will continue to let me hear your point of view. Erskine

Erskine: Not surprised you see nothing wrong with a public servant
using office to grow government at the expense of the taxpayers. At
the 4-27-2009 Charlotte City Council meeting, Dubois stated that one
the reason's to extend the light rail line to UNCC was to enable fans
to be able to ride to UNCC home football games. Our entire economic
system is collapsing because doctrinaire liberals like you, Dubois, the
Clinton's, the Bush family etc., have seized the reins of government
and spent us into oblivion. As the economy continues to deteriorate I
hope you and your friends take pleasure in what you have done to
us.

Martin -- Thank you for writing . You may remember that when I was (White
House Chief of Staff), I negotiated with Speaker Gingrich and Senator Lott ,
the first balanced budget in a generation . In fact Speaker Gingrich has
often referred to me as a true fiscal conservative . Just thought you might
find that of interest. Erskine

Erskine: Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I am happy you can recall
your extremely repressed, rational tendencies. I hope you will give
them free rein, remove Dubois from his sinecure, flee the Socialists
(Democrats), and join our band of true liberals here in Charlotte as we attempt
to bring sanity back to the political process. Sincerely, Martin

Virginia Foxx calls Shepard case a "hoax'

As the U.S. House debated a hate crimes bill today, Rep. Virginia Foxx today called the case for which it's named "a hoax."

The House was poised to vote on the so-called Matthew Shepard bill, named for a 21-year-old gay man murdered in Wyoming in 1998. Supporters say he was the victim of a hate crime perpetrated because he was gay.

"The hate crimes bill that's called the Matthew Shepard bill is named after a very unfortunate incident that happened where a young man was killed," Foxx, a Banner Elk Republican, said on the House floor. "But we know that that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn't because he was gay. This -- the bill was named for him, hate crimes bill was named for him, but it's really a hoax that that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills."

Foxx's comments -- and reaction to them --- spread across the Internet.

"She should be ashamed," Democratic Rep. John Lewis of Georgia told a reporter. "That is unreal, unbelievable. The law enforcement people and almost every reasonable person I know believes he was murdered because he was gay."

A spokesman later said Foxx used "a poor choice of words."

Shepard was killed after meeting two men in a Laramie, Wyoming bar. The two were later convicted. Some witnesses testified that Shepard was targeted because he was gay.

"The facts over the last decade ... more than speak for themselves," said Matt Comer, an organizer with Charlotte Rainbow Action Network for Equality. "Now she is trying to go back rewrite history, dishonor the life of Matthew Shepard. We cannot forget about the hate that is involved in crimes like this."

Perdue building bridges in Charlotte

A few months ago, you wouldn't exactly call it Democrat Bev Perdue's crowd: Charlotte's business leaders all gathered this afternoon at the Charlotte Chamber.

Among them was Perdue's erstwhile opponent, Republican Mayor Pat McCrory, who surely got the majority of votes from this hometown crowd.

But Perdue, who announced a handful of job training and economic development initiatives, appears to be building bridges in the city. She narrowly carried Mecklenburg County, but largely on the strength of the Barack Obama vote.

Her remarks today capped visits earlier in the day to the big banks and an unemployment office. Last month she was here to announce the move of GMAC's headquarters to Charlotte and open a regional governor's office -- the city's first.

"We've seen a lot of her in the first three months," said Chamber President Bob Morgan. "It's very reminiscent of Gov. (Jim) Hunt, who was very present here. She obviously has even taken it another level with the physical presence of her office, with the regular outreach she and her staff are making to Charlotte."

Even McCrory, who shared what appeared to be a warm greeting with the governor, offered a kind of compliment.

"In comparison with the last administration," he said, "the experience has been a very positive sign."

Perdue's predecessor, Democrat Mike Easley, was rarely seen in the Queen City.

Before Obama, Hugo Chavez was shaking hands in Hickory

President Obama's handshake with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez during a summit of Western Hemisphere leaders left many Republicans steaming.

