Former Republican Gov. Jim Martin plans to be among those asking federal officials to move former Democratic House Speaker Jim Black to a prison closer to home or to commute his sentence.
Black's attorney says about 150 people — including interim N.C. State University Chancellor Jim Woodward and several legislators — already have written on Black's behalf. Black has been locked up since July 2007 in Lewisburg, Pa., the prison that once held union boss Jimmy Hoffa and crime boss John Gotti. Black is scheduled for release in 2012.
Black, 74, was sentenced for accepting thousands of dollars in illegal payments while speaker of the N.C. House.
Friends say not only has he become increasingly infirm, but his wife, Betty, has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — "Lou Gehrig's Disease."
Not everybody wants Black's term cut.
"Jim Black wants our compassion today, but all we ever wanted from him was honest government," says Joe Sinsheimer, a Raleigh consultant whose research helped lead to Black's downfall. (Char-O)
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Re: Martin, others want break for Black
Leave him there to rot for all I care. Who knows, maybe soon he will have some North Carolina friends to keep him company.
We can only hope!