Posted on 05/08/2004 5:57:54 PM PDT by Jomini
Democratic U.S. Rep. Frank Ballance Jr. unleashed a political Maelstrom on Friday in the state's 1st Congressional District by announcing that he would not seek re-election.
The one-term congressman from Warrenton said he was, in effect, stepping down due to health problems.
"We're pressing on," Ballance told the Daily News during an interview.
In a press release, Ballance's congressional office in Washington, D.C., reported that the congressman was diagnosed in February with myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disease.
"With treatment, he was expected to regain normal strength in approximately six weeks, but his condition has not progressed as expected," says the press release. "In fact, on Wednesday he suffered a set back leading to treatment at Bethesda Naval Medical Center, which caused him to reconsider his decision to seek re-election."
In the interview, Ballance denied that scandals enveloping him and threatening his political legacy influenced him to drop out.
"The reason was health," he said, after being asked whether issues involving the John A. Hyman Memorial Youth Foundation had anything to do with his withdrawal from a fight that has just begun.
"But when you say any reason, obviously my thought process was that this was going to be a vigorous primary," Ballance continued. "And I had to be physically prepared to be on the campaign trail, to be present."
He said he couldn't afford to miss campaign appearances during which he might be called upon to defend himself.
"Collaterally, I guess you would have to say these issues were out there, but only in the sense that I needed to be physically able to be on the campaign trail," he said.
Ballance under fire
Ballance has been under heavy fire since late 2003, when the office of State Auditor Ralph Campbell Jr. released a report questioning more than $325,000 in spending by the Hyman Foundation, a nonprofit, substance-abuse entity he founded and captained while in the state Senate.
The auditor's office recommended that the state seek reimbursement of more than $238,000 the foundation hadn't spent on substance-abuse programs.
The foundation received more than $2 million, mostly from state funds, while Ballance was vice chairman of a Senate appropriations subcommittee that oversaw spending in the Department of Correction.
Members of Ballance's family, along with campaign contributors, received checks from the foundation, according to various media reports.
With allegations mounting in number and scope, the North Carolina General Assembly cut off the foundation's funding. The Hyman Foundation has shut its doors, and Ballance has been criticized by Democratic and Republican candidates who want to occupy his chair in Congress.
A federal grand jury has been investigating the foundation. The grand jury has called state Sen. Robert Holloman of Ahoskie to testify. Holloman succeeded Ballance in the Senate.
High-ranking Republicans statewide have predicted that Ballance will be indicted for his role in the foundation issue.
Though the congressman has acknowledged that mistakes were made, he hasn't accepted full responsibility for the Hyman Foundation's difficulties. Ballance has said he doesn't feel he has committed any crimes.
The pressure on the congressman continues to mount.
More recently, GOP operatives have been spreading the allegation that Lisa Hayes, a former employee of the foundation, failed to register as a sex offender in North Carolina.
Ballance and Warren County Sheriff Johnny Williams reportedly sought an opinion from the state attorney general's office on whether Hayes should register as a sex offender.
Hayes pleaded guilty to having sex with an inmate while she was a drug counselor at a federal prison in Butner, the North Carolina Republican Party says in a press release issued Friday.</B
"The sex offender list was created to warn the public about sexual predators, and it is deplorable that Frank Ballance would try to circumvent the law," NCGOP Chairman Ferrell Blount says in the press release. "Maybe another list should be created to warn the public about politicians like Frank Ballance who abuse their positions."
Candidates come forward
With Ballance safely out of the way, the floodgates opened on the last day of the filing period.
Democratic candidates came tumbling out.
Superior Court Judge G.K. Butterfield of Wilson filed before the noon deadline. Butterfield, a former state Supreme Court justice, lost his re-election bid in 2002.
Butterfield had formed an exploratory committee ahead of the filing period, but he announced in mid-April that he had "made a commitment to Rep. Ballance several months ago" that he would not challenge Ballance in the primary.
"I have not wavered from this commitment," he said at the time.
Another Wilson Democrat registered Friday.
Darryl Smith, an attorney, was communications director for U.S. Rep. Eva Clayton, who served the 1st Congressional District before Ballance was elected.
After announcing her retirement, Clayton endorsed Ballance in 2002.
Snow Hill Mayor Don Davis also filed, the Associated Press reported.
Davis, Smith and Butterfield were apparently last-minute surprises to some political observers who called the Daily News.
Other Democrats in the contest -- Christine Fitch, a professor at East Carolina University, and Sam Davis, a hardware-store owner and former Pasquotank County commissioner -- were known quantities before Friday, having filed early on.
