It Smells

The Cleveland County Commission recently decided to hire the NC House Speaker Tim Moore as its county attorney, giving him an up-front appetizer of $25,000 cash and promising $250-per-hour as his fee going forward. The chair of the Cleveland County Commission is Tim Moore's first cousin ("once removed!" Moore is quick to add, defensively).

The Cleveland County Commission is 4-1 Republican, and they know The Main Chance when they see it. Mr. Moore could be a boon to future deals, not to mention a hedge over which the General Assembly might not lobe certain turds (we know all too well the General Assembly's tendency to butt into local affairs).

A boon but also a bone of contention, as it turns out. The man the Cleveland County Commission unceremoniously fired as their attorney to put in Moore is not at all happy about being shown the door, and he wrote his former employees a complaining letter which has been made public (discussed at the link above).

What perhaps smells the highest is what appears to be a rank case of feather-bedding: the Cleveland commissioners appear to have made the job possible -- and much easier -- for the excessively busy Mr. Moore by hiring another full-time attorney to handle routine lawyer stuff for the county while Moore's busy at the General Assembly.

That's kind of a proliferation of legal expenses, ain't it, for no good reason? Or perhaps we should say "for no rational reason," which is more "lawyerly."