Quick! Throw This Drowning Man an Anchor!

NC House member
Chris Malone

Poor, pitiful Republican! Chris Malone, who represents a Wake County house district well outside the urban core and who proudly voted for HB2, has just had an eleventh-hour conversion. He sent out a mailer saying this:

“HB2 is costing Wake County and North Carolina too much. I call for a full repeal of HB2 now. I also support adding anti-discrimination language to state laws. I call upon law enforcement to enforce existing laws banning inappropriate behavior in public facilities.”

The bill that discriminates against transgender citizens was supposed to rally the Christian right to the Republican banner in North Carolina this year. Hasn't worked out that way, as even the blindest of the brethren can recognize the bleeding of economic development as a result.

Even more interesting: the anti-HB2 mailer was paid for by the NCGOP. Whaaaa? The main cheerleaders for HB2 have visibly cracked under the pressure? When asked about it, the NCGOP Executive Director Dallas Woodhouse wrapped himself around the trailer hitch trying to explain the flip-flop but still managed to blame Roy Cooper for HB2. BWAhahahaha!

“It is my understanding that Malone has adopted the same position as many of our elected officials, both Democrats and Republicans, that both the Charlotte ordinance and HB2 should be repealed,” Woodhouse said in an email Wednesday. “Malone and Republicans believe that would have happened already if Roy Cooper had not leaned on legislative Democrats supporting compromise, telling them that turmoil was better for Democrats than solutions.”

"Turmoil"? You got it, Mr. Woodhouse. You wrote it, you passed it, you defended it, you go down with it!

Okay: Here's the Anchor We're Throwing Mr. Malone

While serving on the Wake County School Board back in 2012, Chris Malone got himself implicated in a scandal with the notorious Debra Goldman, a fellow Wake County School Board member at the time. Goldman herself, after losing a state-wide race for NC Auditor, went on to an even bigger, more baroque scandal, while Chris Malone got himself elected to the NC House where he has now proved himself rudderless.

The Bizarre Political Landscape of Ronda, NC

Ronda in Wilkes County is a village of 417 souls who on Tuesday chose for their town council one notorious woman, her boyfriend, and the boyfriend's "political ally" (an incumbent who had actually declined to file for reelection), all elected as write-in candidates. Out of a turnout of 131 votes, the trio above received 59, 60, and 75 votes respectively. Interestingly, a third of the 131 voters were mail-in absentees, and 12 were Early Votes, which the Wilkes County elections director says was "unusually high" for Ronda. (WRAL)

The Notorious Woman: Debra Goldman, who was one of the insurgent Tea Party majority on the Wake County School Board elected in 2009, resigned from that board last February to take a job in Ronda. While still a member of the Wake School Board, she ran for NC State Auditor in 2012, unsuccessfully. She got wrapped up in a very public [cough] sex scandal with fellow School Board member Chris Malone, who is now a Republican member of the General Assembly. Goldman became something of a punchline. Even a fellow Republican member of the Wake School Board called her a "prom queen." Goldman is now "in a relationship," according to Facebook, with her boss at the Derie Cheek Reece Foundation in Ronda.

The Boyfriend: Kevin Reece, who has been in a bitter and nasty feud with Ronda's Mayor Victor Varela for years. It's been a struggle over fighting cocks on Reece's property (not making this up), among other issues, devolving into hidden video surveillance and accusations of marijuana use. Reece most recently attempted to remove Varela from office via a recall petition, until he discovered that there is no recall provision for public officials in North Carolina. He immediately set about getting his local Republican representatives in Raleigh to pass a "local" bill to allow Ronda to institute a recall mechanism, which also passed on Tuesday. Kevin Reece's foundation, according to WRAL, was started in 2011, and so far, its IRS activity is opaque. Hmmm.

The Political Ally: Sam Foster, who had supported Reece to fill a vacancy on the town council but was foiled by Mayor Varela. Mayor Varela will now be the target of that recall process that passed the voters on Tuesday.

There's at least a movie in all this, if not an HBO mini-series. I see Anna Faris in the Debra Goldman role, with Will Ferrell as Kevin Reece, and naturally, we're going to need Zach Galifianakis as Mayor Varela. It'll make millions!

North Carolina: 'First in Dodgy Characters'

Debra Goldman is the 2012 Republican candidate for the NC State Auditor. She's recently been the central player in an unfolding, bizarre washing-of-dirty-linen-in-public.

She was bound, therefore, to move up to being an indispensable literary presence. Bob Geary has done it with "Imaginary Conversations with Debra Goldman."

Funny, even if you're not up to speed on her recent media presence.

All That Glitters Is Not Gold(man)

Debra Goldman is a Tea Party member of the Wake County School Board, and she wants to move up this November to become the state's Auditor, a member of the Council of State. She's clearly unstable, based on details in this leaked police report.

Chris Malone is another Tea Party member of the Wake County School Board who got himself involved romantically with Debra Goldman (see the link above). Chris Malone also wants to move up politically. He's currently running for a seat in the NC House. But he's an idiot for getting himself so wrapped up in the drama of Debra Goldman.

Just the sort of people we need serving the public in North Carolina.