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Thurs: Senators Behaving Badly
posted at 2010-02-26 00:33 | Last modified 2010-02-26 09:49
Senate Dem caucus secretary R.C. Soles pleaded guilty in Columbus County court today to a misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon for shooting a man he claimed was trying to break into his home.
The plea deal was a less serious charge than the felony assault for which Soles was indicted, and his sentence was lighter, too: a $1000 fine, but no jail time. The 40-year legislator has already announced he won’t run for re-election this fall, but said today he has no plans to resign before his term is over, either.
Stopping by the press room this afternoon, Senate Minority leader Phil Berger said he thinks Soles received a lighter sentence for the crime than the “average Joe” would have. He quipped, “I think if folks knew that the penalty for shooting someone was $1,000, you’d have folks lining up to pay $1,000 to be able to shoot someone."
Berger’s original reason for stopping by was to offer a reaction to controversial comments made by Gaston Senator Jim Forrester in a speech to the Iredell Young Republicans. "Slick city lawyers and homosexual lobbies and African American lobbies are running Raleigh," Forrester told the crowd Tuesday night, adding a hearty “Good riddance” to two sitting senators, according to the story by Jim McNally:
[Forrester] said state Sen. Julia Boseman — the first openly gay person ever elected to the North Carolina General Assembly — "took a bunch of money from a big lesbian group."
Forrester said a male senator is rumored to be gay and is currently fighting off charges that he shot another man.
[Not much of a subterfuge, given that RC Soles is the only Senator facing such charges.]
"And I say good riddance to them," Forrester said. He said that neither of the two legislators showed any support for bills Forrester proposed to ban same-sex marriage in the state. …Forrester noted that he "is not against homosexuals."
NC Dems were quick to call for an apology from Forrester, as well as condemnation from GOP leaders.
This afternoon, Berger said, “I don’t agree with the remarks that have been attributed to Senator Forrester. I have not talked with Senator Forrester about that. I think you probably need to talk to him about whether he should apologize or not."
When I asked Berger whether he was surprised that Forrester had implied Soles was gay, Berger kept the issue at arm’s length: “There were a number of things in that story that I was surprised to see in print."
Later today, Forrester apologized – sort of.“I wasn’t trying to be ugly or anything like that, and if it came out that way, I apologize,” he said, adding “I didn’t mean to slur, and I don’t think it’s a slur. I’m just telling my opinion of what’s happened.”
More here from Corey Friedman at the Gaston Gazette.
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