Rufus L. Edmisten | |
---|---|
21st Secretary of State of North Carolina | |
In office 1989–1996 | |
Governor | James G. Martin James B. Hunt Jr. |
Preceded by | Thad A. Eure |
Succeeded by | Janice H. Faulkner |
46th Attorney General of North Carolina | |
In office 1974–1984 | |
Governor | James Holshouser Jim Hunt |
Preceded by | James H. Carson Jr. |
Succeeded by | Lacy Thornburg |
Personal details | |
Born | Rufus Lige Edmisten July 12,1941 Boone,North Carolina,U.S. |
Political party | Democratic |
Alma mater | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (BA) George Washington University (JD) |
Rufus Lige Edmisten (born July 12,1941) is an American attorney who served as North Carolina Secretary of State,Attorney General,and was the Democratic nominee for Governor in 1984. He is currently a lawyer in private practice.
Edmisten was born on July 12,1941,in Boone,North Carolina,to Walter F. Edmisten and Nell Hollar Edmisten. He graduated from Appalachian High School in 1959. [1]
He earned an undergraduate degree in political science with honors at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,and a J.D. from the George Washington University Law Center in Washington,D.C.,where he served on the Law Review. During law school,he joined the Capitol Hill staff of North Carolina Senator Sam Ervin,where he served as the Counsel to Senator Ervin's Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights and as Chief Counsel and Staff Director of the Subcommittee on Separation of Powers. In 1973-1974,Edmisten was the Deputy Chief Counsel for the Senate Watergate Committee,which Ervin chaired. With Terry Lenzner,an assistant counsel on the Senate Watergate Committee,Edmisten served the subpoena to the White House for the Watergate tapes. [2] It was the first time in history that a Congressional Committee served a subpoena on a sitting president. During his time working for Senator Ervin,Edmisten participated in important legislative initiatives,such as securing constitutional rights for American Indians and providing constitutional protections for military personnel. Following Senator Ervin's retirement in 1974,Edmisten returned to North Carolina. He was elected state attorney general in 1974 and served in that post for ten years. Edmisten was the Democratic nominee for governor in 1984,losing to Republican James G. Martin,a loss attributed to Martin's endorsements by Edmisten's Democratic primary rivals. [3]
After his unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign,Edmisten practiced law with Reagan H. Weaver for four years. In the 1988 and 1992 elections,Edmisten won the office of Secretary of State. As Secretary of State he broadened securities oversight in an effort to protect investors,and worked with the General Assembly to craft a law to establish Limited Liability Companies in North Carolina.
In 1996 Edmisten resigned from office after an audit of the Secretary of State's office led to a State Bureau of Investigations inquiry into several alleged abuses of office. [4] The investigation,which involved more than 100 interviews and culminated in a 3000-page report,exonerated Edmisten and his staff from all the accusations.[ citation needed ] Edmisten maintained that his resignation had nothing to do with the investigation. After his resignation in 1996 Edmisten launched a legal practice that merged with that of former NC Department of Justice colleague and Deputy US attorney,Woody Webb,in 1998.
Edmisten runs a charity in North Carolina called the Foundation for Good Business,Extra Special Super Kids. The Super Kids program provides college scholarships to underprivileged high school students who wish to pursue higher learning. Edmisten has served on the N.C. Capitol Foundation for over 25 years,including a six-year stint (2000–2006) as president of the foundation. He is a member of the boards of directors of the Julia Crump Foundation and Project Enlightenment,both of which are charitable organizations that seek to enhance educational opportunities for disadvantaged youths. Edmisten also served as a board member for the Raleigh region of Union Bank. Edmisten,Jim Valvano,and Don Shea founded the Jim Valvano Kids Klassic Golf Tournament,which has raised several million dollars to seek a cure for children suffering from cancer.
In addition to Edmisten’s political career and philanthropic work,he has also found success as an acclaimed writer,television news political pundit and esteemed radio personality. He was a panelist on NC Spin,North Carolina's longest running political talk show (the final episode of NC Spin aired on Christmas Day 2020).
