Hard to pick the most revolting part of the Jim Black cash-for-power scheme, but what went down in a Salisbury pancake house is probably the most telling. Not only did Black bribe former Rep. Michael Decker with the promise of $50,000 and a $50,000-a-year job for Decker’s son, but Decker did not trust Jim Black to deliver the goods.
Decker wanted $20,000 in cash upfront before he’d vote for Black for Speaker. That demand sent Black scrambling for cash, a scramble that led him to the chiropractors, two of whom from Charlotte who gave $18,000 in cash to Black.
All along the question has been how could Black have been so reckless as to take cash in Charlotte restrooms? The answer is he had to because of what he promised Decker in a Salisbury restroom. Black had to promise the cash because Decker did not trust his fellow crook.
There was no honor between these liars and thieves. It was a deal every bit as squalid and paranoid as a crack house deal. More so because Black was essentially paying for a promise and had to trust Decker to deliver.
But Decker did not recpricate that trust. He essentially told Black, “You are rotten to the core and I do not trust you one bit.” Decker wanted Black on the hook before he’d sell himself out.
When a two-bit con man like Mike Decker does not trust you and out smarts you, Black is your name in more ways than one.
Bonus observation: Given that Black and Decker found a way to do a deal in spite of their obvious distrust of each other raises the question of how many other deals involving cash for votes have taken place involving members of the North Carolina General Assembly? Frankly, every single member of the General Assembly is now suspect, there is simply no denying that. And those calling for us to “move on” from the Black scandal — such as Mecklenburg’s own Drew Saunders — doubly so.
Make no mistake, should prosecutors actually get the cooperation that Black has promised, dozens of state lawmakers, from both parties, could find themselves caught up in a legal morass as the ongoing criminal conspriracy that passes for state government is finally exposed.