Republican senator John Ensign of Nevada called it "irresponsible for the President to be seen kind of laughing and joking with Hugo Chavez." Even the former vice president weighed in.

But eight years ago this week, it was a Republican laughing and joking with Chavez -- in of all places, Hickory.

It was the only U.S. stop Chavez made on his way back from a Summit of the Americas in Quebec. He spent two days with then-GOP Rep. Cass Ballenger, who hosted a barbecue dinner for the leftist leader at his home. The two also toured several businesses, including Ballanger's, and visited a day care center.

Ballenger, chairman of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of International Relations, had met Chavez on a trip to Venezuela and said the two "hit it off."

Chavez took home a pair of baseball socks made for him at Catawba County Community College and a favorable impression of at least one corner of America.

"We've seen Cass' business, we spoke with his workers," Chavez said at the time. "This should be the idea of capitalism."

Stagecraft and Charlotte's mayoral race

Democrat Anthony Foxx hopes to win Charlotte's mayor's race by building on the energy from Barack Obama's local campaign. When he formally announced today, he showed he's at least got the stagecraft down.

TV risers faced a podium at West Charlotte high school. Directly behind the podium was a small bleacher with an appropriately diverse collection of supporters.

A disembodied voice introduced speakers, who entered from behind the kind of blue curtain common in Obama's and other presidential campaigns. One speaker, Joan Martin -- sister-in-law of former GOP Gov. Jim Martin -- introduced a biographical video. Then former Mayor Harvey Gantt introduced Foxx.

After the candidate himself spoke, the sound system blared Curtis Mayfield's "Move on up."

All this was different from earlier city campaigns, where candidates usually say their piece with little fanfare. "Who would have thought 10 years ago we'd have had a video for a city race," said Foxx supporter and longtime Democrat Steven Porter.

Davidson prof joins Obama administration

Russell Crandall, a Davidson College political scientist, is returning to Washington next week for a job in the Defense department.

On April 20, Crandall will the department's Principal Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs. Among other things, he'll serve as liasion to the State Department and other agencies.

During his eight years at Davidson, Crandall has written five books about U.S. foreign policy in the hemisphere. In 2004 and 2005, he served as the Director for the Western Hemisphere at George W. Bush's National Security Council. Prior to that he was a counter-terrorism advisor at the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Along with his foreign policy credentials, Crandall is also the Traffic/Block Captain in Charlotte's Elizabeth Community Association.

Selling conservatism with bumper stickers

Loren Spivack is trying to resurrect the conservative movement. One bumper sticker at a time.

Spivack, 42, just opened “Free Market Warrior” kiosks at Carolina Place Mall in Pineville and at a mall in Hickory.

Among the merchandise are conservative-themed bumper stickers (“I’ll be as gracious to your president as you were to mine”), T-shirts and bobble-heads.

A Massachusetts native, he launched his business on the Web. He just moved to Charlotte to set up shop after studying the region’s demographics and voting patterns.

He votes Republican but says his main loyalty is to free market principles he sees being eroded. He doesn’t have much patience for Washington politicians of either party.

Spivack says the “next step of revolution” is for Republicans to regain control of Congress, then go after that party which he says “lost its way.”

“I’m doing my part to help out,” he says. “It has to start from the grassroots.”

Scofflaw councilman no stranger to controversy

This week I wrote about an Alamance County man named William "Bob" Hupman, who owes the state of North Carolina $2.2 million in back taxes. The Mebane city councilman tops the state revenue department's list of people and companies that owe more than $500 million in delinquent taxes.

The article brought Hupman some unwelcome attention.

One Triad TV station found that he also owes the IRS $4 million. It found a federal lien filed in 2004.

Another station interviewed people around Mebane. Councilman Ed Hooks told WFMY the city is powerless to kick Hupman off the council. "I can't explain it, I think it's a phenomenon that is... strange," he said. "In other cities he would have been voted off immediately."

Hupman, who faces re-election this year, has had more than tax problems.

