Jim Black Gets 5 Years In Prison

By John Fuquay - July 12th, 2007 - Fayetteville Observer

RALEIGH — Former state House Speaker Jim Black’s sentencing Wednesday to 63 months in federal prison does not necessarily end one of the biggest public corruption scandals in state history.

Federal prosecutors said after the sentencing that a $500,000 transaction between Black and a lobbyist in 2000 is under state and federal investigation.

Considering the damage done to the state of North Carolina, and the very concept of our representative democracy, the sentence seems rather light to me.

Just for a reminder, Jim Black (along with Marc Basnight) took advantage of the political power bought with the bribes involved in this case and gerrymandered the state to change district maps in both the house and senate to suppress Republican representation. The result is that though the majority of citizens vote Republican the state is still controlled by Democrats. That is not just unjust, it is corrupt.

It is the ability of the Democrats to hang on to power, and wield that power to pay off favors, that has resulted in one true test of political corruption. Democrats get 3 times as much in political contributions as Republicans in our state. THREE TIMES. It is obvious that the money is simply another form of bribery to buy Democrat payoffs and favors.

There is a reason that Democrats constantly scream about "supposed" Republican corruption. Since Democrats are corrupt, they assume everyone else is too.

It is amazing that despite this money advantage and the advantage that the vast majority of the press is pro Democrat, citizens still vote Republican by a small margin. Republicans shouldn't even be in the race. I think this is reason for optimism. If we fix even a small number of the corrupt advantages the Democrats have rigged for themselves, we can fix some of the huge problems the Democrats have caused in our state.