Citizen

Reps. Rosa Gill and Darren Jackson, both D-Wake, have Democratic primary challengers this year. Gill's opponent (again) is Bernard Allen II. Jackson is up against Don Mial and Michael Slawter. Today, Gill and Jackson were two of the 10 candidates statewide endorsed by the N.C. League of Conservation Voters PAC in primary races. Gill and Jackson received the group's Green Tie award in 2011 and were among the legislators with the best — according to the NCLVC scorecard — voting records in 2012.

Gill is running for the second time in District 33 (Southeast Raleigh). She was appointed to this seat in 2009, filling a vacancy. A retired teacher, she served on the Wake County Board of Education for 10 years.

Jackson, similarly, is running for the second time in District 39 (eastern Wake) after taking the seats by appointment in 2009. He's a practicing attorney.

The endorsements were announced by NCLCV Board President Nina Szlosberg-Landis. She said NCLCV "helps elect lawmakers that share our values of protecting this great state and then holds them accountable for their votes once elected."

The Indy endorsed Gill and Jackson last week.

• photo by Bob Geary
• David Parker is leaving as Democratic party chairman

[Update: Parker is stepping down as party chairman. He's asked the party staff to call a meeting of the executive council — about 40 folks, he said — to choose a new chair. It will be a.s.a.p., probably on May 12. When they choose, he won't be a candidate, he said. This was at the end of long presentation by Parker about the facts in the case, which supported his view that he followed the law in dealing with an employee who alleged sexual harassment by former executive director Jay Parmley, but who had little or nothing to back up his allegation.The employee, later terminated, got a small severance payoff in return for signing a non-disclosure agreement. Parker wouldn't say how much the employee was paid; he said the severance agreement barred him from doing so.

[Paying the employee anything set the wheels in motion for Parker's inexorable fall. Parker acknowledged that paying him (while Parmley stayed — because there was no cause to push him out, Parker said) wasn't a good political decision.

[But Parker maintained that it was the only decision he could make given the law, the rules governing the party's insurance coverage, and the fact that the party's attorney, John Wallace, was advising that the complaining employee be paid something on his way out the door. "A tempest created by the press in a teapot," Parker called it. But he also recognized that, it's politics, none of the top Democratic officials in the state, from Gov. Bev Perdue on down, had his back on this, and consequently he had to go. So he will.]

This just in —

Raleigh, NC—Media are invited to a press conference with North Carolina Democratic Party Chairman David Parker at 1pm EST in the grand ballroom of the North Carolina Democratic Party Headquarters. Chairman David Parker will make a statement and then take questions from the media.

The grand ballroom? Really? Sounds like a monarch about to be overthrown ...

Can Parker survive all this? He says he's done nothing wrong. But that's not the standard that applies to this job.

He obviously needs to tell his side ("I did nothing wrong") and have an editorial or two commiserate about his fate ("He did nothing wrong. Still, ...").

After that, it's hard to — cliche alert — see a way forward for him.

Anyway, the grand ballroom is a two-minute walk from my house. So here goes.

The Indy's primary election endorsements are out today. You'll read that in the House District 38 Democratic race, we endorsed Lee Sartain. The endorsement includes a comment about one of Sartain's opponents, Abeni El-Amin, and a television program she hosted that appeared on one of Raleigh's public cable-access (RTN) channels before it was pulled by the city as a violation of the rule against using RTN to promote political candidates. Our endorsement says that El-Amin showed poor judgment.

I wanted to put the program up here so viewers could see it first-hand. It pretty much spoke for itself. But I see now that the link below, which was sent to me two weeks ago, no longer works; the program's been removed from YouTube by the producer, obviously. (The picture above, btw, is a screen shot of the producer's "CarolinaExposed" webpage from last week — when it featured the program with a link to it.)

The program, 28:00 long, contained a brief video segment from a Trayvon Martin protest in Raleigh a few weeks ago. (Ostensibly, the program was "dedicated" to Trayvon Martin's memory.) But 90 percent of it was a campaign infomercial for El-Amin. She appeared at the beginning as the host, introducing her candidacy, and after the Martin protest footage was shown, the remaining 20 minutes-plus consisted of footage from El-Amin's campaign kickoff event in Raleigh. She was on camera talking about herself for most of that time.

When I spoke to her about the program, El-Amin said she wasn't the producer and had nothing to do with putting hit on the cable-access system. A campaign volunteer, she said, is also a community producer for the RTN system as a hobby. El-Amin was the program's host, however, and the show was all about her. And she did plug it on her Facebook page — at least twice — including a message to watch "Now!!" when it first aired Wednesday, April 4 at 10 p.m. Her previous FB message, on April 3, linked to the program on YouTube: "You have got to see this," it said.

After it aired April 4, Sartain complained, and RTN's manager, Karyn Thomas, pulled it out of three additional time slots for which it had been scheduled. Thomas said she doesn't preview programs if they're brought in, as this one was, by folks who are regular RTN producers. When Sartain complained, Thomas did look at it, and the program clearly violated RTN's policy against programs pitching a political candidate or campaign.

Candidates are obviously anxious to promote themselves. How they do it can reflect well or badly on them. This program reflected poorly on El-Amin, not just because it didn't belong on a cable-access channel but also because it mixed up the terrible tragedy of Trayvon Martin's death with El-Amin's desire to be elected. In that sense, it might've worked to have a program with one minute of her and 27 minutes on the Martin case. But doing it the other way around was pretty offensive.

Remember when Herman Cain was the front-runner for president in the Republican universe?

Good times.

Cain's the cornerman for Newt Gingrich these days, fyi.

A Gingrich-Cain ticket could dominate in the over-60 swingers demographic.

