The Privette circus is keeping its tent firmly pitched.

You might recall that Coy Privette last week announced his intent to resign as Cabarrus County Commissioner. It turns out that you're a fool if you believed him. Of course you're a fool if you ever believed him before, but I digress.
You see, the key word in his statement back then was "intent".
What it comes down to is that Mr. Privette will only resign if he gets to hand-pick his successor and if his home in Kannapolis gets sold.

In an article published in The Independent Tribune today, the Privette soap continues:

Privette, 74, said in a statement Tuesday that “a committee of non-partial community leaders” should be appointed to consider candidates for the seat he plans to vacate.

There's one problem. What Mr. Privette is demanding isn't even legal.
State statutes say there must be a vacancy on the county commission before the local Republican Party can begin seeking a replacement. The North Carolina General Statutes state:

If the member who vacated the seat was elected as a nominee of a political party, the board of commissioners, the chairman of the board, or the clerk of superior court, as the case may be, shall consult the county executive committee of the appropriate political party before filling the vacancy, and shall appoint the person recommended by the county executive committee of the political party of which the commissioner being replaced was a member, if the party makes a recommendation within 30 days of the occurrence of the vacancy.

Since Coy hasn't resigned yet, there is no vacancy.
As you can tell the statutes also clearly say that the executive Committee of the Cabarrus County Republican Party needs to recommend a replacement for Mr. Privette, not any other group or committee.

“The Cabarrus County Republican Men’s Club Executive Committee could be that vehicle to recruit such a group to seek out prospective appointees for the public to consider,” Privette said in his statement.

Contrary to Mr. Privette's "glory days", the Cabarrus Republican Party these days is run by a more moderate group. The last "bastion" of extreme right wing republicans is exactly the Republican Men's Club, so it figures that Mr. Privette would like to get them involved.

The second condition Coy cited for him to retire was that his house in Kannapolis would have to be sold. If he sells his home in Kannapolis and moves to a retirement community in Thomasville like he announced, he will have to resign because he will no longer live in Cabarrus County. The problem is that Mr. Privette's house doesn't seem to be for sale.

Privette’s home doesn't seem to be listed on the market, and there is no “for sale” sign in front of his home. I know, because I drove by his house this afternoon and took this picture:

Do you see a "for sale" sign?

In a reaction, his fellow commissioners are once again exploring their options to limit the activities of Privette as a commissioner. They had a "censure" item on the agenda of the last Commissioner meeting, but at the start of that meeting Mr. Privette announced his "intent" to resign, so his fellow commissioners dropped the censure debate. It seems now they will revive the debate at their next meeting.
So watch for the next episode of this soap then.

It's almost sad to see a guy that used to be a very influential politician turn himself more and more into a crazy, sad, embarrassing old man. Almost.

This story will, no doubt, be continued...

Cross posted from lefton49.com