FLINT WATER CRISIS REEKS OF POLITICAL CORRUPTION (OBAMA'S DIRTY DEALS)

FLINT WATER CRISIS REEKS OF POLITICAL CORRUPTION (OBAMA'S DIRTY DEALS):

GOV SNYDER & MIKE ROGERS' PREVIOUS POLITICAL DEALS WITH OBAMA ARE LINKED TO CURRENT FLINT WATER CRISIS.

NOW IN 2016 OBAMA USES FLINT WATER CRISIS TO DESTROY MICHIGAN'S GOP LEADERS & HELP DEMOCRATS.


In the video above I discuss how the current FLINT Water Crisis is directly linked to dirty Political deals between Pres OBAMA, Michigan governor RICK SNYDER and former Congressman MIKE ROGERS.

I also discuss the fall of BLACK former Detroit mayor KWAME KILPATRICK who was destined to become Michigan's governor before he was caught up in a CORRUPTION Scandal.


~ Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder Releases Emails Tied To Flint Water Crisis

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder released his collection of emails from 2014 and 2015 surrounding the toxic water crisis in Flint today, hoping, as he said in Tuesday’s State of the State address, to provide a better understanding of how the municipal emergency unfolded.

More than 270 pages of emails were released to the public and posted to the governor's website.

The state's Department of Environmental Quality first became aware of the elevated lead levels in children's blood on Aug. 23, 2015, when Virginia Tech professor Marc Edwards notified the department that the school would be studying Flint water quality issues "over the next few months," the emails indicate.

At that point, the city of Flint had already determined that it needed to install corrosion control treatment into the water system leading into the Flint River, the emails read.

Flint had stopped using Detroit's water system in 2014 while a connection to Lake Huron was established. The city switched back to the Detroit system in October 2015.

The DEQ disputed Edwards' test results indicating corrosion and lead leaching in early September, a timeline of the events leading up to Flint created by the Michigan government states.

On Sept. 5, Director of Urban Initiatives Harvey Hollins said to Snyder in an email that more than 1,500 water filters had been distributed to households and that were was a "demand for more."

On Sept. 26, Snyder's chief of staff, Dennis Muchmore, discussed the potential political ramifications, accusing officials in Flint of turning the crisis into "political football."

“The DEQ and DCH feel that some in Flint are taking the very sensitive issue of children's exposure to lead and trying to turn it into a political football claiming the departments are underestimating the impacts on the populations and particularly trying to shift responsibility to the state,” Muchmore wrote.

Flint residents were urged not to drink the water on Oct. 1, the timeline says. But, a press release from DEQ on Oct. 2 said that the water in Flint's system was safe to drink, "but some families with lead plumbing in their homes or service connections could experience higher levels of lead in the water that comes out of their faucets."

A message from the Flint Water Advisory Task Force to Snyder on Dec. 29 ascribed much of blame to the DEQ for the contaminated water.

On Wednesday, Snyder committed $28 million to remedy the water crisis, according to a statement, calling the funding "just one more step toward a long-term solution." He apologized to Flint residents in his state of the state address Tuesday night and promised to take "full responsibility" in solving the problem.

"No citizen of this great state should endure this kind of catastrophe," Snyder said Tuesday.

In the address, Snyder outlined the actions that were taken last October in response to the contaminated water crisis, including daily door-to-door distribution of water, water filters, filter replacements and water testing kits.

More than 21,000 homes in Flint have been visited by emergency responders and volunteers. Snyder vowed to tend to every home that needs attention "until every person has clean water every single day no matter what."
"We need to make sure this never happens again in any Michigan city," he said.

The Michigan government has made budgetary recommendations to replace water supply pipes and fixtures in Flint schools and to fund specialized staff locally in Flint for follow-up care for affected residents, Snyder said.

Provisions in the budget have also been made to keep Flint on the Detroit water line until the end of 2016, Snyder said.

Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said today during a U.S. Conference of Mayors event in Washington, D.C., that aid provided so far to Flint water is "not enough," adding that the city has been "crying" about the issue for almost two years.

President Obama and White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett met with Weaver Tuesday to say that his administration will provide continued support to state and local officials.

Obama declared a state of emergency in Flint on Saturday after a request from Snyder on Jan. 14.

