Let’s get back to that old Shanahan thing again. It sure was left unsettled. Since it’s been awhile in this world of 24/7 news, let’s rehash for moment.
At the end of July, Secretary of Public Safety Kieran Shanahan and his chief deputy, Sonny Masso made a fast exit from the department. Masso offered no reason and Shanahan said it was because the job was taking too much time from his more important business interests. Governor McCrory accepted Shanahan’s resignation, praising his work as he shuttled the embattled Secretary out the door.
Then last week, the News & Observer reported that Masso sent his resignation letter to the Governor, not Shanahan, though Shanahan was officially still on the job. In addition, the letter offered no reason for leaving, even though Masso should have been in position to take over the department upon Shanahan’s departure. So, what’s up with that?
Rumor has it that both Masso and Shanahan were barred from the building and not allowed to clean out their desks. That certainly sounds more like firings than resignations.
So what’s the governor say about all this? He says it’s all on the up-and-up. Nothing funny going on here. Unfortunately for McCrory, nobody believes him.
That’s the price he’s paying for his previous prevarications. He’s lost the trust of the people who write the news and the players at the Court of Raleigh who provide the information. Had McCrory built up a big bank of trust, he could probably have declared that Shanahan was leaving for family and business reasons and that would be the end of that.
Instead, McCrory’s word is suspect. He misled reporters with his claims of joining the Moral Monday protesters. He did so again when he denied meeting with video sweepstakes representatives, when in fact, he had. He broke a blatant promise when he signed the abortion bill and he broke another when he signed the bill that gave tax cuts to the rich while short-changing the budget after pledging only to sign revenue-neutral tax reform.
So, now he has to prove he’s telling the truth, instead of people taking it for granted. For reporters, his word will never again be taken at face value.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
Don’t forget trying to blame the decision to cut off unemployment benefits on everybody but the people who did it — the Senate, the House and the Governor who signed the bill. Oh, and Art Pope, of course.
Yeah, I had about three or four others I was going to mention but didn’t want to get too long.