More from Raleigh on how much longer Speaker Jim Black can hang on. Great and telling quite from state Rep. Paul Stam (R) on Black’s rule:
Stam says he’s noticed a huge change in the concentration of House power. He served in the chamber for one term in 1989 and 1990, then returned after a 12-year absence. “When I left the House in 1990, it was a chaotic participatory democracy,” Stam said. “When I came back in 2003, it was a very ordered oligarchy.
“Power was so concentrated that I was really shocked,” he added, “and shocked — really — that members of the majority party were willing to give away all of their influence on opening day.”
BTW, the local Knight Ridder outlet devotes zero news-hole inches to the Jim Black story today, although the op-ed page does reprint state Rep. Rick Glazier’s doubts about a continued Jim Black speakership.
In contrast, the Duke rape story nets 22 inches of news coverage today, which seems to indicate that 20 inches of space is being reserved for that story day-in, day-out. As editor Rick Thames has yet to explain his paper’s coverage decision, this is pure speculation.