Snyder appealed Obama's decision to deny a federal major disaster declaration for Flint, his office said in a statement Wednesday.


Sources: ABC News, BBC News, Shoebat, USA Today, WXYZ, Youtube

Jennifer Roberts Mulls Removing Park Helms (Don't Believe The Hype!)

Charlotte Mecklenburg County Commissioner Chairman Jennifer Roberts suddenly "gets it" and is now pondering whether or not to remove Corrupt, Partisan Park Helms (former Charlotte-Meck. County Commissioner) from his role of Mecklenburg ABC Board Chairman.

Of course this revelation comes on the heels of another Federal Investigation after word of illegal activity (Helms' violation of ABC Alcohol Laws) was made public.

Trust people this is ONLY a move to save Jennifer Roberts' Political career.

Since Helms was once Jennifer's Mentor as you can tell by her activity and decisions as Chairman (past & present), the apple doesn't usually fall far from the tree.

Jennifer Roberts remove Park Helms from his position as Mecklenburg ABC Board Chairman?

Yeah right!

I'll believe it when I see it.

Just remember folks if Charlotte Voters sent Norman Mitchell packing, they can certainly do the same for Jennifer Roberts.

Next time you visit the Polls (in 2012) forget about that foolish, Partisan Straight Ticket Voting mess and vote Responsibly!






NC State Officials Looks At Wining, Dining Of ABC Execs


The state Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission has widened a probe into possible violations of liquor laws across North Carolina in the wake of a company's lavish holiday dinner for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County ABC Board.

The liquor company Diageo spent $12,700 on the Nov. 18 dinner for 28 ABC Board employees and their guests at Del Frisco's, a high-end steakhouse. The bar tab alone came to more than $4,900, including $1,000 for four bottles of Dom Perignon.

Andy Iredale, Diageo's marketing director for North Carolina, told investigators he had bought meals for ABC employees in many cities and counties.

In a report released this week, state Alcohol Law Enforcement agents charged the Mecklenburg board with accepting illegal gifts. It charged Diageo and Iredale with providing the gifts and unlawfully entering an ABC store for reasons other than conducting business.

Michael Herring, chief administrator for the state ABC Commission, said these are the most serious accusations leveled in years.

Herring said his agency has sent Diageo and Iredale violation notices stemming from the Charlotte dinner. They face a fine of $140,000 or a year's suspension of theirliquor permit. They couldappeal.

After news accounts of the dinner, Mecklenburg ABC employees and board chairman Parks Helms repaid $9,334. The company picked up the bill for its two employees and their spouses, as well as the entire $2,032 tip.

The state ABC Commission's chairman, Jon Williams, ordered the investigation in November. The state commission, which adjudicates allegations of liquor law violations, did not issue any comment beyond the agents' report.

Attempts to reach a Diageo spokesman were unsuccessful. The London-based company's brands include Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker, Captain Morgan, Tanqueray, Guinness and Crown Royal.

Iredale told Alcohol Law Enforcement agents he'd also bought meals for local board employees in Asheville, Lenoir, Greensboro and Winston-Salem, and in Carteret, New Hanover and Onslow counties.

Iredale said he offered to treat Craig Pleasants, general manager of Wake County's ABC Board, to meals, but Pleasants refused.

Pleasants confirmed that Thursday night. "He just said, 'I'd like to take you out for a meal,' and I said, 'I don't think that's a good idea right now,'" Pleasants said.

Pleasants said that for the past several months, he has been turning down offers of meals - two in the past two days. Typically, someone offers a free meal every couple of weeks, he said, though these are hardly invites to lavish blowouts. "Mostly what we're talking about is a meat and two vegetables somewhere, and it's really talking business," he said.

Pleasants said such meals are allowed under state ABC guidelines.

The N.C. ABC Commission this week gave Iredale 10 days to provide receipts for other dinners provided to ABC employees. Among those are receipts from a Nov. 17 lunch at Charlotte's Ritz-Carlton hosted by Jim Beam Brands for Helms, the Mecklenburg board chairman, and ABC Board CEO Calvin McDougal.

Neither Helms nor McDougal could be reached Thursday.

North Carolina maintains a state ABC Commission that operates a central liquor warehouse, the sole source of products for the stores. The state commission, though, can intervene at a store only when there is a major problem, such as corruption. The local ABC boards that run the stores are appointed public panels with their own bureaucracies.