He is also a longstanding co-host of the popular radio program Weekend Gardener on WPTF in Raleigh,NC. The program holds the distinction of being the longest running gardening radio show in history. (Weekend Gardener initially began in 1924 on WPTF as an on-air gardening report from “The Good Garden Ladies of Raleigh”of the Raleigh Garden Club. The show has retained its current title since January 1985.) Edmiston is,himself,an avid gardener.
In 2019 Edmisten wrote and published a memoir entitled,“That's Rufus:A Memoir of Tar Heel Politics,Watergate and Public Life”the profits of which all go to benefit his charity “The Super Kids”.
Edmisten and his wife,Linda,live in a designated 1921 National Register and Raleigh Historic Landmark house.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Rufus L. Edmisten | 295,051 | 30.87 | |
Democratic | H. Edward Knox | 249,286 | 26.08 | |
Democratic | Duncan McLauchlin "Lauch" Faircloth | 153,210 | 16.03 | |
Democratic | Thomas O. Gilmore | 82,299 | 8.61 | |
Democratic | James C. "Jimmy" Green | 80,775 | 8.45 | |
Democratic | John R. Ingram | 75,248 | 7.87 | |
Democratic | Robert L. Hannon | 9,476 | 0.99 | |
Democratic | Frazier Glenn Miller Jr. | 5,790 | 0.61 | |
Democratic | J. Andrew Barker | 3,148 | 0.33 | |
Democratic | J.D. Whaley | 1,516 | 0.16 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Rufus L. Edmisten | 352,351 | 51.91% | ||
Democratic | H. Edward Knox | 326,278 | 48.08%% | -3.83% |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | James G. Martin | 1,208,167 | 54.26% | ||
Democratic | Rufus L. Edmisten | 1,011,209 | 45.41% | -9.49% | |
Libertarian | H. Fritz Prochnaw | 4,610 | 0.21% | ||
Socialist Workers | Gregory McCartan | 2,740 | 0.12% | ||
Turnout | 2,226,743 | 100% |
United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court unanimously ordered President Richard Nixon to deliver tape recordings and other subpoenaed materials related to the Watergate scandal to a federal district court. Decided on July 24, 1974, the ruling was important to the late stages of the Watergate scandal, amidst an ongoing process to impeach Richard Nixon. United States v. Nixon is considered a crucial precedent limiting the power of any U.S. president to claim executive privilege.
Leonidas "Leon" Jaworski was an American attorney and law professor who served as the second special prosecutor during the Watergate Scandal. He was appointed to that position on November 1, 1973, soon after the Saturday Night Massacre of October 19–20, 1973, which included the dismissal of his predecessor Archibald Cox.
Michael Francis Easley is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 72nd governor of North Carolina from 2001 to 2009. He is the first governor of North Carolina to have been convicted of a felony, which was related to a campaign finance violation. Upon further review by the Superior Court, the case was expunged and the slate wiped clean with no record of conviction. A member of the Democratic Party, Easley was North Carolina's second Catholic governor.
James Grubbs Martin is an American chemist and politician who served as the 70th governor of North Carolina from 1985 to 1993. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the U.S. Representative for North Carolina's 9th congressional district from 1973 to 1985.
In the United States, a special counsel is a lawyer appointed to investigate, and potentially prosecute, a particular case of suspected wrongdoing for which a conflict of interest exists for the usual prosecuting authority. Other jurisdictions have similar systems. For example, the investigation of an allegation against a sitting president or attorney general might be handled by a special prosecutor rather than by an ordinary prosecutor who would otherwise be in the position of investigating his or her own superior. Special prosecutors also have handled investigations into those connected to the government but not in a position of direct authority over the Justice Department's prosecutors, such as cabinet secretaries or election campaigns.
The North Carolina Secretary of State is an elected constitutional officer in the executive branch of the government of the U.S. state of North Carolina, and is fourth in the line of succession to the office of Governor of North Carolina. The secretary maintains the official journal of the North Carolina General Assembly and is responsible for overseeing land records, chartering corporations, and administering some commercial regulations. The incumbent is Elaine Marshall, a Democrat and the first woman elected to the office.
Robert Burren Morgan was an American politician. He was a Democratic United States Senator from the state of North Carolina for a single term from 1975 until 1981.
