Jack Betts add his two cents on Thomas Wright's sentence.

In a post on This Old State, the Charlotte Observer editor writes that Wright got a longer sentence than other politicians because he did not apologize and because of where he was tried.

A key reason: Wright was charged, tried, convicted and sentenced in state court. Black and Decker were sentenced in federal courts. And while fairness would seem to require that those sentenced for corruption ought to get sentences that are proportionate not just to the crime but also to other sentences for political corruption, the plain fact is there’s little attention given to what fairness might dictate. Everything depends upon the prosecutor, the charges brought, the jury’s makeup and decision, and the judge who delivers a sentence. And judges themselves, of course, must abide by the dictates of the differing federal and state sentencing guidelines. Federal judges particularly have to go through a long process before pronouncing sentences, and their discretion is limited, though not as much as it used to be. State judges’ discretion is also controlled by mitigating and aggravating factors.  

Laura Leslie wonders why Thomas Wright got the longest sentence.

In a post on Hunter's Tavern, the WUNC reporter points out that the former state representative got the longest sentence of any of the three legislators who've been convicted of corruption in the last two years.

Former state Rep. Michael Decker got $50,000 and a job for his son for selling his vote, and in exchange he got 48 months in a federal prison.

Former House Speaker Jim Black got a $500,000 loan and admitted buying Decker's vote, and in exchange he got a $1 million fine and 63 months in a federal prison.

Wright got a $150,000 mortgage under false pretenses and pocketed $7,400 in charitable donations and he got 70 months in state prison.

"So how is it that fraud in the service of buying a house nets you more prison time than fraud in the service of buying the House?" she writes on the blog. "Seriously — is it really more heinous to deceive a banker than a voter?"

On the other hand, she notes that Wright failed to apologize at all for his behavior, unlike Black and Decker.

Even prison hasn't earned Rep. Michael Decker any sympathy.

In a column in the Greensboro News & Record, one of Decker's former Republican colleagues is quoted letting out a few more complaints about the former state representative, who is now in a federal prison for accepting a bribe from former Speaker Jim Black to switch parties.

Former county Republican chairman and state Rep. John Cocklereece recalls thinking "Friend, you don't have a chance," when Decker first ran in 1982 and 1984. He says Decker worked hard in the campaign, but he credits President Reagan for the wins.

In office, he says Decker was never popular with fellow Republicans because he "talked too much on the floor, often said the wrong things and was overly pious."

"It came to be a saying that "if you wanted to get a bill killed real fast ... get Decker to sponsor it,'' Cocklereece said.

Michael Decker reports to a South Carolina prison today.

The former state representative, who admitted taking more than $63,000 in cash and campaign checks from former House Speaker Jim Black, was assigned to a federal prison in Bennettsville, S.C.

He was sentenced to four years, but prosecutors have asked for a reduction based on his cooperation. He could also get time off for good behavior.

Decker said he does not expect a judge to be lenient.

"My expectations are not high that anything will happen," he said. (W-SJ)

Gov. Mike Easley said today that he was not asked in early 2003 by House Speaker Jim Black to find a state job for the man who helped keep Black in power, Rep. Michael Decker.

Decker told Carolina Journal, a John Locke Foundation publication, that he overheard Black tell the governor in a phone conversation that Decker "may need need a job when this is over," Dan Kane reports.

The conversation took place, Decker said, just after Black held on to the speaker's job by agreeing to a power sharing arrangement with Republican Rep. Richard Morgan. Decker, a Forsyth County Republican, helped make it happen by switching parties and backing Black for speaker, deadlocking the House.

Decker told the journal that he knew it was the governor because Black handed his cellphone to Decker so the governor could thank him.

"I never had that conversation with Speaker Black," Easley said. "He never called me about Michael Decker or a job, so that's just misinformation."

More after the jump.

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Michael Decker says he didn't ask for cash the first time.

The former state representative, who pleaded guilty to accepting a bribe in 2003 from former House Speaker Jim Black, said he first approached him about switching parties in 1997.

At his state sentencing hearing, Black, a Democrat, testified that Decker, a Republican, asked for money in return for his vote. He said he turned him down because he thought Decker was wearing a recording device.

But in a two-part interview with the Carolina Journal this week, Decker said that he only asked for the usual legislative favors.

"What I wanted was money in the budget for certain projects," he said. "It was not money for personal use or for campaign contributions."

Decker said he made the proposal because he was angry with the Republican leadership.

Federal prosecutors argued for a shorter sentence for former Rep. Michael Decker.

In court papers filed Monday, they asked for his jail time to be cut in half to two years because of his cooperation with investigators looking into former House Speaker Jim Black.

"Decker's assistance has not only been substantial, it has been extraordinary and important in the prosecution of public corruption in North Carolina in 2006 and 2007," they wrote.

Decker says he was promised $50,000 and a job for his son for switching from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party in 2003 to keep Black in power. Black denied the details, but pleaded guilty to a bribery charge.

Decker, 62, is scheduled to begin his sentence at a federal prison camp in Bennettsville, S.C., next week.  (Char-O)

Jim Black's testimony raised as many questions as it answered.

Rereading the disgraced former House speaker's testimony recently, Dome wondered about an aside that he made about former Rep. Michael Decker.

Black said that he wanted to help Decker, who was living in a van. He testified that he gave Decker $10,000 to buy a new one.

"It started out I was going to give him the van, and then I thought I'd have access to it," Black testified. (Read the exchange on page 28 here.) 

But Black told prosecutors that the van deal "didn't work out."

Clearly, Black wasn't intending to give Decker a new van, since he wouldn't have been unable to buy one. His wording about "access" makes it sound like he was going to get a van from someone who had one they didn't need.

In that case, whose van was it?