Mark Meadows, the former North Carolina congressman and presidential chief of staff, was indicted again last week. WFAE’s Tommy Tomlinson, in his "On My Mind" commentary, says Meadows now sits at the top of a notorious list.
I’ve been thinking lately, for no particular reason, about the worst North Carolina politicians in our lifetimes. Unfortunately, there’s a wealth of candidates.
The first one who came to mind was Jim Black, the Democrat from Matthews who was speaker of the state House from 1999 through 2006. His political career ended when he was caught taking bribes from chiropractors who were pushing certain legislation. Some of you might remember that he received the cash in the men’s room of the Capital Grille uptown. He was sentenced to a little more than five years in prison and served a little more than three.
Then there’s Madison Cawthorn, the Republican who served in the U.S. House from 2020 to 2022. During his brief tenure, he managed to accuse another lawmaker of inviting him to an orgy; was accused of violating insider trading laws and House ethics rules; brought a loaded handgun to the Charlotte airport; and shut down his congressional offices two months before his term ended. You have to admit, the dude got a lot done.
There are many, many other terrible Tar Heel politicians to choose from. But right now the leader in the clubhouse is Cawthorn’s predecessor in the 11th Congressional District, a man whose legal team is accruing enough billable hours to buy a private jet. That would be our old friend Mark Meadows.
Meadows was one of 18 Donald Trump allies recently indicted in Arizona over their efforts to overturn his loss there in the 2020 election. The indictment alleges that Meadows was part of a scheme to put forth a slate of fake electors — the people who cast the votes in the Electoral College to officially certify the election. Those fake electors were going to claim to be the real electors, in hopes of swinging the vote to Trump in the Electoral College.
It sounds like the kind of thing only the devious and desperate would even try. That’s because it was. And as we all know by now, it was just one of a bag of dirty tricks Trump and his followers used to try to fraudulently install him as president.
Mark Meadows was Trump’s chief of staff, and by many accounts, his chief enabler. The more aides Trump shed during his term, the closer Meadows worked his way into the inner circle. The more power he had, the more Trump indulged his worst impulses. And all that led to Jan. 6, when Trump supporters invaded the Capitol as Trump refused to step in, and Meadows sat on his couch and fiddled with his phone.
There are sins of commission and sins of omission. And in Mark Meadows’ case, doing nothing as his country was inflamed in crisis was about the biggest sin of omission he could have committed.
No North Carolina politician in my memory has done so much damage to the fundamental contract of our system — that politicians serve not the president, but the country.
The only good thing I can say is that Meadows and his allies were not quite skilled enough to succeed. The problem is, this November they’re likely to try again. And based on last time, they’re not likely to let things like laws and democracy get in their way.
Tommy Tomlinson’s "On My Mind" column runs Mondays on WFAE and WFAE.org. It represents his opinion, not the opinion of WFAE. You can respond to this column in the comments section below. You can also email Tommy at ttomlinson@wfae.org.
