Cabarrus Cheap Seats

Give the Charlotte Observer a Commissioner, a Mayor, and a billionaire and here’s the People-magazine tripe they produce:

Last week, at a luncheon Murdock attended in Kannapolis for campus-related ceremonies, he told county commissioner Privette that anyone who does not participate in the bonds is “an idiot,” according to Privette. Kannapolis Mayor Bob Misenheimer, who was part of that conversation, also said he heard that remark. Murdock is out of the country this week.

[CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE AND MAYBE EVEN FIND OUT WHAT THEY WERE WEARING]

Give the Independent Tribune a married couple - Lynne & Wally Safrit - and you get something that reads out of a law journal:

But on one topic - the North Carolina Research Campus - Wally said he is very careful not to get involved.

His wife, Lynne, is president of Castle & Cooke North Carolina and Atlantic American Properties. She is also billionaire David Murdock’s personal representative in North Carolina. She directly oversees the construction of the research campus and is working with Kannapolis on a self-financing bond package of $168.4 million that will help pay for infrastructure improvements on and around the campus.

There is a potential for conflict of interest.

“In a small town, sometimes it happens,” Wally said.

Wally said he does everything he can to avoid any conflict of interest.

He recuses himself from council discussion about the research campus and the self-financing bonds. If a client or a client of one of his partners from his law firm, Rutledge, Friday, Safrit and Smith, goes before the council or planning commission, he recuses himself.

[CLICK HERE TO READ THE LEGAL ANALYSIS OF THE SAFRIT MARRIAGE]

Maybe the Observer should be taking some journalism lessons from the locals.