Red Clay Citizen

Remember - the cure can kill you

Blame the law when you break the law; that is what Scott Mooneyham does on behalf of Mike Easley and Jim Black in his article “A Root of Corruption” in the Capitol View, INSIDER AFTERNOON UPDATE, July 20, 2009.  It is Mooneyham’s contention that there is a loophole in a campaign finance law and he thinks it should be closed. He joins Democracy North Carolina in their call for the Board of Elections to hold hearings due to “troubling patterns” of party contributions to Easley’s Campaign Committee.

In his article Mooneyham makes it clear that he does not want to blame the transgressor.  He rests the blame squarely on the law.  He writes “It's the law that spawns much of the political corruption in North Carolina. It's a campaign finance law that, weak as it is, foments abuse of power.  The law in question allows the state's political parties to make unlimited contributions to candidates. ”   He even goes on to say “Human nature is human nature, and politicians have always been and will always be susceptible to temptation.”

Wow – let’s all take a minute to “soak” up this point of view.  I guess Mooneyham thinks we are wrong to expect anything resembling honesty and integrity from our elected leaders.  I can’t help it, I expect so much more from someone who makes me promises and begs me for my support.

Mike Easley didn’t come straight from the backwoods to the big city to lead our State.  He was a District Attorney for ten years (according to his biography, “a top drug buster”), North Carolina’s Attorney General for eight years and elected Governor twice.  He knows North Carolina’s laws, he knows right from wrong; I will hold him entirely accountable, if he is found guilty.

For some reason Jim Black gets slipped into this argument for changing the state's political party’s ability to make unlimited contributions to candidates.  We would have to throw away all of North Carolina's laws to cover all of Black’s transgressions; public corruption, bribery, obstructing justice, accepting kickbacks in public restrooms...

Before we ask our elected representatives to rewrite campaign finance laws, we should remember John McCain blamed the law after he was investigated in a political influence scandal in the 1980’s – does anyone remember the Keating 5?  McCain then made campaign finance reform a priority and we got McCain-Feingold.  Remember - the cure can kill you.

Pork for Super Pier Ad

Here is the first glimpse of something I think you will be hearing a lot more about in the near future:

A Bailout for Jim Black?

Jeff Taylor over at MeckDeck has details of what seems to be a bailout for Jim Black by the Wake County Public Schools.

If you recall, as part of former Speaker Jim Black's (D-Mecklenburg) sentence, he had to pay a $1 million fine in addition to his prison sentence.  Having already paid back $500,000 of the fine, Black needed to come up with another $500,000 to satisfy the plea arrangement.

Taylor has uncovered a property transfer report in the Charlotte Business Journal that list two properties totaling just over 7 acres transferred from Jim Black to the Wake County School System.

The tax value of these properties is assessed at just over $140,000.

Since all fines go to the schools, is Black being able to transfer just $140,000 worth of property to fulfill a $500,000 fine?

And just what in the world is the Wake County Public Schools going to do with 7 acres in Mecklenburg County?

Many, many questions need to be answered on this.

A case for why Ethics Legislation/Rules are not all good

With the reporting on the Easley corruption scandal and the attention on Mary Easley and her "job" at NCSU, it would seem like legislative action to save the taxpayers some money and put an end to a part of the drama would be as simple as a line in the budget. Of course nothing is easy when you start navigating laws and rules as the below email exchanges should show.

Having laws and rules usually only keep the honest, honest. All of the laws and "ethics" rules did not stop Mike Easley, Thomas Wright, Jim Black or any of the other corrupt politicians. Remember the below exchange when you here calls for more rules or regulations to "remedy" some problem.

Even with all of the so-called ethics legislation and rules, North Carolinians, by over 2-1, think that our state government and political leaders are corrupt.

                            ***************Original Request***************
Is it ethical to introduce or sponsor legislation to eliminate a specific contract position at a specific university?

From: Name Redacted (Research)
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 10:37 AM
To:Keith Weatherly (House Minority Leader's Office)
Cc:Rep. Paul Stam; Name Redacted (Research); Name Redacted (Research); Name Redacted (Research); Name Redacted  (Research); Name Redacted (Research)
Subject:[RTS-2009-00965] Ethical considerations of eliminating positions (Rep. Paul Stam)

Representative Stam and Keith,

Attached please a copy of G.S. 120-86.1, which states is it unethical a legislator to take, promise, or threaten any legislative action for the purpose of influencing or in retaliation for any action regarding State employee hirings, promotions, grievances, or disciplinary actions subject to the State Personnel Act (SPA).

If the contract position is subject to the SPA, then it is unethical to use legislative action, whether actual or threatened, to influence a hiring, promotion, grievance or disciplinary action.  If the contract position is not subject to the SPA, then it is not as clear cut.  However, I think one could argue that it would unethical to use legislative action to accomplish the same thing with a position exempt from the SPA. 

