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, Staff Writer
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During the 20th century, North Carolina had a reputation for honest government. Not so the 21st century.Two dozen people involved in public life have either run afoul of the law in recent years or at least been suspected of doing so. Call it The Tarnished Tar Heel Decade.You can draw your own conclusions about why -- decline in morality, more stringent enforcement, the influence of big money, the effect of gambling, the criminalization of politics, a decline in the caliber of people in public life, too much one-party domination or two much two-party competition.Last week, we had one former local prosecutor go to jail, a former federal prosecutor sentenced to prison, a former state legislator enter prison, and a former lobbyist sentenced to jail.It is an equal opportunity list -- Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, men and woman, blacks and whites. Here are the names, organized alphabetically.David Almondformer state representativeFrank Ballanceformer congressmanGarey Ballanceformer District Court judgeDon Beasonformer top-rated lobbyistJim Blackformer Speaker of the HouseMike Blantonformer deputy agriculture commissionerJohn Carringtonformer state senatorSam Currinformer Superior Court judge and former U.S. AttorneyMichael Deckerformer state representativeScott Edwardsformer treasurer for the state optometrists political action committeeStacy Hahn Flanneryformer lobbyist for the nursing homes associationGarland Garrettformer secretary of transportationKevin Geddingsformer state lottery commissioner and former lottery lobbyistMary McAllisterstate representativeBobby McLambformer assistant agriculture commissionerAlan Middletonformer lobbyist for Scientific GamesPaul Millerformer state representativeMike Nifongformer district attorneyMeredith Norrisformer aide to House Speaker Jim BlackMeg Scott Phippsformer state agriculture commissionerCoy PrivetteCabarrus County commissioner and former state representativeLinda Saundersformer deputy agriculture commissionerGeorge Tatumformer commissioner of the Division of Motor VehiclesThomas Wrightstate representativeKind of sad, isn't it?
Rob Christensen can be reached at 919 829-4532 or at rob.christensen@newsobserver.com.
