Michael Decker: From Backbench to the Big House

The Legislator
First elected in 1984, Decker represented a Forsyth County district which sometimes included parts of Guilford. Compiling a solid conservative, pro-life, anti-tax record that was in keeping with his profession as a history teacher at Gospel Light Christian School, he later became a substitute teacher in the public schools, although where the rest of his income came from is murky. Derisively labeled a “God and Guns Republican” by the Raleigh News & Observer (4/14/99), Decker frequently challenged the Democratic Leadership. For example, Decker was pushing to cap the gas tax six years before 2008 Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Graham made it a cause celebre.

Like that of most other Republicans – who served in the minority party during most of Decker’s tenure in the General Assembly, Decker’s legislation was often shipped off to committee without a hearing. But in 2002, he successfully sponsored the law creating Amber Alerts for missing children in North Carolina.

During his freshman year, Decker argued for repeal of legislative pensions, declaring, “We should not make this a cushy, plush job where we're retiring on money from taxpayers.” How ironic those words seem today.

The Crook
After the 2002 election, Republicans stormed back into control of the House they had lost four years earlier, putting Republican leader Leo Daughtry on track to be Speaker with a 61-59 majority. Representative Decker was eager to snag the ceremonial post of Speaker pro-tem, a position with little actual power but for which the salary is larger than those of other rank-and-file legislators. But at a meeting late that fall, the Republican Caucus spurned his bid for the post. Decker responded to the perceived insult by switching his political party affiliation in January of 2003 to Democrat – a move which tied the membership of the North Carolina House of Representatives at 60 Republicans to 60 Democrats – and changed the course of politics in North Carolina forever. 

As a stunned political world looked on, Decker added insult to injury by announcing that in the upcoming election for the Speaker of the House, he would vote for the Democratic challenger – incumbent Speaker Jim Black. 

Most believed that Decker’s actions spoke to revenge, but the life-long Republican insisted that his decision to change parties was fueled by nothing more than a desire to see Black win re-election. “I support Speaker Black for speaker, and I felt the best way to achieve that goal was to switch to the Democratic Party,” he said. (Daily Tar Heel, 1/27/03).

Speculation immediately focused on whether some kind of quid pro quo was involved. “Does all of this mean that Jim Black or [Gov.] Mike Easley have made some type of promise to Decker? Could that promise involve the speaker pro tem position ... or some promise of a job in the Easley administration?” fumed Republican Chairman Bill Cobey. (DTH, 1/27/03)

But Decker defended the purity of his intentions, responding, “They want to accuse me of all the base motives that they can, and they're just simply not true.”

Before long, however, the truth behind the deal began to emerge as the once low-ranking lawmaker’s fortunes began to change. Instead of living in an old camper while in Raleigh, Decker took up residence in a nice motel room (which was later proved to have been paid for by Jim Black). Things got even better for the newly-minted Democrat when Black joined forces with Richard Morgan and thirteen other renegade Republicans to ram an historic Black–Morgan co-speakership arrangement through the House. Decker was then appointed Co-chair of the House Ways & Means Committee. Though the committee was little-used, it came with a title – and a bonus from Jim Black – the appointment Michael Decker’s son, Michael Jr. as a $46,000 staffer for the committee. (News & Observer, 3/5/03). Jim Black said “It's no secret Michael Decker is one of my favorite people.”

Representative Decker’s constituents didn’t find him their favorite. Faced with re-election in a heavily Republican Forsyth County district, he switched back to the GOP, hoping to cling to his seat in the legislature (and all its attendant perks). Voters, however, rejected him soundly in the 2004 Republican primary, granting him a paltry 23% of the vote.

Count him down, but not out. Decker landed on his feet when Jim Black secured him a newly-created job through the Department of Cultural Resources promoting Heritage Tourism in Forsyth County. A State Audit later determined that the $45,000 salary for the job came from a $14 million slush fund controlled by Black, Morgan, and Senate President Pro-Tem Marc Basnight (News & Observer, 7/1/05). When that money ran out, the bureaucracy unearthed a federal grant to keep him on the payroll, despite his complete lack of credentials for the position.

Curiosity was also piqued when Democracy North Carolina noted that Decker, a fervent anti-gambling legislator who was rated 100% by the Christian Coalition, suddenly became the video poker industry’s second favorite lawmaker (after co-Speaker Jim Black, their #1 favorite). Money also appeared to be flowing freely from Decker’s campaign fund into what appeared to be personal expenses.

With all that smoke clouding the air over the Capitol, a federal grand jury found the fire. Perhaps they already knew the full story, but Decker claimed that when called upon to do so, his conscience made him reveal the truth. According to the Charlotte Observer, “One Sunday morning this summer, pastor Frank Shumate preached from Proverbs to the congregation of Gospel Light Baptist Church. ‘He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house,” he sermonized. Michael Decker said that he listened, and that he went to see his pastor a few days later. Referring to the Proverbs verse from the Sunday sermon, Decker claims that he said “You know, Frank, that's me.” Shumate, who said he “saw a broken man,” then began to hear Decker’s confession.

Confessing may have been good for Decker’s soul, but it didn’t clear things up with the feds. In a deal in 2005, Decker pleaded guilty in a US Federal Court to accepting a $50,000 bribe back in 2003 to switch parties and preserve Democrat Jim Black’s speakership for the North Carolina House.

A condition of the plea deal was that Decker offer up the details of the cash exchange, and they were as seedy as the transaction itself. In an International House of Pancakes bathroom in Salisbury, Decker agreed to support Speaker Black for cash and control over a legislative job. In return, Black delivered $42,000 in cash and checks to Decker, including an envelope of cash handed over in the Speaker’s private office.

The Consequences
Decker paid a stiff price for his malfeasance. After being ordered by the court to pay a $50,000 fine for conspiracy to extort money, he was shipped off to begin serving a four-year sentence in a federal penitentiary.

As for the other players in this ugly game, as co-Speakers of the House, Jim Black and Richard Morgan ran the redistricting process in 2003, allowing the Democrats to gain seats and maintain control over the chamber for most of the next decade, changing the course of any number of legislative proposals, including the lottery, which passed in 2005. Had the Republicans maintained control of the House after the 2002 election, Republican Speaker Leo Daughtry would have likely killed it. In other words, without Michael Decker, the lottery that Decker himself had so vehemently opposed might never have passed.

Black himself ended up in the federal penitentiary.

Accepting blame for his crime, Michael Decker went back to his Christian roots. Quoting a passage from the Bible, he told reporters, “Be sure your sin will find you out.” Truer words were never written, and they earn Michael Decker a permanent position in our Hall of Shame.