Last month, the N.C. Attorney General's office decided not to pursue charges against him after reviewing findings from an SBI investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct. A woman reported the allegations to the Mebane Police Department last May.

In 2007, a Mebane man pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of trying to run over Hupman in his car. The driver was originally charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill.

"I'm a thick-skinned son-of-a-gun," Hupman told a reporter recently.

Jeff Katz's new gig won't be Mecklenburg GOP chairman

Mecklenburg County Republicans will elect a new chairman Saturday. But the best-known candidate has dropped out.

Jeff Katz, the conservative talk show host fired in December by WBT radio, had expressed interest in the job but has pulled out, according to current chairman Lee Teague.

His departure leaves Chris Emmanuel and Rob Bryan vying for the party's top spot.

Nearly 400 people have registered for the convention, which will be held Saturday morning at Butler High School.

Dole manager: Godless ad was 'Hail Mary'

Marty Ryall, who ran Republican Elizabeth Dole’s Senate campaign last year, confirms what many people suspected about the so-called Godless ad – that it was a desperation move by a campaign that knew it was losing.

Ryall writes about the ad in a cover story for Politics magazine. The headline: “Our Hail Mary Pass, Why we ran the Godless ad and what I’d do differently.”

The ad that ran in the final days was the most controversial of the campaign. It sought to tie Democrat Kay Hagan to a group of atheists who want to remove references to God from the public arena. It showed Hagan’s photo while a woman’s voice said “There is no God.”

“Many in the media, especially on the liberal side, were
quick to point to the ad and claim it backfired, costing
Dole the election,” Ryall writes. “Nothing could be further from the
truth. When a football team is trailing by 7 points and
throws a “Hail Mary” on the last play of the game, they
don’t lose because they failed to complete the play, they
lose because they were down 7 points and time was running
out.”

Ryall recites the campaign’s problems. It burned through too much money early and then faced an onslaught from outside groups. In addition, there were Dole’s weaknesses, including her effectiveness rating, the time she spent outside North Carolina and, of course, the Obama turnout effort.

In the final week, he says, Dole was on “a losing trajectory” and had to do something with “shock value.” The only thing he would have done differently about the Godless ad was to cut the “There is no God” quote at the end since it gave Hagan a ready line of attack.

“So, in the end, the “Godless” ad had little impact on the
election. The Obama campaign’s decision to target North
Carolina and turn out the Democrat vote was far more
damaging. …. I would argue that had we run the ad
sooner, and without the voice at the end, it would have been closer.
However, that is all hindsight. The risk was huge and not worth
taking until it was evident we could not win without it, and
that was not clear until about 10 days out. Had the ad run
about 20 days out, it may have made it closer, but the data
we had at that time did not warrant taking such a large
gamble.”

Lynn Wheeler: Unlikely Civil Rights pilgrim?

You might not expect Lynn Wheeler to be making a Civil Rights pilgrimage through the South. But that's exactly what she's doing.

Wheeler, the former Republican member of the Charlotte city council, is accompanying former NAACP chairman Julian Bond on a seven-day tour called “In the Footsteps of the Movement.” She's even blogging about the trip for Qcitymetro, a new Web site that caters to African Americans in the Charlotte area.

Even Wheeler says she's an unlikely candidate for the trip.

"I grew up in the ‘60s on a plantation outside of Richmond, Va." she wrote. "I
attended an all-white, all-girls high school and college. To top that off, I
was a Richmond debutante and spent my summers at the all-white Country Club
of Virginia, where my parents were members."

Today the group on Tuskeegee, Al., where they heard from Fred Gray, the lawyer who worked with Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King during the Montgomery Bus Boycott days. Travelers, who each paid $3,200 for the tour, also have heard from the likes of movement veterans such as Rep. John Lewis.

"It's compelling, it's riveting, it's emotional," Wheeler said today by phone. "I just wanted to go. I've been obsessed with the Civil Rights movement for some time. And what a better way to learn about it than to have Julian Bond lead the way."