Speaker Jim Black’s various ethical gray areas have thus far shrouded the whys and wheres of money-for-access. The local Knight Ridder outlet seems intent on trying some sort of “everybody does it” and “the system’s broken” defense of Black. Sorry, failure to disclose campaign giving in a timely manner or list an occupation on a form is not the issue here. Pull back to the big picture.
A Charlotte topless club gives $4,000 to a Charlotte hospitality PAC. (Again, tee-hee topless. Let’s get past that and on to the real issue.) That PAC turns around and gives $4,000 to Black. Why? What does Charlotte’s hotel and hospitality industry want from Black? General Assembly approval to hike the local hotel-motel tax to the highest rate on the East Coast, ostensibly to fund an expansion of the money-losing convention center and build the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
This is the scandal. This is the political process being warped by both money and the local dominant media outlet refusing to connect the dots on this matter. The convention center expansion, the hotel-motel tax hike, and the NASCAR Hall are all horrible public policy ideas that could not possibly move forward without lubricating factors of money politics and propaganda.
Remove either one and the scheme likely crashes to a halt.
