Changing the rules is part of the game

I suppose the rules don’t matter when you’re trying to cover a mess that you created. Gov. Mike Easley has appointed David Saacks District Attorney in Durham, NC. The move seems to be a stroke of genius. Saacks lives in Wake County, meaning he can’t run for the office when it comes time for voters to decide on who will hold the office. There’s one major hurdle. A new law signed by Gov. Easley on August 19 states, “a person appointed to fill a vacancy in an elective office must be eligible to vote for that office if an election was held on the date of appointment.”

The law makes it clear that Saacks can’t serve; however, the Governor is arguing that he has the authority to over rule the very law he signed. This most recent addition to the Duke Lacrosse debacle proves again that regulations are made to be broken when those with power opt to change their mind.

On paper, the selection of Saacks seems to be the best thing for Durham. That is if you live outside of Durham, and care less about maintaining credibility of the merits of the office. The Governor, in selecting Saacks and snubbing the law he signed, is making a critical statement regarding the worth of estimable prosecutors who have residence in Durham County.

The maneuver appears as a decision intended to assure this appointee doesn’t run for the office. That’s the mistake Gov. Easley made in choosing Mike Nifong to replace Jim Hardin when he was appointed to serve as Superior Court Judge. We’re told the unwritten agreement was that Nifong wouldn’t run for the office. It’s hard to believe that Nifong is stupid enough to renege on a deal with the Governor.

If appointing a person who refuses to run for the office is priority number one, and doing so is important enough to overlook the laws that you deem important, than the voters of Durham have some important questions that need to be answered.

For one, why is it so important to leave it up to the voters to decide on who should serve as District Attorney. Shouldn’t the Governor help identify a person who can serve not only on an interim basis, but has the credentials to hold the office for the long haul? What’s wrong with exerting strong leadership and helping Mr. and Ms. Average Joe and Jane Citizen think through who is out their worthy of holding the office?

By selecting an outsider, Easley gets off the hot seat by cleaning his hands of a mess he helped to create by first, appointing Hardin to a judgeship and then making a deal, supposedly, with Mike Nifong. He has paved the way for Freda Black to walk into the office by failing to identify one of the strong candidates within the district attorney’s office.

I was hoping voters would get a chance to see that person serve on a trail basis. Give us the opportunity to get to know the person the Governor believes has the leadership qualities needed to function in the office. I was hoping Tracy Kline would get her chance to shine. Durham deserves more than a band-aid to cover the damage caused by a series of bad decisions coming from Gov. Mike Easley.

We want a person who lives in Durham to serve as district attorney. Why should we embrace a person to serve the people of Durham who isn’t committed enough live in the county that pays his bills? Saacks residency in Wake County speaks to his thoughts regarding Durham. He doesn’t want his children going to school there. He doesn’t feel good about the quality of life in Durham, so he opts to live in Cary, NC instead.

From all accounts he’s a great guy. He has a sound reputation as a prosecutor. All of that may be true, but if he wants to lead the people of Durham, he needs to live in Durham. Voters need to see an investment in the community where you work. He needs to show a high level of familiarity to the community that enables him to serve. If the county believes in you enough to hire you, then you should believe in that same county enough to find a home there.

Gov. Mike Easley has wiped his hands clean of the problems within the district attorney office. The voters of Durham should scrutinize this appointment for the underlying assumptions made. One, there’s no one in Durham good enough to serve. Two, when it comes to Durham, NC. residency rules don’t apply because no one, some think, in their right mind would live there. And, three, laws are signed with the understanding they can be changed at any time-especially when it comes to the folks over in Durham, NC.

We deserve much more than that!

Not a penny!

Oh, no they didn’t! I’ve been patient in watching the unraveling of the Duke Lacrosse rape fiasco, but now those boys and their parents have forced me to roll up my shelves and take them to the woodshed.

It wasn’t enough that Roy Cooper, the States Attorney General, decided to drop all charges against Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann, now they have the audacity to sue the city of Durham, North Carolina for a whopping $30 million. No, it wasn’t enough to have Mike Nifong disbarred and thrown in jail for 24 hours. It wasn’t enough to settle things with Duke University for their role in jumping too soon to dismiss them from school. Now, they want to force the 210,000 residents of Durham to pay an estimated $142 each for the police department’s role in the mess.

If I had my say in all of this, and I don’t, I wouldn’t give them a penny. Those boys and their parents have done a great job of convincing people of their innocence. They have become the national poster boys for the pain caused from prosecutorial misconduct. They want you to think they deserve some compensation for being the targets of the national media and the symbols of white arrogance. I’m not buying it.

As much as I’m willing to admit an injustice in this case, I will not fork up a dime to pay them for Mike Nifong’s mistake. I will concede no one in that house raped or kidnapped that woman, but a number of crimes were committed. Those boys aren’t innocent. They are innocent of the charges they faced, but these boys are not the victims of a ploy to destroy them. What happened to them is a consequence of their placing themselves within an environment where bad things happened.

