In football a player is said to get “gator-arms” — short, stubby things — when they flinch from going all-out for a ball in the air. Like when a receiver has Mike Minter or Dan Morgan closing in on him and elects not to stretch out for the ball. That’s gator-arming the thing, stopping short out of fear.
Today we have a second example of gator-arming the lottery mess. The first was Meckelnburg County commissioners’ chairman Parks Helms asking Kevin Geddings to remove himself from his appointed spot on the planning board, but neglecting to say anything at all about House Speaker Jim Black, the epicenter of the current scandal. Helms gator-armed that sucker and hopes no one notices.
The local Knight Ridder outlet has sprouted gator-arms now, too. The paper stops short of calling on Black to resign despite harsh words for the situation he has put the state in:
This is a disgraceful moment for North Carolina. Even opponents of the lottery had hoped it might produce significant income for education without permitting the seedy deals that have clouded lottery operations in other states. It’s now clear that North Carolina’s lottery will be marked by the stench of insider dealing and disdain for the law that many citizens had warned would accompany the state’s entry into the gambling industry.
Yes, and? Call in Mike Easley is the Observer’s battle cry. Why? North Carolina’s governor is not particularly powerful institutionally and this one is particularly deferential to the General Assembly, how can he “clean up the lottery mess?” The lottery — like much of state government — is out of his hands.
The lottery is simply being handled like every other big money issue is handled in Raleigh by Jim Black and his crony insiders. The insiders come first and the general public comes second. Mike Easley can’t tell us anything we don’t already know on that front.
Let’s not pretend the governor is the only one who can act. It is time for everyone in Mecklenburg to stand up straight, rise above the stench, swallow their fear, and tell Jim Black to take a hike.
