After 42-year legislative career marked by shooting, Soles leaves NC General Assembly quietly

Longest-serving NC lawmaker leaves after shooting

RALEIGH, N.C. — Sen. R.C. Soles was known for getting things done for his rural district. In recent years, his legislative accomplishments have been overshadowed by a strange series of events that culminated with him shooting a former law client after another man with him tried to kick down the lawmaker’s door.

Soles, whose 42 years in the General Assembly made him North Carolina’s longest continuously serving lawmaker, quietly cast what is likely his last vote in the middle of the night last weekend.

Faced with the prospect of a felony assault charge for the shooting — along with his father’s declining health and ever-increasing campaign expenses — he decided last December it was time to retire. Barring a veto override or special session, he won’t be back.

“My father had just absolutely begged me not to run,” the soft-spoken Soles said in an interview, but “I’d be untruthful if I didn’t say that all (the legal) problems I’ve had the last year had something to do with it.”

His final year in office has been difficult. Soles pleaded guilty in February to misdemeanor assault, ending an embarrassing episode for a political giant in small-town North Carolina who was first elected to the House in 1968 before switching to the Senate in 1977 for the rest of his 21 two-year terms. His 98-year-old father died in May, after he had already decided not to run again.

“It’s been a good ride,” an emotional Soles said. “I’ve had good and bad. I have tried to avoid criticizing those who have thrown the stones. I’ve tried to be courteous and nice to those who threw bouquets. But I really don’t have any regrets.”

The attorney represents three largely rural southeastern counties and is known jokingly back home as “The Boss” or “The Godfather” because of how he used his understanding of the legislative process to get things done for his district, like getting a prison built in 2008 that generated more than 500 jobs.

His larger-than-life persona back home led to complaints he was too powerful or only looked out for his friends. This year, Soles filed a bill that would have allowed his local district attorney — who wasn’t involved in his criminal case — to get retirement benefits earlier when he leaves office this year.

Soles “may have been effective at helping his cronies and his friends, but as far as helping the general public his county is one of the poorest counties in North Carolina,” said Bettie Fennell, a Republican who narrowly lost to Soles in the 2008 election.

Then there are the odd events back home. Soles, a lifelong bachelor who has amassed wealth through his law practice, said he tries to help neighbors and clients by giving them money for necessities so they can try to turn their lives around.

He called local police numerous times over two years to warn of men whom officers charged with trespassing at his home. Often, Soles declined to press charges, but he did pepper-spray one of them, according to police reports and his own account.

The most violent incident was last August, when a prosecutor said Soles shot ex-client Kyle Blackburn in the leg after another man with him tried to kicked open the front door of the lawmaker’s home in Tabor City, about 140 miles south of Raleigh. Blackburn wasn’t badly hurt, but the state Attorney General’s office charged Soles with a felony.

Soles’ attorneys said he shot Blackburn in self-defense but he ultimately took a plea deal to avoid the chance of losing his law license, being removed from office or going to prison. He paid a $1,000 fine and received no jail time.

“We were convinced that I could win the case,” Soles said, but in a trial, “you can never know.”

Friends and political allies said Soles’ ex-clients took advantage of his generosity and that he kept great restraint in not killing the intruder.

“If someone had come kicking down by door, I wouldn’t have shot him in the leg,” said Buddy Byrd, a Columbus County commissioner who has known Soles since the 1960s.

A former client also claimed Soles fondled him more than a decade ago when he was 15, though he later recanted. The State Bureau of Investigation is still reviewing the claims, according to a spokeswoman. Soles has said he didn’t molest the boy.

While recent months were bittersweet for Soles, he was feted by his colleagues as the session wound down. Lawmakers voted to update a 2005 resolution that had named him an official “North Carolina institution.” He received a plaque from fellow Senate Democrats at a private party.

“He worked in an area of North Carolina that got lost in what went good for North Carolina,” said Senate leader Marc Basnight, D-Dare. “It had little much more than tobacco or strawberries or watermelons. He represented the little people as well anyone could have.”