Charlotte Democratic Mayor Arrested on Corruption Charges — DC McAllister

 

Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon was arrested today on theft and bribery charges after a four-year FBI sting operation. According to the Charlotte Observer, the FBI is alleging “he took tens of thousands of dollars in bribes – including $20,000 in cash delivered in a briefcase last month to the mayor’s office where he also solicited $1 million more.”

In return for the money, vacations, access to a luxury apartment, and other goodies, Cannon promised to help undercover agents posing as real estate developers with zoning, planning, and permitting. According to the U.S. attorney’s office, the FBI first learned that he might have been involved in illegal activities several years ago, leading them to open an investigation in 2010. 

Charlotte was home to the Democratic National Convention in 2012.

Cannon defeated Republican Edwin Peacock 53 to 47 percent in November after a hard-fought race, replacing Mayor Anthony Foxx, who is now President Obama’s Transportation Secretary.

Cannon’s arrest could impact the North Carolina senate race in which Republicans are seeking to unseat Democratic Senator Kay Hagan. According to Public Policy Polling, the establishment candidate, Thom Tillis, and his Tea Party challenger, Dr. Greg Brannon, are tied at 14 percent.

No matter who the Republican candidate is in the fall, Hagan faces a tough race. Polling shows any potential GOP candidate within two points of Hagan. A Democratic mayor of the state’s largest city being arrested on corruption charges certainly doesn’t do anything to help Hagan’s campaign—that’s good news for Republicans hoping to take back the Senate this year.

Update: Hours after Cannon’s arrest, he resigned, effective immediately. In a letter to the city manager and city attorney, Cannon wrote, “I hereby give notice of my resignation from the position of the Mayor of the City of Charlotte.”

“In light of the charges that have brought against me, it is my judgment that the pendency of these charges will create too much of a distraction for the business of the City to go forward smoothly and without interruption.”

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  1. Nick Stuart Inactive
    Nick Stuart
    @NickStuart

    What an amateur. Like a cockroach scuttling off with a crumb. Here in Illinois the pros take the whole cake and feel bad if they leave a crumb for the taxpayers.

    • #1
  2. user_44643 Inactive
    user_44643
    @MikeLaRoche

    As Michael Walsh often says, the Democrats are just a criminal organization masquerading as a political party.

    • #2
  3. flownover Inactive
    flownover
    @flownover

    Would someone please do a comparative study of mayors , their race , and their indictments ? It feels like a kleptocracy but the implied racism atmosphere stifles realistic analytics. I know the numbers don;’t bear this out in the big picture, as if we were backdated this to Kennedy relatives running Boston (Honeyfitz) or Boss Tweed or Tom Pendergast, but gees Louise people how about since 1970 at least ? Numbers are numbers and can’t be disputed . Is there a trend here ? 

    We have community organizers rising to POTUS, irrelevancies like Cory Booker coming out of pits like Newark to prominence, combined with the latest from Philly and Charlotte all pointing to a preponderence of corruption that doesn’t match up with the demographic overall . Is there a higher incidence of corruption in muni officials based on race ? That should be one of the questions .

    • #3
  4. D.C. McAllister Inactive
    D.C. McAllister
    @DCMcAllister

    flownover:
    Would someone please do a comparative study of mayors , their race , and their indictments ? It feels like a kleptocracy but the implied racism atmosphere stifles realistic analytics. I know the numbers don;’t bear this out in the big picture, as if we were backdated this to Kennedy relatives running Boston (Honeyfitz) or Boss Tweed or Tom Pendergast, but gees Louise people how about since 1970 at least ? Numbers are numbers and can’t be disputed . Is there a trend here ?
    We have community organizers rising to POTUS, irrelevancies like Cory Booker coming out of pits like Newark to prominence, combined with the latest from Philly and Charlotte all pointing to a preponderence of corruption that doesn’t match up with the demographic overall . Is there a higher incidence of corruption in muni officials based on race ? That should be one of the questions .

     Flownover, it is one of the questions, but no one is going to ask it because then you’ll be accused of being a racist. Just sayin.

    • #4
  5. Eeyore Member
    Eeyore
    @Eeyore

    On the other hand, it could increase the enthusiasm of Dems rallying around Hagan saying “They’re only going after Cannon because he’s black and we can’t let them get away with it!”

    The…uh…details of the case are not particularly important.

    • #5
  6. A Beleaguered Conservative Member
    A Beleaguered Conservative
    @

    The FBI also arrested today California State Senator Leland Yee.  Yee, who represented part of San Francisco, was charged with arms-trafficking (among other things).  As a senator, Lee was an ardent supporter of gun control.  The universe apparently loves irony.

    • #6
  7. user_44643 Inactive
    user_44643
    @MikeLaRoche

    A Beleaguered Conservative:
    The FBI also arrested today California State Senator Leland Yee. Yee, who represented part of San Francisco, was charged with arms-trafficking (among other things). As a senator, Lee was an ardent supporter of gun control. The universe apparently loves irony.

     Yee gods!

    • #7
  8. Pony Convertible Inactive
    Pony Convertible
    @PonyConvertible

    I live is a small town in Indiana.  A couple of years ago we had a County Township Trustee (ironic title), who got caught embezzling over $100,000.   A few weeks ago, it made the news that a city employee made off with over $750,000 (they are still try to figure out exactly how much is missing).   Then in yesterday’s paper I saw where they are going to raise my local taxes again.   

    • #8
  9. captainpower Inactive
    captainpower
    @captainpower

    Pony Convertible:
    I live is a small town in Indiana.

     They say it’s better to push as much government to the local level as possible.

    That may be so, but every interaction I have had with local government (not many) has been negative.

