RED WARNING FLAG UP - SHARKS IN THE WATER
In my last post, I ran down some of the candidates for City Council. Y’all saw in Saturday’s paper that Bill Shakespeare finally figured out that all the world is not his stage and pulled out of the At-Large race, and that Jerome Goldberg in the District D race got the hook from the Wake County Board of Elections. At a hearing last Wednesday, the Board unanimously agreed that Goldberg does not live and does not intend to live in District D, a requirement to be a candidate for City Council. So once again, The Intern headed downtown, this time to the Board of Elections.
Goldberg does not live in our fair city, but he does work in City Hall as an electrical inspector, and he owns several low-end rental units here, most in District D where he caters to students at NC State University. On July 17, Goldberg went to the Board of Elections, changed his voter registration to an apartment he owns near the university, and filed his candidacy for City Council, District D. He claims that a couple of weeks later he moved to yet another of his rentals near the university. His wife continues to live at their home outside of the City.
He needed to prove to the Board of Elections that he has vacated that home, that he intends to make his rental unit in District D his permanent residence, and that he has no intent to move back home with his wife (from whom he is not estranged). The Board of Elections found that as he “lives” in an empty rental, didn’t change his driver’s license, still sleeps with his wife in his home out of the City, takes his meals and washes his clothes there, and even uses the address of his real home for his personal and campaign mail, he has no intent of living in District D. (The actual order disqualifying him will be issued tomorrow by the Board.)
An open and shut case.
Nevertheless, Goldberg has appealed the County Board’s decision.
Or more accurately, attorney Gerald Meek has filed suit on behalf of Goldberg against the State of North Carolina, the North Carolina Board of Elections, the Executive Director of the North Carolina Board of Elections, the Wake County Board of Elections, and the Chair of the Wake County Board of Elections.
Okay, so he’s suing, I tell The Intern, hard to believe but it is his right. To which The Intern replies, “Gerald
Francis Meek of Charlotte, NC.” Which goes right over my pointy little head.
But The Intern, bless her paralegal training from Meredith, had got it right away. Yes, that Jerry Meek.
Chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party from 2005-2009.
Obama superdelegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
Duke Magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, double majoring in Economics and Political Science.
Masters degree in Government from Notre Dame.
Duke Law School.
Partner at Poyner and Spruill.
Licensed pilot and airplane owner.
Husband of State Representative Patricia Cotham, youngest member of the state legislature.
Representing Jerome Goldberg.
Full-time municipal employee.
Part-time ghetto maker.
Running for the Council of a City in which he doesn’t live.
You mean to tell me that a $400 an hour (minimum) attorney from the powerhouse of Poyner and Spruill, who is arguably the most politically connected man in the entire State, drives all the way from Charlotte, just to represent a slumlord with a big L tattooed across his forehead who is obviously trying to cheat the system and despises the democratic process? LL Cool Lane ain’t the brightest bulb in the chandelier by far, but he ain’t dim enough to fall for that.
Meek is no dummy either, light-years from it, he knows darn good and well that Goldberg doesn’t live in Raleigh. So what gives? We here at BTB.org do now know that there are well-heeled Democrat Party operatives who want incumbent District D Councilor Thomas Crowder out. But why would they give a flip about Goldberg?
Here’s the kicker - whether Goldberg wins his appeal or not, his name remains on the ballot along with Crowder and fellow challenger Ted Van Dyk. The Board of Elections has already printed the ballots, and they ain’t about to print corrected ballots. You’d think that in this modern day of desktop publishing and just-in-time printing, that about two weeks before the election the Board of Elections emails the list of qualified candidates to the copy shop in Bangalore, that same day a technician lays out the ballot and emails a proof back to Raleigh. The next day the ballots are printed at a press shop in Mysore, that same night they are on a truck to BIAL, two days later DHL drops the pallet on South Salisbury. All with plenty of time to do it again if there is a mistake (and there won’t be, those Kannadian outsourcers are meticulous).
But we are talking about local government here, so Goldberg stays on the ballot. The only candidate that is disadvantaged by having Goldberg on the ballot is incumbent Crowder. Van Dyk, who actually is a contender, albeit right now a weak one, gains several advantages. First, and perhaps most important, is that you can put any name on a ballot - George Bailey or Mr. Potter, Ba‘al Zebûb or Metushélach - and it will get 5-10% of the vote. And that is more than enough to wreak havoc in most any local contest.
Just ask Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht.
In 2003, Weinbrecht was in a three-way race, trying to retain his At-Large seat on the Cary Town Council. Weinbrecht got the most votes in the first round of balloting, but it was only 48% of the total and he needed 50% +1 to win outright. Opponent Wally Dawson had dropped out of the race, but his name still appeared on the ballot. And the 5% of the votes cast for him were still included when calculating the percentages of
total votes the other candidates received.
Had the Board of Elections ignored the votes for Dawson, Weinbrecht would have just squeaked by with fifty-point-O-something percent and won the race. Instead, Weinbrecht had to face Joyce in a run-off. That gave Joyce much needed time, and he beat Weinbrecht in the run-off by under 800 votes (then crashed and burned, but that’s a different story).
Back in Raleigh, this is exactly what is happening in District D. Goldberg is guaranteed a place on the ballot, even if he isn’t a candidate. And if he wins his appeal and is able to campaign, he might steal even more of the vote from the legitimate candidates. Goldberg has made his intent clear – he doesn’t want to win, like all the slum landlords he just wants to see Crowder lose.
Democratic powerbrokers who want Crowder out are pushing Van Dyk (more on that bizarre story soon, that one still has The Intern buried). They’ve gained some traction, but not enough, and more time would be a valuable asset. There’s four weeks between the municipal elections and any run-offs that may be necessary. In political time, four weeks might as well be a year.
A second major advantage for Van Dyk is that he can let Goldberg lob all the hardballs and sleazeballs at Crowder - he can go negative through a proxy, it doesn’t get any better than that.
And that, gentle readers, is my theory on why the Democrat’s top gun, Gerald Francis Meek, is vigorously defending the City Council candidacy of a low-rent slumlord who does not now nor ever has lived in the City of Raleigh. If you think you have a better explanation, I’d love to hear it. But it better be good, because you are going to have a heck of a time convincing me that a rank and vfile City employee who doesn’t even live in the City is gonna drop many thousands, probably tens of thousands, for Poyner and Spruill’s rockstar to sue everyone and their grandmas so he can run for an office he has no chance in Hades of winning.
And an even harder time convincing me that Poyner and Spruill can’t keep Meek busy in Charlotte fighting for real justice.
Even Springer isn’t this tawdry.
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