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RALEIGH Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, one of North Carolina's most powerful and colorful lawmakers, announced Wednesday he is resigning from the legislature.
The surprise move will end an unprecedented stretch in which the team of Rand and Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight ran the state Senate, and some would argue, the state itself. Rand, a Fayetteville Democrat, had a hand in virtually every major piece of legislation that passed during the past decade, from the establishment of a state lottery to the flow of money to the state's highways and universities.
Rand, a lawyer, accepted Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue's appointment as chairman of the state parole board.
Rand had mastered the arcane ways of the legislature over the course of 22 years in the Senate, and clearly relished the opportunity to confront and confound his opponents in private meetings and public debates.
"Tony plays for keeps," said Sen. David Hoyle, a Gaston County Democrat. "He's a master of the game. He's a great ally when he's on the same page on a bill, and a tough opponent when he's not."
Sen. Tom Apodaca, a Republican from Hendersonville who is a close friend to Rand, said Basnight decided where the trains would go and Rand kept them on schedule. It was not immediately clear Wednesday who might step in to fill that role in the Senate.
"I don't know if in my lifetime we'll ever see another team like that," Apodaca said. "And maybe we don't need to. When you've been there too long, power sort of centralizes. The longer you're there, the more political capital you collect and spend."
Rand turned 70 in September and, noting that his father died at the same age, said new challenges appeal to him.
"There comes a time when it's time to go," Rand said.
Fellow senators have routinely speculated in recent months over whether Basnight would leave the Senate due to a slowly progressing neurological disorder, but Rand's sudden departure fit with his history of keeping opponents guessing his next move and, in this case, wondering why.
A leftward shift in the Democratic caucus that controls the Senate also made his role as majority leader more difficult. A growing coalition of more liberal Democrats in the Senate helped push through laws this year that allow more comprehensive sex education, specifically protect gay students from bullying and allow death penalty challenges based on race.
