RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Sensing from the Rod Blagojevich scandal that Senate seats are a hot commodity, North Carolina state Sen. Eddie Goodall put his on eBay.
His price isn't a wad of cash or cushy job for himself or his wife. All he wants is a pair of seats to next week's North Carolina-Duke basketball game.
"I've worked for a long time so that I can trade this seat for two tickets for a Carolina-Duke game," Goodall, R-Union, said Friday.
But what's on offer isn't actually power, influence, or his elected position at all. Rather, his eBay ad shows a black leather swivel chair with the Senate seal stitched into the back, vacant on the floor of the freshly redecorated Senate floor.
Goodall's chair is personalized with his name stitched into the top surface of the chair back, so he bought it when the Senate was refurbished three years ago, not the state. Goodall paid $787.95, including delivery, for the seat, and he can take it with him when his Senate career ends, said Janet Pruitt, the Senate's principal clerk.
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But even parting with such a chair could land a legislator in hot water: A state law passed last year also prohibits "commercial use" of the Senate seal. Goodall concedes the eBay ad is an elaborate goof.