"Congressman Ballance's decision to forgo a re-election campaign has increased my chances of victory tremendously," Davis says in a press release.
Davis finished second to Ballance in the 2002 Democratic primary.
There were no last-minute entries on the Republican side.
Greg Dority, a security consultant from Washington, and Jerry Williford, a nurse from Oxford, had already filed.
Williford announced earlier this week that he had resigned as a nurse with the Murdoch Center, a facility in Butner, because the state Department of Health and Human Services had questioned whether his candidacy constituted a violation of a Hatch Act.
The Hatch Act prevents state employees whose jobs are connected to federal loans and grants from running in partisan elections, Williford's campaign said.
"I have worked for Murdoch for a long time and I have enjoyed it," the candidate says in a press release. "But, I have resigned; and, therefore can commit 100% of my time and energy to District 1."
Dority, who has made Ballance's troubles a centerpiece of his campaign, immediately changed focus after the congressman left the stage.
"Congressman Ballance has made a wise decision in dropping out of the race," Dority said during an interview. "I wish him the best of luck. Once more, the first district seat is open. I will aggressively challenge the Democratic candidates to articulate their plans to quickly create jobs within the district. I assure you they will not be able to hide from this issue with vague promises of so-called strategies as Congressman Ballance did."
The end of a career?
Ballance was reluctant to provide an assessment of his career, which isn't over.
His term will end after the general election.
"My career has been on behalf of people who did not have a lot of voice, a lot of power," he said, his voice trembling with emotion. "And my efforts have been to speak up for those folks."
Ballance said he will continue to serve District 1.
"I feel sad that I find myself having to drop out of this race for personal reasons," he said. "It's disappointing to me that I have to disappoint other folk."
Ballance filed on Tuesday just before noon and less than three hours later was hit with a political exocet missile at the waterline. New details of his involvement in shielding a convicted federal sex offender from registering with the state as required by NC law emerged from a veteran Super Etendard crew. His campaign structure lacked the capacity to withstand this catastrophic explosion and he quickly sunk like a stone.
Now the battle for the heart and soul of the Democratic party begins in eastern North Carolina. Those who crown Justice Butterfield as the presumed front runner have completely missed the mark.
With four black candidates tightly grouped geographically (three from Wilson and one from Snow Hill) and ranging the entire spectrum of the Black Caucus, white candidate Sam Davis (2002 primary runner-up) from Elizabeth City indeed holds front runner status.
Butterfield will find like Janice Cole that the shift from Judical electioneering to Congressional stumping is a brutal transition. Until this year Judges were not allowed to say much more than their names and party affiliations while campaigning under state ethics rules.
Butterfield is a soft candidate and will be unable to succeed in his quest to win this primary on the inside while campaigning by press release. Ballance furious with his old "friend" for cutting his legs out from under him after the recent sex scandal emerged and encouraged First District Chairman and Snow Hill mayor Don Davis to enter the race as his surrogate.
This primary battle and the probable ensuing August runoff will roil the Democratic party for years to come...
Just as French hegemony in Indochina ended at Dien Bien Phu in a stunning defeat, so too has the Democratic party's headlock on eastern North Carolina been terminated in most spectacular fashion. Bravo to the GOP shock troops that executed this classic post-modern battleplan. What will they think of next?
J
Frank Ballance created the John Hyman Foundation while a state senator and then used it as a political slush fund fueled by more than two million tax-payer dollars during a span of more than ten years. He voted the Foundation the money each year through the Department of Corrections and then as Chairman of the Foundation not only authorized the expenditures to his political operatives but personally signed the checks.
They then "contributed" these monies to his campaign...
Ballance thought he could tough it out until State Senator Robert Holloman sold him out in the Federal Grand Jury. Holloman, caught red-handed receiving and kicking back more than $30,000, had no choice and chose to bargain for a lighter sentence in exchange for being the first to be indicted later this political season.
Ballance still thought he held the ace of trumps but by then the Democratic party knew the out of control despot would collapse the entire ticket in November if he wasn't taken out. Senior Democratic elements in Wilson and Pitt counties -- long at odds with the old-line Black Caucus that Ballance used as a political sledgehammer -- drew their daggers and sliced his jugular with the Lisa Hayes affair.
Mortally wounded and with no place to hide, Ballance had to withdraw 72 hours later...
Frank Ballance beaucoup dinky dao...
J
Bush should apologize to all federal prisoners and Chaney should resign.
Please convey our regards to Mr Fusion.
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