Something happened in that house. Black women were called bad names. Someone made a comment about a broom stick. Someone thanked one of the girl’s grandparents for picking the cotton that made their shirt. Boys under the age of 21 were drinking, and they had called and employed the services of two exotic dancers.

Have we forgotten this wasn’t the first encounter members of the Duke Lacrosse team had with the Durham police department? The former coach of the team has written a book critical of officials at Duke for kicking him out based on an assumption of guilt. Please, please help me understand his position. From what I remember he was dismissed not because of what may have happened that night, but rather because of a series of altercations that had gone unchecked.

Have we forgotten that Duke University purchased homes in the Trinity Park community shortly before the fetus hit the revolving apparatus; due to complaints coming from the residents in the Trinity Park community? Duke decided to take matters into their own hands by acquiring property to give them greater control over what happened.

I have an issue with the language of innocence applied in this case. Even more critical is the application of recompense when the victims possess the resources needed to fight the system. How much did Daryl Hunt get paid after spending time in prison for a crime he didn’t commit? Why is it that the District Attorney in that case has maintained his license to practice law and now holds a position as an assistant in the Attorney General’s office? I’m steaming due to the way in which we, the citizens of Durham, are forced to pay for the mistakes made by public officials when those accused are rich, powerful and pissed off because someone had the nerve to come against them.

As much as I hurt over what they went through, I have no patience when it comes to their intent to sue us for the wrong they’ve endured. I would be more compassionate if they were utterly innocent. They’re not. They violated the rules of Duke University and the city of Durham, and now want us to pay.

I don’t think so!

Oh where, oh where has Obama been?

I have to make a confession. I’m pissed! I’m hurt, upset, disgusted and confused over the state of the American judicial system.

Part of my frustration is related to living in Durham, NC, home of Duke University and that infamous rape case. As a long time resident of the city, I have endured the hassle of having outside critics give their perspective on the state of things in my fine city. It irks me that most observers fail to place this case, and all that follows, within the context of the history and happenings of the city. I could talk about that all day, but there’s much more behind my fury.

I’m livid over the mixture of contradictions that remind me that America is a country that places privilege and race above justice. I crave to believe that we have become a nation that is purely color blind when it comes to the dispensing of judgment. That is not the case, and I’m annoyed that I have to waste time to convey the nature of this evil. As much as I want to move past presenting arguments that do more than expound the stance of another mad black man; I can’t let go of how deeply marred I am due to these incongruities.

A little background to my rage-I just finished reading the recent installment of the Duke Lacrosse case. Mike Nifong, former Durham District Attorney, is facing a $500 fine or up to 30 days in jail for criminal contempt. The question for this most recent segment of the soap opera is whether Nifong willfully and intentionally made false statements to Judge W. Osmond Smith III in May 2006.

The brunt of my frustration involves the level of attention given this case in comparison to the countless others that go unnoticed, and that are clear case of prosecutorial misconduct. The most recent example of a district attorneys misuse of power is the Jena 6 case.

A recent response to my blog got it right-why is it that black people are reduced to marching and shouting in front of courtrooms as a means of remonstration? Why do we continue to employ 50 year old stratagems to get the attention of those who manipulate the process?

I’m angry that people have to pack buses to do what we have always done, while high profile attorney’s and politicians jump on the bandwagon to support the causes of these boys in Durham, NC who became the target of an indomitable prosecutor.

Where are the congressmen and senators in that case? Where is Barak Obama? He found time to comment on the Duke Lacrosse rape case, but hasn’t made his way down to Jena to plead on behalf of those boys. Why hasn’t he made a stop on his journey across the country to raise money and prove to Americans he’s white enough to be their President?

I’m annoyed that none of the presidential candidates have made this an issue worthy of their attention. I wouldn’t be as pissed if Obama hadn’t taken time away from his duties as senator to write a memo regarding the Duke Lacrosse rape case. Maybe the assumption of innocence sways the way he and others functions when it comes to speaking up. If that is true, then I’m pissed even more.

Why? Because I utterly abominate the terminology of innocence when applied to those boys involved in the Duke Lacrosse rape case. They are not innocent. They are innocent of rape. They are innocent of kidnapping, but they are guilty, it can be assumed by the evidence in the case, of racial slurs, the communication of threats, underage drinking and lewd behavior. You may reason, why is that important? It’s important in addressing the grave disparity in the way power brokers involve themselves in cases demanding scrutiny.

The focus down in Jena, LA is on the wrong people. Instead of fighting against the local bums in power, we should be calling on those who demand our votes to get their butts down there and handle their business. All that talk about equality in American doesn’t mean a thing when all you do is talk, raise money and appear on television for another debate.

If you have the power to make a change, use it. So, let’s take all of that rage and send letters to Obama and ask him to prove to us he’s real. If not, let’s contact Hillary.