K.C. Johnson, blog critic of Durham DA Mike Nifong, points to the hypocrisy of Durham’s left-wing PACs, the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People and the socialist-leaning People’s Alliance:
The district attorney has the support of two Durham-area PACs. Last week, he got the nod from the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People—marking the first time I can recall in any high-profile race where a minority PAC had endorsed a candidate best known for prosecutorial misconduct and eroding civil liberties. These two issues are normally of considerable concern to the black community.
Meanwhile, among the white left, Nifong retained the support of the People’s Alliance, despite having said he’s “very pleased†to have homophobe Victoria Peterson as his citizens’ committee co-chair. The People’s Alliance purports to favor gay rights, but apparently does so only when it’s ideologically convenient for them They could be deemed the Triangle’s fair-weather leftists.
Obviously, for Nifong’s backers, some issues are more important than civil liberties, prosecutorial misconduct, and gay rights.
This is nothing new. These supposedly idealistic liberal PACs have been the most cynical political machines this side of Chicago or Philly over the past 20 years.
