Duke lacrosse: DA election update – 6-27-06

Both the Durham Herald Sun and the Raleigh News & Observer have stories today, June 27, concerning opposition DA Mike Nifong may face in the November election.

The H-S reports on two attorneys seeking to have their names placed on the November ballot: Durham County Commissioner Lewis Cheek, a Democrat, and local Republican Party leader Steve Monks.

The H-S headlines:

Lewis: Lacrosse case made Durham laughing stock

The H-S story begins:

County Commissioner Lewis Cheek, who has until Friday to convince thousands of voters he should be on the ballot for district attorney in November, said at a news conference
Monday the Duke lacrosse rape case has turned Durham into a laughing stock.

"This circus didn't need to happen," Cheek said. "It shouldn't have happened, and that's what I'm thinking about."

Cheek didn't confirm he'll run for the county's top prosecutor's position. But he blasted current District Attorney Mike Nifong's public handling of the case in which three Duke University lacrosse players have been charged with raping a dancer during a team party in March at a house rented by one of the team co-captains.

"As DA, you don't prejudge, and, in my judgment, you don't engage in public discourse," he said.

There’s more including reporting on Steve Monks petition gathering efforts:

Monks, who was working a trial Monday, said he has 15 or so volunteers gathering signatures on his behalf.

"If this doesn't get it done, there's no way it could have been done, absent of having $20,000 to send out a nice mailing like Mr. Cheek did," Monks said.

Full disclosure: I’m supporting Louis Cheek but even if I wasn’t I think I’d notice that Monks remark about a “nice” $20,000 mailing sounds an awful lot like the kind of thing Mike Nifong would say.

Are you wondering why the H-S headline used just Lewis Cheek’s first name? Well, that’s because we’re all family down here.

A serious point: Cheek calls what's happened a "circus;" and there's certainly been a lot of clownish talk from some people.

But what's happened in Durham is really a tragedy. The lives of many innocent people have been greatly damaged at the same time public confidence in our DA, the Police Department, Duke University and some local media have all been shaken.

Now to the N&O.

Its story profiles Cheek (the N&O profiles Monks tomorrow) as he talks about the DA’s job and his battle with alcohol. Headlined:

Cheek poised for DA plunge

the profile begins:

Sitting in the conference room of his South Durham law office, Lewis Cheek cultivates the image of the measured man -- wearing a somber suit, choosing his words deliberately.

He is careful not to criticize Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong too directly for his handling of the rape allegations involving three members of the Duke University lacrosse team.

Instead, Cheek tries to steer the conversation to what he would do if elected -- making tactfully veiled references to Nifong's oft-criticized public statements in the early days of the investigation, as a national media maelstrom descended on the Bull City.

"If I had been the one up on the courthouse steps in front of all those cameras, I would not have commented about that case or any other case," Cheek said in an interview last week.

Cheek, 55, said Monday he is still weighing whether to run for Nifong's job, but his actions indicate a man already in the race. About 25,000 Durham voters received a letter last week asking that they sign a petition to place Cheek's name on the November ballot as an unaffiliated candidate. With the signatures of 6,303 Durham voters needed to meet a tight June 30 deadline, Cheek's campaign said it had already received more than 2,000 forms in Monday's mail, many with several signatures each.[…]

One decision, he said, was to talk publicly about his battle with alcohol. Cheek has been in residential treatment facilities for substance abuse three times, most recently a 28-day stay in 2000 while on the council. Cheek said it has been years since he's had a drink, though he can't say exactly how long.

"It is a disease that will always be with me, and it's something I'm dealing with on a continuing basis," Cheek said. "A lot of people look at addiction as a character flaw. That's not the case. It is a medical condition."

His personal bouts with addiction have affected his public views, said Cheek, who as a county commissioner has pushed for greater government support for treatment centers. It's an insight he would also bring to the DA's office, where many criminal cases are the result of drugs or alcohol.

"Someone can't go out and rob 20 people and then tell the judge, 'It's not my fault. I have an addiction,' " Cheek said. "But I think if we had more treatment, we could keep more people from entering the criminal justice system in the first place."

[Jackie]Brown, the campaign treasurer, said she does not fear Cheek's alcoholism will be used against him in the DA's race.

A previous opponent, Joe Bowser, brought up Cheek's drinking in a 2004 commissioner's race. Cheek still unseated the two-term incumbent and board vice chairman. […]

I’ll post tomorrow on the N&O’s profile of Monks. I don’t know much about him. So unless you do, we’ll be learning something at the same time. We can then compare notes. I hope you come back tomorrow.
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Post URLs:

http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-747697.html

http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/455030.html