For Nifong: tough times ahead

I spent most of today traveling from North Carolina to San Diego on two delayed flights.

Not good. But I’m in San Diego now. Things worked out fine.

But things aren’t going to work out fine for Nifong.

His attorneys, after one delay, today laid out their defense for him agaisnt ethich charges brough by the NC State Bar.

To this layman, it looks like the best defense Nifong’s attorneys could come up with.

I find no fault with them.

But their work doesn’t look good enough to prevent Nifong’s disbarment. I think he's a gone goose.

I mean, if on opening day in a Bar Ethics proceeding you have to concede straight away you said many things you shouldn’t have said, and you claim it was because you didn’t realize the national implications of what you were saying on national news networks; and you concede you were misled or maybe misunderstood what police investigators told you and that’s why things got to the point that ….. and then as far as withholding exculpatory evidence goes, well the explanation for that is you didn’t really withhold it as the Bar Ethics Committee charges you did…. and another thing: “I am not a crook.”

Well, Nifong didn’t actually come right out and say he wasn’t a crook the way Nixon did as Watergate was unraveling, did he?

So let’s give Nifong a point for that.

But otherwise what happened today was we saw how indefensible Nifong’s conduct has been: His own attorneys really can’t make much of a case for him based on what’s “on the record.”


Nifong’s attorneys are in the same position Nixon’s defenders were as the Watergate cover-up unraveled: They have an obviously guilty client.

And, folks, when you think about today, “on the record” is the phrase to keep in mind. Everything the State Bar’s Ethics Committee is charging Nifong with is what we already know was “on the record” and in effect “handed” to the Bar.

Can you imagine what Nifong’s attorney’s are going to have to prepare to respond to once we learn a more about some critical things that haven’t yet been investigated?

For instance, during their auto trip from Durham to Burlington where they met with Brian Meehan , what did Nifong, Gottlieb and Himan talk about? Only the weather? Only how much they appreciated the Raleigh News & Observer’s “fair and balanced” coverage?

Or were they talking about aspects of a criminal conspiracy to frame three innocent citizens?

What did Gottlieb and Himan say and hear when they were with Meehan and Nifong?

And what did Nifong, Gottlieb and Himan talk about on the trip back from Burlington to Durham?

The Feds need to come to Durham and ask Nifong, Gottlieb and Himan about their conversations as they traveled between Durham and Burlington. And a lot more.

Here’s a safe prediction: Six months from now, we’ll look back on Feb. 28 and say: “That was one of the best days Nifong’s had so far in ’07.”

That tells us how bad Nifong’s conduct has been, and how bad things are about to get for him.