    It’s amazing how insulated and stubborn local bureacracy is.

    Just musing here, but it seems like a lot of corruption in other countries happens at the local level (as well as federal). In Mexico, the Federales seem to be the only ones trustworthy fighting the cartels. In China, the local governments can enforce federal mandates or be benevolent and ignore them, or be tyrannical and add to them.

    Local elections are the worst because I usually know nothing about the politicians, judges, and sheriffs. I know more about failed presidential candidates from 12 years ago than I do about my local politics.

    • #9
  10. PHCheese Inactive
    PHCheese
    @PHCheese

    So why does it take 4 years? Does he get a mulligan on the first three bribes? No wonder the FBI can’t get to the bottom of the IRS scandal. They have been investigating the boy mayor of Pittsburgh for about as long, another Democrat. He was allowed to take his office computer home for 2 weeks after he left office. Go figure.

    • #10
  11. D.C. McAllister Inactive
    D.C. McAllister
    @DCMcAllister

    captainpower:

    Pony Convertible: I live is a small town in Indiana.

    They say it’s better to push as much government to the local level as possible.
    That may be so, but every interaction I have had with local government (not many) has been negative.
    It’s amazing how insulated and stubborn local bureacracy is.
    Just musing here, but it seems like a lot of corruption in other countries happens at the local level (as well as federal). In Mexico, the Federales seem to be the only ones trustworthy fighting the cartels. In China, the local governments can enforce federal mandates or be benevolent and ignore them, or be tyrannical and add to them.
    Local elections are the worst because I usually know nothing about the politicians, judges, and sheriffs. I know more about failed presidential candidates from 12 years ago than I do about my local politics.

     Better to have corruption at the local level that can actually be weeded out and held to account—as well as keeping it “local” instead of spreading through the whole nation—than having corruption at the federal level where it affects every single person in America and where it is not held to account.

    What happened with Cannon is actually a testament to the advantages of local governance. If there’s corruption, it is dealt with. The FBI actually made an arrest and the corrupt mayor is now gone. Where has the FBI been in the Fast and Furious scandal, the IRS scandal, the corruption that fills the halls of our federal government? There should be arrests going on with these two scandals alone, but they haven’t been because the federal government isn’t held to account—that’s because it’s not about to take away its own power.

    If you’re opposed to local government because of corruption, are you seriously for a powerful federal government because it’s not corrupt? Where there is power, there will always be corruption, at the local level or the federal level. This is a given. But the beauty of our Republic as designed by our framers to keep power divided among the states with the federal government’s powers being few and defined is exactly because there is corruption. Break apart the government into pieces and you have a dispersion of power and more freedom for the individual.

    We really need to wrap our minds around this and understand the true nature of our Republic and the advantages of the federalist system—which is the essence of our Constitution—when it comes to liberty.

    • #11
  12. captainpower Inactive
    captainpower
    @captainpower

    D.C. McAllister:

    If you’re opposed to local government because of corruption, are you seriously for a powerful federal government because it’s not corrupt?

     No.

    I was merely observing that local government is not immune to corruption and bureacracy.

    You bring up a good point about more distant government being able to keep local government in check. It seems to me to be similar to the point I made about the Mexican federal government fighting the cartels. You also bring up a good point about distant government being unwilling to keep itself in check.

    As you say, it’s a system of checks: I’ve been reading here and there about local government keeping more distant government in check, i.e. Sherrifs refusing to enforce gun control laws.

    Not advocating anything. Just observing that there is no panacea. I am not an anarchist, so I don’t have a better alternative other than “that government is best which governs least.”

    • #12
  13. D.C. McAllister Inactive
    D.C. McAllister
    @DCMcAllister

    captainpower:

    D.C. McAllister:

    If you’re opposed to local government because of corruption, are you seriously for a powerful federal government because it’s not corrupt?

    No.
    I was merely observing that local government is not immune to corruption and bureacracy.
    You bring up a good point about more distant government being able to keep local government in check. It seems to me to be similar to the point I made about the Mexican federal government fighting the cartels. You also bring up a good point about distant government being unwilling to keep itself in check.
    As you say, it’s a system of checks: I’ve been reading here and there about local government keeping more distant government in check, i.e. Sherrifs refusing to enforce gun control laws.

    Not advocating anything. Just observing that there is no panacea. I am not an anarchist, so I don’t have a better alternative other than “that government is best which governs least.”

     You’re definitely right. There is no panacea, no utopia. Problem is progressives think there is. They dream of a perfect, virtuous, equal society at peace within the arms of the collective and ruled by the expert elites. Sorry, I’m not a fan of the Borg. You make a good point that there’s no utopia, but people do keep hoping for it.

    • #13
  14. flownover Inactive
    flownover
    @flownover

    D.C. McAllister:

    flownover: Would someone please do a comparative study of mayors , their race , and their indictments ? It feels like a kleptocracy but the implied racism atmosphere stifles realistic analytics. I know the numbers don;’t bear this out in the big picture, as if we were backdated this to Kennedy relatives running Boston (Honeyfitz) or Boss Tweed or Tom Pendergast, but gees Louise people how about since 1970 at least ? Numbers are numbers and can’t be disputed . Is there a trend here ? We have community organizers rising to POTUS, irrelevancies like Cory Booker coming out of pits like Newark to prominence, combined with the latest from Philly and Charlotte all pointing to a preponderence of corruption that doesn’t match up with the demographic overall . Is there a higher incidence of corruption in muni officials based on race ? That should be one of the questions .

    Flownover, it is one of the questions, but no one is going to ask it because then you’ll be accused of being a racist. Just sayin.

     Well then , we are all chicken sh*ts.

    • #14
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