And the preferred scapegoat is Duke Energy CEO-for-the-moment Jim Rogers. So reports the Washington Post. Highlight:
Many had hoped that Jim Rogers, chief executive of Duke Energy, the giant utility headquartered in Charlotte, would be able to leverage his local credibility and national business connections to bring in the tens of millions of dollars needed to put on the event in early September.
Instead, several people with close working knowledge of convention planning said last week that Rogers, consumed with his company’s $26 billion merger with Progress Energy and an ensuing corporate controversy, has been too distracted to devote sufficient time to the convention.
The Washington Post story originally ran on Wednesday and generated a Charlotte Observer responce the next day. The UPoR’s spin? Nothing to see, move along now as buttressed by some on-the-record quotes. Nice try but you expect happy talk on the record. And nothing will really dispel the notion except the release of actual fundraising figures for the DNC. Which isn’t happening. So be very afraid.
