Today’s N&R ran the N&O profile of former Greensboro Chamber of Commerce president Peter Reichard, who was recently indicted on obstruction of justice charges related to Gov. Perdue’s 2008 campaign.
Reichard got his start in politics working for Mike Easley’s campaign for for governor:
Reichard’s entry into the Democratic Party’s fundraising circle began with a call 13 years ago from a friend of Easley, according to Reichard and news reports from the time.
Easley, then attorney general, had his eyes on the governor’s mansion. Join the campaign, the caller said. Help us raise money. Get in early on a winning ticket.
…..A month later, he became the Easley campaign’s statewide finance director and first paid staffer.
“I saw it as a way I could participate in the political process,” Reichard said. “The truth is that no one likes to do political fundraising. But I was willing to work hard and learned to have a thick skin.”
At the time, he described his job to a Greensboro newspaper as “raise money, dummy.”
I realize it’s old news, but I still find it incredible that Reichard was still hired by Erskine Bowles for his 2002 Senate campaign and later by Perdue when his troubles with the G’boro chamber were well-known.
But he knew how to raise money, and it’s all about money with Democrats, which is why it’s such a joke the way they lecture Republicans about being greedy.
