It would come as no big surprise if he did:

In an email dated this February, a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans asks for a meeting with UNC Board of Governors member Bob Rucho, but the documents include no other correspondence until November.

That's when the UNC System asked the attorney general's office for approval to retain outside counsel for a possible settlement regarding Silent Sam. Eight days later, the settlement was done, and UNC-Chapel Hill — the campus where the statue once stood — had been told to transfer $2,574,999 to the university system.

I generally refrain from asking questions in headlines (like the above), because it borders on a logical fallacy and can easily drag you into conspiracy theory territory. But I'm also a big fan of Occam's Razor. If the SCV wanted a meeting with Rucho back in February and didn't get it, there would likely have been some follow-up communications shortly thereafter. Since there weren't, we can assume that the meeting took place, or at least some form of communication transpired between the two entities outside of official channels. Another question that needs answering: Why did they pick Bob Rucho to meet with out of the 5 members tasked with solving the problem? I know why they didn't pick Darrel Allison, although he is probably clueless.

And it's a lot uglier than we thought:

Internal conflict has intensified within the North Carolina Division Sons of Confederate Veterans Inc. since its questionable settlement with the UNC System weeks ago. The settlement accrued the organization ownership of Silent Sam, as well as $2.5 million in UNC System money to fund the Confederate monument’s “preservation and benefit.” Kevin Stone, the state chapter’s commander, called it a “major strategic victory” for the pro-Confederate movement.

But multiple current members of the SCV chapter led by Stone, who spoke to The Daily Tar Heel and were granted anonymity based on personal safety concerns, are taking a far different tone.

Before we get into the nuts and bolts, I just wanted to comment on how very common this situation is, when petty tyrants move into positions of authority. It happens on condo boards, homeowners associations, committees and commissions, and even political party sub-groups (county, caucuses, etc.) These people will inevitably play upon your prejudices, in an effort to create an aura of conflict that doesn't exist (yet), and once placed in power they make that conflict a reality. Needless to say, when you see one of these people, run like the wind. Back to the confederacy of dunces:

District# Dem candidate filed

01 *Tess Judge

02 *Libbie Griffin

10 *Vernon Moore

12 *John Kirkman
(more below the fold)

Let's get this party started:

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law has been talking with potential student and faculty litigants, the group’s executive director said in an interview with Policy Watch Tuesday. They plan to file this week.

“In our view, the Sons of Confederate Veterans has perpetrated a fraud upon the court,” said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the committee. “They have made false representations to the court about their standing, about their ownership interest in the monument. It is clear this settlement agreement was one negotiated before the filing of the suit and a letter from SCV’s leader makes it clear they knew they lacked standing and had no jurisdiction to present this matter to the court.”

Anticipating the inevitable and painfully ironic mantra, "Another frivolous lawsuit from the Librals, who can't stand all the #Winning!" Or something equally noxious. At best, Republicans caved to a lawsuit before it was even filed. At worst, they conspired to file a lawsuit against themselves. This whole episode needs to be closely scrutinized in a court of law, and the Discovery alone will be worth the exercise: