tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22040291.post8207060789946703216..comments2024-01-09T17:38:35.707-05:00Comments on This Old State: Beason says he'll quit lobbyingUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22040291.post-70546263453585509772007-08-16T09:27:00.000-04:002007-08-16T09:27:00.000-04:00Could I raise this question? Does anyone else reme...Could I raise this question? Does anyone else remember taking eye exams during grade school? What about now, with Dr. Black not serving in the General Assembly--do parents want the N.C. public schools to provide eye exams or do they wish for these exams to be conducted through private family medical arrangements?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22040291.post-33955034993354657222007-08-15T19:12:00.000-04:002007-08-15T19:12:00.000-04:00David, good questions.Using Jim Black as an exampl...David, good questions.<BR/><BR/>Using Jim Black as an example, when he was elected to the Legislature, he should have automatically recused himself from any legislation, decisions, or even conversations concerning his chosen trade, specifically ophthalmology. Black's law requiring kids to have eye checkups was as blatantly self-serving as anything I've ever seen.<BR/><BR/>But on a larger scale, the phrase "public service" has meaning. It's not "private service"... if you want that, don't run for office. When you serve the public*, you are expected to put some of your own interests aside for as long as you hold office. This is something that all politicians need to remember.<BR/><BR/>* Politicians also need to remember that "public service" doesn't mean that the public serves you... you serve the public.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22040291.post-29041107232917980632007-08-15T18:57:00.000-04:002007-08-15T18:57:00.000-04:00You know, folks in Charlotte and Mecklenburg Count...You know, folks in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County as well as their neighbors in other counties ought to decide one issue for themselves: do your representatives in the North Carolina General Assembly, who earn a part-time salary for their public service, lose their right to engage in commercial business affairs related to their professional or business occupations in Mecklenburg or surrounding counties while they are members of the Legislature?<BR/><BR/>Is it to be expected that someone elected to the N.C. House of Representatives or the N.C. Senate from Mecklenburg County is to suspend all professional and/or business acticity until such time as they resign their seats in the General Assembly, choose not to run for re-election or fail of re-election in attempting to do so?<BR/><BR/> Here in Raleigh and Wake County, everybody from the area hotel and restaurant business communities to the Wake County public schools (to whom Judge Stephens has erroneously allocated the entire off-the-chart $1 million fine levied against Dr. Jim Black) is sharing in the commercial and governmental funds generated by all categories of state government operations and activities.<BR/><BR/> Therefore, not only back in Mecklenburg County but also in such surrounding counties as Gaston, Union, Lincoln, Cabarrus, Iredell and Rowan, you need to ask yourselves: are your state legislators expected to cease all non-political activities related to the earning of a livelihood while they are serving their fellow citizens in Raleigh?<BR/><BR/>Then, after you resolve that question, you can decide what parameters of financing of commercial, business and professional activities are to be deemed ethically permissible for state legislators trying to make do on part-time wages for their service in the North Carolina General Assembly.<BR/><BR/>Sorry about the long-winded speech, but people have a right to know if they are to be able to provide for themselves and their families while engaging in part-time, partially volunteer public service callings.<BR/><BR/>And it would help things considerably if The Observer were to participate editorially in the debate and evaluation of these issues and questions.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22040291.post-53111608847567719232007-08-15T18:07:00.000-04:002007-08-15T18:07:00.000-04:00The cynic in me wonders if this move isn't less ab...The cynic in me wonders if this move isn't less about not being able to lobby effectively for his clients and more about protecting himself from any criminal investigation concerning his $500,000 "loan" to Jim Black. The phrase "enterprise corruption" springs to mind when I think about this "loan"... Beason effectively facilitated Black's criminal wrongdoing, and he must have known that something shady was going on. After all, Beason's not a bank, is he? And the money he lent to Black was never reported to the IRS, was it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com