RALEIGH -- Gov. Beverly Perdue engaged in political theater Thursday when she suggested she might defy the courts, going to jail if necessary, to stop 20 murderers and rapists from being released next week from North Carolina prisons.
By the end of the day, Perdue opted to have her lawyers go through the fine print of sentencing laws rather than staging a George Wallace-like moment of standing in the prison house door. Perdue ordered the inmates held until questions could be answered about how their life sentences from the 1970s were later shortened.
After spending her first nine months dealing with a budget crisis, state employee layoffs and tax increases, the inmate problem presents Perdue with her first crisis that seems more clear-cut.
As GOP political strategist Carter Wrenn dryly put it:
"I doubt there are many people in North Carolina who want to let 20 murderers out of prison."
Perdue has embraced the issue. It was the Governor's Office that informed the news media last week of the forthcoming release of the inmates, helpfully providing photographs and detailed descriptions of the crimes to make sure people knew just how heinous they were.
She has repeatedly denounced their release and ordered her lawyers to find a way to keep them in prison.
Not just a court crisis
Though Perdue blamed the courts, her administration also played a role in the crisis. When the courts ordered one inmate released, attorneys for the Department of Correction and the Attorney General's Office concluded that it was inevitable they would lose 19 similar cases and recommended their release.
The inmate crisis comes when Perdue's popularity is in the basement, and she has been seeking ways to regain the momentum she had when she took office in January.
Being tough on crime has long been part of the Southern Democratic playbook.
Tar Heel Democrats such as Perdue have traditionally engaged in a balancing act, supporting more liberal policies such as more spending for education while appealing to more conservative voters on crime. Perdue's two Democratic predecessors, Mike Easley (2001-2009) and Jim Hunt (1977-85, 1993-2001), were both strong supporters of the death penalty.
"Crime is always a basic issue," said Democratic strategist Gary Pearce. "People expect government to keep them safe. ... You've got to be sensitive to that expectation. ... Politically you cannot be soft on crime."
Cookies in jail
Perdue had strongly criticized the release of the inmates, but it was not until Thursday that she suggested that she might be willing to go to jail herself if necessary.
"Everybody that I have talked to understands that letting them out is not going to be the answer that I am going to be able to live with," Perdue said. "In other words, if I go to jail, are you going to visit me? Somebody said they were going to bring me cookies."
Perdue's suggestion that she might go to jail seems far-fetched. The courts actually dealt with only one inmate, sending his case back to a county court for a release date.
Democrats say Perdue has moved quickly to reassure the public that dangerous people will not be released into the general populace.
"We join Gov. Perdue in working to see that these violent criminals stay in prison and that the state does anything and everything in its power to prevent their release," said Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand.
But Republicans have not been impressed with her handling of the crisis, saying it could have been headed off.
"Surely, they have known for a long time this problem was coming up," Wrenn said. "They didn't wake up one morning and just say, 'My gosh, we have to let these people out of jail.'"
