More Orr

If you're not reading the Under the Dome blog at the News and Observer, you should be. Ryan Teague Beckwith is doing a great job covering fresh stories in state politics, and the discussions are often eye-opening. Plus, John Hood, the Stage Manager at the Art Pope Puppetshow, has apparently given permission for his minions to comment on the site, so you can witness first hand what Puppets sound like when they're not writing "reports."

Another good thing about the Dome blog is the fact that it's looking at other newspapers in the state. Instead of the insular column that shows up in the N&O, it's a free-wheeling review of whatever catches Beckwith's attention. Like this blurb on a column by Doug Clark at the Greensboro paper. In the column, Clark compares Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Orr, mostly favorably, to the legendary Senator Sam Ervin, who was also a Supreme Court Justice prior to running for higher office.

...no other member of the state's highest court has gone on to hold a top political office. That makes Orr's run for governor unusual, but also intriguing. Maybe North Carolina needs a leader whose professional life has been devoted to upholding the law. ... Orr is wise and folksy in his own right, but the similarities to Ervin are far from exact. He's a Republican; the late senator was a Democrat. Ervin was appointed to the Senate, filling a vacancy created by the death of Clyde Hoey. He had to win election to a full term five months later, but having the Democratic nomination in those days meant victory was certain. If Orr wins the Republican primary, he'll be an underdog against a strong Democrat, probably Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue.

All of that may be true, but if Bob Orr were as wise as Doug Clark purports, he wouldn't have gotten himself into a position where he's so beholden to Art Pope. In fact, Doug Clark (and the the News and Observer too) would do well to look into the financial dealings between these two men.

Not having a personal fortune like Bill Graham or Fred Smith, candidate Orr is having to find another way to fund his political ambitions. He just quit his job at the Art Pope Center for Constitutional Whatever and has no visible means of income. Who's paying his bills? Is Art Pope funding Bob Orr's run for governor? If not, who is?

From all I've heard, Bob Orr is a very nice man, but the financial fuzziness surrounding his campaign is unsettling. Before the mainstream media get all gushy and start comparing Bob Orr to luminaries from the past, perhaps it would be worth looking into the reality of the present.

And then there's this from Clark's column:

Orr calls the lottery bad public policy, putting the state in league with an industry that is "fueling a generation of gambling addiction," but he stopped short of saying he'd move to kill it as governor. "It wouldn't be at the top of the list," he said. "Public education and refiguring how to fund public education has to come first."

That sounds like a political answer, tempered by recognition of the lottery's popularity.

"Sounds" like a political answer? Clark is too kind by far. That doesn't sound like a political answer, that sounds like bull-oney. Bob Orr clearly believes the lottery is a blight on North Carolina (he's right), so why the hell wouldn't he put the strength of his convictions to work to kill it?

Maybe the good judge is playing the lottery himself? God knows he needs to find some way to fund his campaign besides depending on the self-serving largesse of the Puppetmaster.

To my knowledge.