All Muck is Local: Blank Check to Coy’s Mistress Brings TroubleMake room Craig, Vitter and Bob. Coy Privette (R-NC) wants to join the summer of scandal!
Privette, a 74-year old retired pastor, has pleaded guilty to six counts of soliciting a prostitute. Privette is a long-time participant in North Carolina politics, spending eight years in the state house and another nine as a commissioner of Cabarrus County. He is a staunch social conservative and, until recently, President of the Christian Action League.
The trouble started for Privette back in May, when an unnamed woman cashed a blank check with his signature on it. The woman had a second check, already written out for $4,000. She explained that the checks werenât given to her, but to a friend who had asked her to cash them. Privette was alerted of the possible forgery; he said he had indeed lost the two checks and the bank refunded his money. Case closed.
Well, not for the police. They traced the checks back to one Tiffany Summers. But on July 19th, a court indicted both Summers and Privette. Apparently, he had paid her for services at least six times over as many months. Privette immediately stepped down from his Christian advocacy group; he later pleaded guilty on August 22nd. The judge has agreed to expunge his record upon completing 48 hours of community service, saying he’s only concerned with “making sure the behavior stopped.”
Privette would be happy to leave the embarrassing matter at that, having very publicly learned his lesson (i.e.- if you’ve got world enough and time, don’t pay for a prostitute with a blank check). But local Republicans arenât having it. They are furious that Coy has not resigned his commissioner position (if you recall, North Carolina GOP have already had its share of embarrassment from former state reps). Each of his fellow commissioners (all Republicans) has publicly demanded he resign. On Friday, the state Republican chairman sent him a letter demanding he step down, saying, “he’s dishonored and disgraced.”
For his part, Privette said Friday he is staying on the job. But the moment of truth will likely be this Tuesday, when he meets with the entire board of commissioners. It promises to be an awkward conversation.
