The tumor grew.

Eventually, Better Together opted for surgery.

In March, its mother, Nancy Rice, said that the initiative would be refiled. Stenger would no longer be the first unelected mayor. The move had nothing to do with any federal investigation, she said. The same day, Stenger was served with a subpoena, and one of Rice’s board members contradicted her.

In April, Better Together underwent an even riskier surgery. It attached itself to John Gaskin.

The young president of the county branch of the NAACP held a news conference announcing his organization’s support of the effort. Finally, black support for Better Together!

But there was a problem. Gaskin, who had been given a job by Stenger previously in the county economic partnership that was at the center of the federal investigation, neglected to tell people that Better Together was paying him. He also didn’t tell his board members about his clear conflict of interest. Days later, he was suspended from his job by the national president and CEO of the NAACP.

Better Together was left on the surgery table, in a pay-for-play coma.