Governor Perdue,
May I call you Bev? We've been knowing each other, as we say here in the South, since you were an up-and-coming legislator from New Bern and I was a cub reporter for your hometown paper.
Back then we swapped stories about what it was like operating in the mostly male worlds of politics and political reporting.
It has been a while since we last chatted, though, Bev. And, if I may, I have a suggestion to make. Chick to chick. Just like in the old days.
When you were on the campaign trail, you called for a new day in North Carolina politics. You demanded meaningful - and much-needed - reforms to the state's ethics laws.
You staked out the high road. But the high road's often a lonely one, littered with political realities and political baggage.
Stay the course.
You promised to be more open and accessible. Lucky you, it wasn't hard to trump your predecessor.
To your credit, you have in many ways made good on this. You've been visible. You've responded to questions. You've released public documents.
But while defending the public's right to know, you've retained - and even promoted - some of the folks who undermined openness in your predecessor's administration. See the case of Ernie "Shred After Reading" Seneca, now the public information officer for the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety. He said he suggested shredding a public document - in violation of state law - at the request of former Gov. Mike Easley's press office. All but one of the folks in that press office got new jobs in your administration.
I hope you reminded them that no matter what agency, or even what governor, they report to, their real bosses are the people of this state.
Yours, too, Bev.
Along with greater transparency, you promised a raft of ethics reforms to restore public confidence badly shaken by investigations of your fellow Democratic leaders' proven and alleged shenanigans.
On the campaign trail, for example, you talked about limiting the amount of money that political parties can contribute to candidates.
Documents obtained by my colleague Andy Curliss indicate that you originally hoped to come out this spring barrels blazing, clearing the "smoke-filled rooms" and ending "pay-to-play" politics.
But the ethics package, in the end, didn't go nearly as far as you'd led us to hope it would.
In an interview, you referred to the package as a second round of reforms. You said two or three more waves would follow.
I gotta wonder, though: What are you waiting for?
At a time when there's no new money in the budget, there's little chance you'll be remembered for big-dollar programs.
There's little hope you'll be known one day as the Education Governor, or the Good Roads Gov, or even the Defender of the State Parks.
But ethics are free, or nearly so.
And the Ethics Governor has an awfully nice ring to it.
The job's still open.
Bev, between us gals, it's got your name written all over it.
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