Let’s try and fill in the blanks concerning what happened at the county commission meeting last night. It was not just Jerry Reese’s lawsuit to stop the land swap associated with the baseball deal for the Charlotte Knights; it was calling on the Local Government Commission to halt the COPs package needed to fund all of the county’s wishlist.
As for the Nick Mackey saga, the big development is that the assumption that the county Democratic Party had the power to select a replacement for Mecklenburg County Sheriff Jim Pendergraph is under attack. Now it appears that state law may give the county commission — and not the local political party — authority to fill the slot. Or at least that state law gives as much power to the commission as it does the party, so twisted is the language.
Using that wedge, county commissioner Dan Bishop last night tried to slam home a motion to appoint Chipp Bailey sheriff. Democrats voted that down, a move they may soon regret as the notion that the state Democratic Party will somehow remove their Nick Mackey problem is a pipe dream.
The commission’s dopey two-member “committee” that will “study” the matter has nothing to study. Either vote for Mackey or Bailey and be done with it. Local Democrats cannot duck this choice forever.
