Please call H. Clinton

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:00:00 -0400

On slow days, Harry Payne often chips in to answer the phones.

The chairman of the Employment Security Commission and former state labor commissioner picked up the phone at work last Thursday and got a surprise.

On the other end was Hillary Clinton.

"As soon as I heard her, I recognized the voice," he said.

Clinton was calling for Muriel Offerman, a deputy chairman at the commission and, more importantly to Clinton, an undecided Democratic superdelegate.

Payne took the message and thanked Clinton for her husband's work in North Carolina after Hurricane Floyd. He briefly considered lobbying for an ambassadorship to the Bahamas, but decided against it.

"That was my 15-second brush with greatness," he told Dome.

Payne, who is married to N&O columnist Ruth Sheehan, said he would not interpet the call as a signal that Offerman is leaning toward Clinton.

"I think she gets calls from lots of people," he said.

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Please call H. Clinton