Last week, Gov. Bev Perdue was practically serenading state Highway Patrol Commander Randy Glover with a chorus of "Stand by Your Man."
On Friday, the governor put out a terse statement accepting Glover's resignation that had echoes of "Hit the Road Jack."
Despite the change in tune, Perdue was bowing to the inevitable.
Glover headed a proud law enforcement agency whose image has taken a severe battering because of a series of incidents involving sex and booze.
The patrol's peccadilloes not only undermined respect for the agency, they are disrupting the image Perdue is trying to project - that she is an "ethics governor" who is trying to put distance between herself and the raft of Democratic scandals.
"It was a tough decision, but probably the right thing to do," said Gary Pearce, a longtime Democratic strategist. "It was one of the only ways to put this mess behind her."
Perdue took a first stab at cleaning up the patrol last week, holding a news conference with Glover to announce more training and the signing of an ethics code by troopers. The event turned out to be a public relations fiasco. Perdue fenced with reporters about what steps she had taken to advance Glover's patrol career.
Glover, meanwhile, seemed clueless, suggesting that the main problem was news stories, not misconduct by members of the patrol. He was so off-message that the governor's aides cut the news conference short.
Rather than pouring balm over the controversy, Perdue's news conference seemed to inflame it. Since then, the letters to the editor and the talk in the blogosphere have been brutal. Perdue's Republican critics have called for heads to roll.
Choosing Glover
Was Glover the right man to reform the patrol? The agency's problems were hardly his fault. There has long been a problem of overactive hormones in the patrol - partly a function of physically fit officers in sharp uniforms who are spread out geographically across the state. There is a long-running joke in the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety that trooper uniforms should be issued without zippers.
In the view of some, discipline in the paramilitary organization already had deteriorated by the time Perdue named Glover as commander last August. But his 1987 affair with a county dispatcher, which caused him to be transferred, perhaps detracted from his moral authority to reassert discipline.
The governor was in a difficult spot. She and Glover have known each other for decades. They are both from New Bern. She has championed his patrol career and recommended him for promotion. Unlike most police organizations, the patrol has been infused with politics for decades, and legislative leaders have acted as patrons for troopers as they rise through the system.
"One of the toughest things for a governor to do is to let someone go who they have been close to for a long time," Pearce said. "I'm sure there was a lot pressure to keep him."
The next guy
Changing the patrol's leadership is not just a question of Perdue's political survival.
The patrol deserves better. It is held in high esteem in North Carolina. A recent survey by Public Policy Polling found that 67 percent of Tar Heel residents view the patrol favorably, even with all its recent troubles. That is a startling figure for an organization whose main function is to make people mad by giving them tickets.
Snickering aside
Troopers help people in distress. And people appreciate that troopers put their lives on the line, approaching cars on highways on dark nights.
They deserve more than snickers. They deserve our respect. Conversely, the motoring public needs to be treated with respect by the patrol.
Which is why it is now necessary for the governor to find someone who can put the patrol's house back in order.
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