The news just came across our digits from the Wake GOP (with a subsequent note changing the site from Dorton to Kerr Scott):

On Thursday, March 22, the 2012 Wake County Republican Party Convention will be held at Dorton Arena the Kerr Scott Building on the NC State Fairgrounds. The program will include a keynote address by former Presidential candidate, Herman Cain.

All who registered for the Precinct Meeting on February 16, 2012 are eligible to serve as a delegate or alternate at the convention. Those who did not register for the precinct meeting may still attend the convention by registering as an observer.

To sign up as a delegate, go to www.wakegop.org and pay the $25 delegate fee online or print and mail the form along with a check to Wake GOP Convention, ATTN: Susan Bryant, PO Box 30608, Raleigh, NC 27622.

Sign up quickly because on March 17, the delegate fee will increase to $50. Admission for observers is $50 in advance and $75 at the door.

Place: North Carolina State Fairgrounds Dorton Arena Kerr Scott Building - 1025 Blue Ridge Road, Raleigh, NC 27607

Date: Thursday, March 22, 2012

Doors Open: 5:30 p.m.

Program with Keynote speaker Herman Cain: 7:00 p.m.

Don't blame me if there's no free pizza. I'd have it there, no question.

click to enlarge

• State Rep. Grier Martin, D-Wake

I don't have Martin's announcement Now I do have it ... h/t Greg Flynn ... along with the earlier statement from House Minority Leader Joe Hackney, D-Orange, on Martin's decision.

First, Martin, who notes that Republicans seemed to target Democratic women legislators for extinction:

The abusive redistricting plan enacted this year does many things. It seeks to racially re-segregate the state. It splits a stunning number of precincts, sowing confusion and putting up barriers to voting. And, it targets female legislators. One way the plan targets women is by “double-bunking” them into districts with other incumbent legislators. That is the situation my good friend and colleague Rep. Deborah Ross find ourselves in.

Certainly, this is a tactic not unique to either party. But, it is important to note that the last time a Democratic controlled legislature engaged in redistricting was the recent Pender-New Hanover court-ordered redistricting. I chaired the committee that drew those districts. There, Rep. Danny McComas, a GOP incumbent lived a mere few hundred yards from the edge of his district. With an easy stroke of a pen, he could have been double-bunked with his fellow Republican Rep. Carolyn Justice. But, we chose to move beyond those kinds of games. We recognized that this sort of thing is a disservice to the voters who have elected those legislators to serve them in the General Assembly. We left Rep. McComas’ district unchanged. Both he and Rep. Justice were rehired by their constituents.

I wish the folks that drew the current district had moved further down the path we charted with Pender-New Hanover. But, they’ve gone back to the bad old days and beyond. In targeting female legislators, in particular, they’ve hit a new low. And, they’ve tried to make me part of that plan by double-bunking me with Rep. Ross. But, I’m not going to play along with their game. So, I have decided not to run for a 5th term in the House.

In making this decision, I am mindful that our job in the legislature is not centered around we legislators, but instead is rooted in serving our constituents. I am confident that my constituents in the current HD34 who are in the new HD34 will be extremely well-served by Deborah Ross, one of the most capable, ethical, and hard-working legislators ever to serve.

I look forward to continuing to serve you for the next ten months. And, as always, I am so grateful for the opportunity you have given me to serve you.

Sincerely,

Grier Martin

Now, Hackney's statement:

Rep. Hackney statement on retirement of Rep. Grier Martin

"Rep. Martin has been one of the hardest working legislators in the General Assembly during his four terms in office. His ongoing military service allowed him to quickly establish himself as an expert in legislation to protect and serve the fighting men and women who protect and serve us. At the same time, he was a progressive voice in efforts to protect our environment, women's rights and to keep North Carolina a state that leads instead of follows. The people of Wake County will lose a great representative, but we are hopeful that Grier will find a way soon to return to public service."

Will update as we go.

(And, Laura Leslie has a good story up at WRAL.)

The Republicans drew Martin and Rep. Deborah Ross into the same House district, forcing them to run against each other in the Democratic primary election unless one stepped aside. Ross has announced her candidacy. Martin — shades of Brad Miller when he found himself in the same congressional district as David Price — looked at the alternative and decided to move on.

Like Jennifer Weiss, who earlier announced that she isn't running again, Martin is highly respected and one of the best-liked members of the General Assembly.

• State Rep. Jennifer Weiss

Weiss issued this statement today:

For the past twelve years, it has been a tremendous honor and privilege for me to represent the people of Wake County in the North Carolina House. Over the years, I have knocked on thousands of doors across the Triangle and listened to the views, concerns and suggestions of my constituents. I have worked with my colleagues to improve education and to prepare our workforce for 21st century jobs. I have fought to protect the health and safety of our children, senior citizens in our state and people with mental and physical disabilities. I have been a staunch advocate for public health and I have worked to preserve our air and water quality and to sustain and improve our quality of life.

I have decided not to file for re-election in 2012. This has been a difficult decision for me but I feel that it is time for me to take a break from politics, pursue some of my other interests and spend more time with my family and friends. Serving in the NC House has been one of the greatest opportunities in my life. Not only have I had a seat at the table, and a voice and a vote to promote policies that I believe in, I have also met remarkable people who care deeply about helping to move our state forward.

I will always be grateful to the people of the Triangle and across the State of NC who gave me the opportunity to serve in the NC House and provided me with help, advice and support. I feel very fortunate to have served under the leadership of former Speaker Hackney who continues to serve our state with distinction.

I am confident that there will be a strong Democratic candidate running in House District 41 who will launch an effective campaign for the NC House and who will provide the new district with the leadership needed to make NC more competitive in the global economy and to address the critical needs of our state.

I am honored to represent my constituents through the end of this year. No matter what the future holds, I will continue to advocate for policies that move NC in a positive direction.