Hunt birds for democracy
From the Associated Press:
Agriculture commissioner holds quail hunt to help with debt
ADVANCE (AP) - Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler invited elected officials and businessmen to a quail hunt to help him retire about $10,000 in debt acquired during his extended campaign.
Troxler was proud of one shot where he used a 20-gauge shotgun to drop a bird about 25 yards away in a grassy field as U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Dr. Charlie Branch, the owner of River Ranch Hunting Club, watched.
"Somebody knows I can hit one, anyway," Troxler said Tuesday. "This is a country man's golf game, is about what this amounts to. This is fun."
Burr and businessmen - including pork magnate Wendell Murphy and Tom Smith, the former chief executive of the Food Lion supermarket chain — gathered to help Troxler pay off legal and other expenses from court and administrative battles that followed confusion over lost ballots in Carteret County.
On Feb. 4, more than three months after the November election, Democrat Britt Cobb conceded the race to Troxler.
Troxler said the fund-raiser, where 17 hunters paid at least $500 each and some paid $1,000, should just about retire his campaign debt and legal expenses.