Indictment presents GOP opportunity

Ruffin Poole's indictment Thursday on a long list of charges involving fraud and improper influence over state regulators is a warning for others in the Mike Easley inner circle and for Democrats who have been way too comfortable with their power, perks and entitlements. Poole, who claimed his Fifth Amendment rights when called before the state Elections Commission looking into Easley's campaign finances and subsequently lost his job with a law firm, is surely not the only Easley insider to face indictment. U.S. Attorney George Holding, who is bucking replacement by President Obama, is deadly serious about this case. Easley could easily end up being the first N.C. governor in memory to face criminal charges over conduct in office.

A string of indictments of powerful Democrats could devastate the party's chances in this fall's election of state legislators, members of Congress and local officials. If Republican strategists have any sense of political opportunity at all they will focus their campaigns on the accusations of political corruption and will frequently recite the names of Democratic officials who have gone to prison (Jim Black, Frank Ballance, Meg Scott Phipps, etc.) or who have been indicted (Poole and whoever else finds his name in headlines over the next 10 months).

Even without the political corruption charges, Democratic incumbents would face a difficult test. High unemployment, flagging state revenues, unpopular new taxes and steady increases in state spending under Democratic leadership would be hard to hide. But the corruption allegations constitute an issue that appeals across the ideological spectrum; liberals and independents don't like corruption any more than conservatives do.

Republicans still need candidates who have broad appeal, and that's too often been a problem for N.C. Republicans. Massachusetts Republicans (with help from independents and disenchanted Democrats) elected Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate. But would N.C. Republican strategists even consider a candidate who had posed for Playgirl in his younger days? It's hard to imagine.

It's also hard to imagine how North Carolina Republicans might blow this opportunity, but they've developed an affinity for missed opportunities. The 2010 election will almost certainly result in more GOP seats in the General Assembly. And if corruption trials of once-powerful Democrats linger into 2012, that year's elections could bring even greater opportunities to the state GOP.