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 Thomas: For lieutentant governor? Well, I don't know. You know, there

 are so many people that I think would like to have it and are kind of

 courting Jerry Thomas, but I have stayed out of it. I think that should

 be his prerogative, I mean to pick the guy that .



 (end of side A of tape.)




 Thomas: will do the job. And I kind of think that it wouldn't

 be too bad strategy to have Thomas campaign and have the guy on the

 ticket say, you know, "If I am elected, I am going to ask the legislature

 to abolish the job." This would be 1978 before they could do it, you

 know, but I don't think that a lieutenant governor is necessary. I

 mean, I think that in the line of succession, it could go to the

 secretary of state and something like that, somebody who is elected

 state wide. Not the president of the senate, because he is only elected

 from one district.

 J.B.: The way that it is in this state, it sure doesn't have any functional

 duties that we can discover.

 Thomas: No, we've been paying this asshole all this year for doing

 nothing. He hasn't had a job since he was called before the house for

 impeachment last year. The governor removed him from his duties. He

 doesn't even cut ribbons.

 J.B.: What kind of future do you see for Paula Hawkins?

 Thomas: A fantstic future. If she gets some very confident help, I think

 that she has got some more confident help. I mean, personally, I would

 hope that she wouldn't be quite as quick on the trigger. She's a brilliant





From the Southern Oral History Program, #4007, Interview /4-6 in the Southern Historical Collection,
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT.