news-record.com

Tar Heels, you have some trust issues. It’s not that you don’t trust your politicians, but you really are beginning to think they’re all crooks.

Consider these results from a recent Elon University Poll of North Carolinians:

• 73 percent of respondents think corruption is common among elected officials.
• 65 percent think elected officials look out more for their own interests than the public’s interest.
• 67 percent think corrupt behavior among North Carolina public officials is becoming more common.

“In the research, it’s pretty common for people not to like the institutions. ... But to get numbers this high, that was surprising,” said Hunter Bacot, a political science professor and director of the poll.

The higher-than-normal “they’re all crooks” sentiment may come from frustration over the economy as much as anything, Bacot said.

The spectacle of former Gov. Mike Easley having to testify about campaign finance irregularities before the State Board of Elections is also fresh in voters’ minds.

The 2010 midterms are just less than a year away, but if these kinds of attitude persist, elections for the legislature and Congress could be more interesting that usual.

“You might see incumbents have closer-than-normal elections,” Bacot said. And voters frustrated with the state of things may take out their frustration on any available incumbent, regardless of the party.

There was one bit of good news in the survey for long-suffering pols.

As much as voters distrusted Congress or the General Assembly as an institution, they gave higher approval marks to individual lawmakers who represented them. For example, 8.6 percent of respondents said they “strongly approved” of the job their individual state representative or senator was doing. That compared to 3.9 percent “strongly approving” of the legislature’s job overall.

Wedding bells

Greensboro’s bachelor City Council member plans to get married.

Zack Matheny proposed to his girlfriend, Lauran Harrington, this month. First Matheny got permission from her 8-year-old son, Cam.

Both mother and son said yes.

Best wishes to the happy couple!

Tuesday’s meeting

Tuesday night will be full of firsts and lasts.

The current City Council members will have one last, specially called meeting at 4 p.m. to deal with the planned pool complex at the Greensboro Coliseum before their terms expire.

For Mayor Yvonne Johnson and council members Sandra Anderson Groat, Mike Barber and Goldie Wells, it will be their final meeting sitting at the dais.

After a special sendoff to those retiring members, the meeting will adjourn to the first meeting of the new City Council.

It will be an organizational meeting in which they take the oath of office.

That includes recently elected Mayor Bill Knight and council members Nancy Vaughan, Danny Thompson and Jim Kee.

Loving parades

Rep. Howard Coble is known for many things across the district: his gravely, cigar-tinged baritone, his fondness for pork brains — even though he rarely partakes anymore — and his appearance in more parades than seems humanly possible.

On this last point, Coble is having to send his regrets to the Greensboro Christmas parade along with Pleasant Garden’s and Denton’s.

The reason: He has accepted an invite to ride in the Southern Pines Christmas Parade, and all four happen on the same day.

It has been years since the Greensboro Republican has made his way to the Southern Pines parade, and Coble told Scoop he needed to spread his attention around.

“I think I’m obliged to ride in Southern Pines,” Coble said.

He’ll hit Liberty’s parade that same day.

“I don’t want folks in Greensboro to think I’ve abandoned them,” Coble said.

Staff writers Mark Binker and Amanda Lehmert contributed.