A few days back, I put up a snarky post on NC-GOP Tom Fetzer’s seemingly endless fascination with the details of Democratic spending. I get the fact that he wants the narrative in North Carolina to be, basically, that the donkeys are a scandalous bunch. And Fetzer can take whatever political tack he wants. To the extent, though, that picking fights on spending becomes more technicality than substance, the politics gets tiresome. And it goes both ways – I groaned at reading this today in N&O’s Under the Dome blog:
N.C. Democratic Party Executive Director Andrew Whalen has filed a complaint with the State Board of Elections that accuses Republicans of failing to properly document an October golf fundraiser.
The complaint comes after a string of complaints filed against Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue by N.C. Republican Party Chairman Tom Fetzer. Whalen’s complaint states that in October, the party held a fundraiser at Riverwood Golf and Athletic Club in Clayton. The club is managed by former Republican gubernatorial candidate Fred Smith.
There is a point at which money issues become substantive. If a hidden contributor ends up benefiting from otherwise inexplicable legislation, I’d be interested. On the other hand, gotcha political tricks based on technicality screw ups are lame. By hunch is that Fetzer’s been riding a train of the latter, and the Dems are trying hop aboard.
