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Allred is as Allred does

I’m not buying it. At least not yet.

Rep. Cary Allred, an Alamance County Republican, was saying he was going to resign, excuse me, “retire” from his legislative seat this year.

Call me skeptical – I am a reporter after all – but I’ll believe it when his letter hits the House clerk’s office.

For those late to this party, Allred is the lawmaker who had a really bad day one day last month. The short version is, he drank at least one Chelada, hopped in his car, got pulled going 102 mph but talked his way out of the ticket by flashing his legislative id. Then he hits the floor, brags about getting out of said ticket and gets combative during formal debate with the House speaker. After that, he embraces a teenage page (who he knows) in a way that some of his fellow Republicans find “disturbing.”

Background: here, here, here and here.

When even his fellow Republicans started saying that he behaved badly, Allred said last week he would switch his party affiliation.  And then, a day later, said he wouldn’t.

So, how long before he changes his mind about this retirement thing? Who knows?

Seemingly he switched his take on the idea at least once yesterday. Early in the day he told the Burlington Times-News that he would call it quits by September.  Then he told me, the same day, he “might even do it as early as Monday.”

The only thing that seems real certain is that Allred, who has attracted attention to himself in a variety of ways over the years, doesn’t seem to like the attention he’s getting now.

“I’m sick of the legislature, I’m sick of the Democrats being in charge, I’m sick of living in a glass house, I’m sick of having to answer to false accusations,” Allred said Thursday. “I need a vacation.”

My bet: sometime in the next two weeks we’ll be writing a news bulletin that says Allred has rethought his decision to resign after being contacted by multiple constituents/colleagues who said he has to stay to help represent their particular point of view.

Accompanying Photos

Photo Caption: Cary Allred