The Senate Watergate Committee, known officially as the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, was a special committee established by the United States Senate, S.Res. 60, in 1973, to investigate the Watergate scandal, with the power to investigate the break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and any subsequent cover-up of criminal activity, as well as "all other illegal, improper, or unethical conduct occurring during the controversial 1972 presidential election, including political espionage and campaign finance practices".
James Thomas Anthony Valvano, nicknamed Jimmy V, was an American college basketball player, coach, and broadcaster.
The attorney general of North Carolina is a statewide elected office in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The attorney general is a constitutional officer responsible for representing state agencies in legal matters, supplying other state officials and prosecutors with legal advice, and leading the North Carolina Department of Justice. The incumbent attorney general, Josh Stein, assumed office on January 1, 2017. The position of attorney general dates back to North Carolina's colonial history. North Carolina's 1776 constitution established the office as an official appointed by the North Carolina General Assembly. The state's 1868 constitution made the attorney general an elected executive official with their duties prescribed by law. Since 1971, the officer has sat on the North Carolina Council of State.
Daniel Terry Blue Jr. is an American politician and attorney serving as a member of the North Carolina Senate, representing the state's 14th Senate district, and is the Senate minority leader.
WPTF is a commercial radio station broadcasting a news/talk radio format. Licensed to Raleigh, the station serves the Research Triangle area of North Carolina. It is owned by the Curtis Media Group, with studios located on Highwoods Boulevard in Raleigh. WPTF's transmitter site is a three-tower facility off East Chatham Street, near Maynard Road NE, in Cary, North Carolina.
The Young Democrats of North Carolina (YDNC) are the official youth arm of the North Carolina Democratic Party (NCDP). As an auxiliary organization of the NCDP, the President and National Committee-members of the YDNC serve as part of the State Executive Committee of the NCDP.
The 2010 United States Senate election in North Carolina was held on November 2, 2010. The filing deadline for the primaries was February 26; the primaries were held on May 4, with a Democratic primary runoff held on June 22. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Richard Burr won re-election to a second term. Burr is the first incumbent to win re-election for this seat since Sam Ervin's last re-election in 1968.
The 1984 North Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1984. Democratic incumbent Jim Hunt was unable to run for another consecutive term under the North Carolina Constitution. Hunt ran instead for the U.S. Senate against Jesse Helms and lost, although he later announced his campaign for a third gubernatorial term in the 1992 election. Popular 9th District Congressman James G. Martin ran as the Republican nominee against Democratic Attorney General Rufus L. Edmisten, who defeated Hunt's Lt. Governor, James Green, among other candidates, in a hotly contested primary.
James Arthur Pope is an American businessman, attorney and former government official. Pope is the owner, chairman and CEO of Variety Wholesalers, a group of 370 retail stores in 16 states. He is also the president and chairman of the John William Pope Foundation. He previously served in the North Carolina House of Representatives and recently served as the Budget Director for North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory.
Samuel James Ervin Jr. was an American politician. A Democrat, he served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina from 1954 to 1974. A native of Morganton, he liked to call himself a "country lawyer", and often told humorous stories in his Southern drawl. During his Senate career, Ervin was a staunch defender of the Jim Crow laws and racial segregation, as the South's constitutional expert during the congressional debates on civil rights. Unexpectedly, he became a liberal hero for his support of civil liberties. He is remembered for his work in the investigation committees that brought down Senator Joseph McCarthy in 1954 and especially for his investigation of the Watergate scandal in 1972 that led to the resignation of Richard Nixon.
Four justices of the seven-member North Carolina Supreme Court and four judges of the 15-member North Carolina Court of Appeals were elected by North Carolina voters on November 4, 2014, concurrently with other state elections. Terms for seats on each court are eight years.
Jay Chaudhuri is an American attorney, professor, politician and a Democratic member of the North Carolina Senate. First appointed to fill a vacancy in April 2016 caused by the resignation of Josh Stein, Chaudhuri was later elected and re-elected, becoming North Carolina's first Indian-American state legislator. In January 2019, he was elected by his colleagues to serve as Senate Minority (Democratic) Whip, the second-highest ranking position in the Democratic caucus.
Curtis Hudson "Trey" Allen III is an American lawyer who serves as an associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. He was elected in November 2022.