I was a newspaperman for 42 years and I heard a lot of memorable quotes. These are three of my favorites.
One
Robert W. [Bob] Scott was governor of North Carolina [1969 to 1973] when I went to work at The News & Observer in Raleigh in 1971 as an investigative reporter. It wasn’t long before our paths crossed.
State law gave the governor control of a slush fund at the state highway department he could spend on roads anywhere in the state. I reported that Scott had spent a disproportionate share of that money paving secondary roads in Alamance County, where he grew up and where he owned a dairy farm. Two of the roads he paved fronted property he owned. On a per capita basis, Scott gave Alamance eight times as much money he gave the state’s other 99 counties.
In his public response Scott said he was proud of every road he had paved in Alamance: “…I have no apology to make whatsoever.”
Privately, I was told he said: “If you’re not going to help your friends, who are you going to help?”
Two
When James E. [Jim] Holshouser was sworn in as governor of North Carolina in January 1973 he was the first Republican to hold that office since 1897-1901. The Republicans had been out of power so long they had no bench, no reservoir of talented administrators, so he had a harder time finding good ones to head up the various state agencies.
He appointed the owner of an appliance store secretary of the troubled state Department of Correction. It wasn’t long before the new secretary called a press conference to assure the public that he intended to fix the problems he had inherited.
“I’m going to turn this department around 360 degrees,” he said.
Three
A state legislator, furious about an article written by an N&O political reporter, called him on the phone and raised hell.
He finished his tirade with this classic:
“Not only that,” he said, “but you almost misquoted me!”
Coming Monday: The Ghost