Well, the day is edging closer when when Meredith Norris, the former top aide to Speaker Jim Black and free-wheeling lobbyist, will no longer get public money. Until today Norris had been getting paid to lobby lawmakers on behalf of the state’s seven economic development partnerships, one of which is the Charlotte Regional Partnership. That contract is over, but Norris will continue to get paid for unnamed administrative duties until June.
Sorry, this sounds like a negotiated climb-down by the partnerships intended to distance themselves from an embarassment while not angering Speaker Black too much. In fact, it is unclear why the N.C. Economic Development Group ever hired Norris to begin with, other than the fact that former CRP chief Michael Almond was a member of the Black inner circle. And you know that is just how they do bidness.
Also note where this story originates — a Raleigh paper. Charlotte gets stories on baby-boomers turning sixty, but no follow-through on powerful local politicians and their connections with ostensibly independent state agencies. I specifically pointed this dangling Norris angle out to one local daily newspaper reporter three months ago. Zippy.
