Democrats In Full Damage Control Mode As Party Scandal Grows
North Carolina Democrats find themselves awash in turmoil swirling around allegations that the party’s executive director sexually harassed a 26-year-old male staffer, an incident that officials originally hoped could have been swept under the rug with a financial payoff and a nondisclosure agreement to keep everybody quiet.
As usual, progressive liberals being progressive liberals, Democrats are looking for someone to blame for their woes. As usual, they need only look in the mirror.
Democrat officials and operatives have for years run North Carolina like their own private fiefdom, expecting their transgressions, and in many cases outright crimes, to be tolerated by the masses and largely ignored by the mainstream media. They had little reason to think this case would be any different, that it would die a quiet death and dissolve into the latest news cycle – probably something about how Republicans hate children.
For a few days it even looked like they were going to pull it off. The alleged harasser – former party executive director Jay Parmley – resigned in a defensive huff, claiming he had done no wrong and blaming political skullduggery by Republicans for his downfall and departure. Case closed; get over it, as Gov. Bev Perdue literally proclaimed earlier this week.
Perdue’s line that “none of us ever condone or put up with or tolerate sexual harassment” sounded reasonable. After all, who would be twisted enough to sit for months on allegations of serial sexual harassment, deflecting them as nothing more than an internal party personnel matter, instead of addressing the problem in an open and honest manner?
Why that would be the transparency governor herself, of course; the one who it turns out has known since December about the sexual harassment allegations.
Perdue has since abandoned her “get over it” line of defense and joined the chorus of ranking Democrat officials calling for NC Democratic Party Chairman David Parker to resign. Parker, in turn, has refused to budge, claiming he has the full support and confidence of the party’s Executive Council, and is calling for a June 17 referendum on his chairmanship after the state party convention.
That’s assuming his timeline isn’t knocked off track by the most recent revelations about the scope and severity of the alleged sexual harassment, in which the former staffer accuses Parmley – the party’s recently resigned executive director – of “showing him a picture of male genitals, caressing his leg and discussing his sexual exploits.”
Pretty explosive stuff, but apparently nothing that party officials haven’t known for months. Yet none of them said a word.
And now they’re all calling for somebody to be held responsible?
Quick show of hands: who honestly thinks that the state’s Democrat monarchy would deign to even acknowledge this was an issue, if there wasn’t a primary election right around the corner?
The main objective now is pure damage control to make it past May 8 with some semblance of a functioning state party left intact. Assuming no other bombshells explode, Democrats can continue to demand accountability while stonewalling for any to actually be delivered, until the referendum on Parker’s fate.
That’s when they can clear the decks heading for the run-up to the DNC and general election, by scuttling Parker as a remnant of the past and proclaiming it’s time to move forward and focus on the important issues facing our state. Probably something about how Republicans must be defeated, for the children’s sake, with a little green energy jobs mumbo-jumbo tossed in for good measure. Presto change-o: sexual harassment, what sexual harassment? Yesterday’s news – and you obviously don’t care about the future if you want to dwell on the past.
Will it work? Don’t know, but history in that regard has proved a smashing success for Democrats. Look no further than Perdue as a prime example, somebody who for years was an integral part of the ongoing criminal conspiracy that passed for government in Raleigh and was handed the keys to the governor’s mansion for her efforts.
Time will tell if Democrats have learned to expect better from their own party, or if voters are willing to tolerate more of the same for North Carolina.
UPDATE: Parker falls in line with a slight twist, announcing this afternoon that he still has no plans to resign but will call a special meeting next month, instead of June, to name a new party chairman.
“I am not going to change the standards by which I have lived my life and by which I have practiced law in order to succumb to political pressure. I’m simply not going to do that,” he said. “Most of my fellow Democrats are asking me to stay on and fight this and not resign and hunker down, as it were, and continue to lead this party.”
I didn’t catch the presser, but I’m guessing he managed to make it through his whole spiel with a straight face. And right on cue, Gov Bev ramps up the hocus-pocus machine:
“The party must move quickly to select a new chair and a new executive director,” she said. “It’s time to resume our focus on the core mission of the Democratic Party: strengthening our schools, creating jobs, and ensuring more opportunity for all North Carolinians.”
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