Notebook: Inside the Project Soccer negotiations

The Project Soccer deal went public Thursday in an unprecedented way.

Anticipating the political nerve struck by the loss of the economic development deal to land Continental Tire, the Senate president pro tem's office and governor's office were ready -- each releasing more than a 100 pages of public records and a meticulous timeline to bolster their spin on why North Carolina didn't make the cut. The documents were released within minutes of the company's announcement it would locate in South Carolina.

Inside those records are a number of intriguing political tidbits. Here's a collection from my notebook that didn't make today's story:

-- Jim Blaine plays Karl Rove. A key period in the negotiations on Project Soccer occurred when Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger was in China and not able to participate. His chief of staff, Jim Blaine, didn't hesitate to jump into the fray. Along with Tracy Kimbrell, Berger's general counsel, Blaine fired off feisty emails to Gov. Bev Perdue's administration.

Blaine is one who researched who owned the land and made it an issue. Two days after he shared the information with Speaker Thom Tillis' office, Berger pulled his chambers support for the project, citing these concerns. 

In a missive to Don Hobart in the governor's office, saying "I'm not sure how you arrived at the misinterpretation of our position but please correct this misunderstanding with anyone you may need to including the principals of Project Soccer." 

In the next paragraph, he lets his frustration fly about the governor's executive order on pre-kindergarten funding. "As we've discussed on several occasions there are real questions about what kind of package could win support from Republicans and Democrats in the legislature. This is especially true in light of the outstanding potential obligations ... as it relates to the Pre-K executive order ..."

He also invokes politics surrounding the deal, suggesting Perdue couldn't offer the incentive money without critics being able to say it came from education funding.

-- No evidence has been presented yet to support Berger's theory that corrupt politics ruined the deal. The Commerce Department denies it was an issue (read linked story above) and Continental Tire isn't talking. So where's the red flag? Or is it, as the governor's office contends, just a read herring.

--On the other hand, the assertion from Perdue's administration that Continental Tire wanted $45 million in up-front incentives or it wouldn't located in North Carolina leaves questions after the company apparently received just $31 million to help it build in South Carolina. A commerce department spokesman couldn't clarify the discrepancy. 

-- Democratic Sen. Martin Nesbitt opposed to the project? Senate Republicans made the suggestion in numerous emails. But reached Thursday, Nesbitt said the opposite. "I supported it," he said in an interview. And he dismissed the idea that Democratic Sen. Michael Walters' partial ownership of the property tainted the deal because Walters recused himself.

Asked why Berger's office said Nesbitt had concerns, "I don't know what he was talking about," he said.

-- Speaker Thom Tillis' tone in his release is worth noting again. "I am disappointed that an opportunity for job growth was lost. My office worked diligently to help bring this project to North Carolina, while at the same time protecting the interests of the taxpayers. We made every effort to work in concert with the governor's office, but requests by my office for critical information were often delayed or sometimes ignored. Now, it appears that politics became involved in what should have been a business decision. My office will continue to do whatever we can to promote job creation in North Carolina, and the interests of the taxpayers will always remain my top priority."

His office stayed very quiet Thursday, as Tillis continued his town hall tour. At least three attempts to contact his spokesman went unreturned. Does the issue of incentives expose a divide between the House and Senate?

--In releasing the records, the Senate attorneys made it clear that the public records law didn't apply to the documents. They did it out of the goodness of their hearts or at least to bolster their blame-game case. The records show that lawmakers do a lot of legislative work on their personal email addresses -- because they were all redacted from the documents. 

Berger later said that its worth looking at whether these economic incentives deals need more sunlight. But don't hold your breath.

--Where did the code name "Project Soccer" originate? It was a question of much speculation before Berger's press conference yesterday. Patrick Gannon at The Star News offered the most cogent explanation: "Kicking the tires." Maybe it was a link to Continental's German origins and soccer? Who knows. Other ideas, in gest: "Kicking the can" or "Political football."