Speaker of the House

Dear Speaker Hackney.

It's been a while since I last wrote to you - back before you were elected Speaker. From all I can see, you are doing an admirable job for the most part, navigating the swirling waters of North Carolina state politics with grace and honor. As well you should. You set the bar high in your opening speech as Speaker, when you said:

I come here today with the greatest respect for this North Carolina House of Representatives, and the people who come here to serve in it:

There is no place in this State where public servants are more in tune with the citizens of North Carolina, than in this chamber.

There is no place in this State where the issues of government and politics are better or more fully debated, than in this chamber.

There is no place in this State where the interests of the less fortunate of our citizens are better represented, than in this chamber.

Via Ex:

Book Review

The Speaker: The North Carolina House of Representatives, by Ann Lassiter (23 pps, GBC bound, Legislative Printing Office, Raleigh, North Carolina)

Though Ms. Lassiter's $75,000 advance for this book has been the talk of the capital, it is her unconventional prose and keen eye for detail that makes this remarkably easy-to-read history something special.

With a full twenty-three pages of amazing prose (except for the big Who quote on page six) The Speaker is replete with odd choices of capitalization, some noun-verb problems and a few tense shifts here and there. With each leaf, Ms. Lassiter keeps us guessing which sharp corner of the English language she'll round off next.

While so many of us are waiting to see family during the holidays, House Speaker Jim Black is waiting to see if he'll be indicted after being fingered as a co-conspirator by convicted extortionist, Michael Decker.

Representatives are, by and large, coy over whether they'll support another Jim Black term as Speaker if he somehow avoids indictment. There are a few exceptions - Bill Owens says, "Even if he is indicted, it doesn't mean he's guilty", and Bill Faison says, "We do not need a sitting speaker indicted and carried off the podium in handcuffs."

A new Democratic netroots effort, fertilized by the sulfur spread by Black, is underway at BlackOut-NC.com. The tagline says it all:

"Encouraging our representatives to make an ethical choice when voting for Speaker of the House. Promising respect for candidates who choose to elevate our party and our government, and promising a permanent pain in the ass to those who don't."

Most of us here are sick to death of the Speaker's scandal. The newspapers lately have been chock-a-block with new revelations, many of them unproven, that corruption abounds. Is it a coincidence then that this story finally emerges today?

RALEIGH -- Governor Mike Easley announced today that he has appointed former Speaker of the House Dan Blue to the North Carolina House of Representatives.

more from the story after the break