I hope this helps, even though it may not be a clear answer.  Please let me know if you like for me to determine if the position in question is subject to the SPA.

 

Name Redacted

 

Easley Corruption?

Before the left uses the Easley scandal of the day to rev up the call for "Welfare for Politicians", also laughingly called voter-owned elections, they should take a deep breath. The Easley story is not about using existing campaign laws to an advantage, if proven to be true, it is about violating EXISTING campaign law and about personal enrichment. As many politicians before him, it appears that Easley aspired to a lifestyle that his income as an elected official would not support. Enter "friends" all to happy to help him live that lifestyle and throw in taxpayer financed aircraft and security to make life that much easier.

Planes, trips, land, home renovations are not the stuff of campaigns, they are the ingredients in an all too typical story of greed and corruption.

Back to the voter-owned elections - I called that laughable because whoever controls the money controls the politicians. In the method the left is proposing the government will control that money which means that government will control the elections. That does not sound like voter-owned to me. It sounds like politician-owned. Before my words are misused remember that "legally" (Easley excluded) any one individual can only donate a maximum of $8,000 over one election cycle (primary and general). If an election raises and spends $8,000,000 do the math. The influence any one individual or PAC can have on an election is very limited, but when government is the source of almost all of your money - BIG IMPACT. Besides, voter-owned elections don't work.

Dateline NBC Looks at Lottery Fraud

Something that NC Lottery Director Tom Shaheen apparently thinks is "not a big problem" gets a full expose on Dateline NBC.

Chris Hansen, best known for his work at exposing pedophiles, dedicated tonight's episode to exposing lottery fraud and how some lottery retailers are taking advantage of players and the system to make big bucks.

The full article with video is here.

But with the appearance of lottery fraud documented in this much detail in California, why does North Carolina's lottery director seem like it's not a big deal?  Given the NC Lottery's controversial beginnings, is the lottery director just trying to put on a good face for public relations sake?

Gaming the Lottery?

The Charlotte Observer today explores an interesting trend developing between convenience store clerks and owners and lottery winners.

Apparently, store owners are winning big jackpots multiple times over.

One case in point – the B&S Variety store – a small convenience market located just off Interstate 40 near Morganton. The owner of the store – Becky Ozmun – won a dozen jackpots in about 13 months – including a $10,000 payout and a $150,000 prize.

I don't have a problem with these people playing the lottery and winning, what I have a problem with is the apparent apathy of lottery officials to even lift a finger to investigate the possibility of irregularities.  Lottery director Tom Shaheen basically blows off the winnings as sheer coincidence:

But mention repeat winners to Tom Shaheen, the Executive Director of the North Carolina Education Lottery, and he says, “Anything in life can happen.” Shaheen doesn’t see a big problem. “If there were thousands of cases of this I would say yes there is a problem.” But Shaheen says retailers win a lot because they play a lot. “We have had retailers that have won multiple times but no different from other players,” he says.

Is it that lottery officials don't care, or do they not want the bad publicity that would come from an investigation into store owners gaming the system?

Irony of the day? Mike Easley Joins Law Firm

It is official, former NC Gov. Mike Easley is joining McGuireWoods Consulting. McGuireWoods Consulting is a subsidiary of the McGuireWoods law firm which has around 900 lawyers.

In light of recent stories in the media and reports of possible federal investigations it would seem like he may more likely need the assistance of a good law firm rather than employment by a mega-lobbying law firm (and numerous reader comments on these stories seem to agree). You can see stories here, here, here, here, here and here (phew), ok that is enough - there is more but you get the drift. While not proof it brings to mind the old saying "where there is smoke there is fire" and I hear from the grapevine that there is more to come so stay tuned...

Corruption in NC?

The News & Observer has two stories this morning on possible corruption (my words not theirs) by former Governor Mike Easley. This one talks about trips and a car for he an his wife Mary (a $170,000 employee of NCSU). This one is about his son (a law student) getting a free car. 

Before the left screams we need public financing, remember that Just like the cases of imprisoned former House Speaker Jim Black and imprisoned Congressman Frank Balllance, this story has NOTHING to do with campaign contributions. From all appearances, it looks like powerful people wanting to help the governor enjoy a lifestyle to which we all could become accustomed.

It has nothing to do with campaign contributions and so is not an argument for public financing of campaigns. Welfare for politicians would not have precluded this appearance of unseemly activity in the least.

Case Study on Government involvement in "Private Enterprise"

Read this article from the Chicago Tribune about how current White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel made a bunch of money for a short stay on the board of Freddie Mac.

This was front paged on Drudge.