Governor McCrory and Ricky Diaz (Source: N.C. State Archives, Flickr photo stream)

In case you’ve forgotten, Ricky Diaz, then 24, received a $23,000 bonus along with a sweet gig at DHHS. His buddy did, too, with their respective compensation exceeding entry-level salaries on Wall Street. It struck a huge blow to the governor’s credibility. So Diaz knows a little about big money. What he’s less familiar with, apparently, are his boss’s work habits.

“It is clear that Roy Cooper is spending all of his time raising campaign cash and not doing his job as Attorney General,” Pat has gone on glorified vacations to Aspen (!), Phoenix, Charleston, New Orleans and many other places. Before his public schedule went blank, it appeared that, like a nervous college freshman, he went home every weekend. These aren’t the habits of a devoted public servant.

Playing gotcha is fun. But we can infer some substantive things from the gaffe:

1. It’s interesting that McCrory would keep Diaz on at all. Diaz is not a generic operative, but rather a major player in one of this drama-prone administration’s ugliest acts. A known commodity. Every time Diaz comes up to speak, he risks turning the conversation into a rehash of salarygate. This would imply that McCrory still struggles with personnel decisions.
2. There appears to be limited internal accountability. Most young employees would run their ideas by an experienced colleague before going public with them. Either Diaz isn’t doing that, or McCrory’s entire press team is acting carelessly.
3. Diaz’s gaffe, McCrory’s joyous romp in the Twitterverse, and persistently weak fundraising suggest something profoundly significant. McCrory 2016 is more likely to resemble his administration–a slipshod, make-it-up-as-you-go mess–than the disciplined, aggressive operation orchestrated by the late Jack Hawke.
4. If any of this is true, Ricky Diaz just made the NCDP’s day.

Again.

Alexander H. Jones

Alexander Jones is an original contributor to PoliticsNC.