Critics are using the controversy to renew calls for the state to get out of the liquor business.

Controversies prompted the commission to issue ethics guidelines in 1996 and 2003.






Charlotte-Meck. ABC Board Caught In Another Lie



The distiller that the Mecklenburg County ABC Board got a $9000 dinner from and the board then claimed it had “no business relation with Diageo other than selling its products in ABC stores in Mecklenburg County.” Yeah, not so much.

WCNC reports that the board only routinely writes six-figure checks to Diageo each month. During 2009 the board has had $11m. worth of business relations with Diageo.

Still, this has not pushed the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Commissioners to remove the board and its chair Parks Helms and start over. Instead the Republicans on the board remain narrowly focused on whether board violated any ethics law by accepting the $9000 gift. This is staggeringly beside the point. Helms and fellow board members are presumed to be held to a higher standard than petty thieves.

They are in a position of trust, given immense power with little direct, day-to-day public oversight. If we can’t trust them to do the right thing, then we need to find people we can trust.







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Sources: WRAL, McClatchy Newspapers, Newsobserver, Charlotte Observer, Charmeck.org, The Meck Deck Blog, John Locke Foundation, WCNC, Google Maps

FBI Probes Another North Carolina DMV Corruption Case

The first video below focuses on another Federal probe into NC DMV Corruption regarding DMV employees issuing fake Drivers Licenses. That investigation was held in 2008.

However the following articles and additional videos below focus on recent allegations of DMV Agency Leaders illegally wiretapping employees without a warrant and...former Gov. Mike Easley's missing Travel records.

See I told you NC was one of the most Corrupt states in America.

Sad but true.







FBI Probe: Did DMV Execs Illegally Wiretap Workers?


Federal Authorities are investigating whether the former commissioner of the state Division of Motor Vehicles illegally wiretapped the phone calls of agency employees.

George Tatum, who resigned in 2007 amid a corruption scandal, had a special telephone in his office that allowed him to listen in on the calls of his subordinates without their knowledge, according to current DMV officials. Greg Lockamy, who retired unexpectedly last year after serving as the agency's internal affairs director, also had a phone set up for secret eavesdropping.

NC State law forbids intercepting phone calls without a warrant unless at least one person in the conversation is aware the monitoring is taking place.

Tatum, now the director of emergency management at Fayetteville State University, did not respond to repeated requests for comment this week.

Current DMV Commissioner Mike Robertson said any improper monitoring of employee phone calls ended before he took over the agency last year. Robertson confirmed, however, that FBI agents interviewed him about wiretapping that might have occurred at DMV before he arrived.

Other DMV officials had also been interviewed, he said. He declined to divulge details about what questions the Federal Agents asked.

"It's fairly common knowledge over here there were allegations about telephone eavesdropping," Robertson said.

Brent Parrish, a telephone technician at DMV, was subpoenaed to appear before the federal grand jury hearing evidence in a wide-ranging investigation of former Gov. Mike Easley. Parrish said Tuesday he testified Sept. 16 about the special features on Tatum's phone.

Parrish said he had no direct knowledge of whose calls Tatum might have listened to or why.

"I don't have any evidence he ever used it," Parrish said. "But I did have suspicions, and that's what I told the grand jury."

He declined to give reasons for those suspicions or say what further testimony he provided.

Link to N.C. State

Tatum, 57, might be of interest to the Federal Prosecutors investigating Easley because he dismissed a serious violation against an auto inspection station owned by McQueen Campbell, who resigned as a N.C. State University trustee last year. Campbell quit amid questions about his role in hiring the governor's wife for a high-paying job at the university.

Campbell, a pilot, was subpoenaed before the NC State Board of Elections in October to testify about flights provided to Easley in his private plane, and repairs he paid for at the governor's house.

Tatum, a former Cumberland County register of deeds and a close associate of former Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, was appointed to lead DMV by Easley in 2003. Tatum was forced to resign four years later after The News & Observer reported that he helped a friend get a vintage truck title for a vehicle that was actually a replica. The fraudulent move can save owners hundreds of dollars in taxes and boost potential resale value.

Tatum was seen in August entering the federal courthouse in Raleigh while the grand jury was in session, though it is not clear whether he testified.

Lockamy, 50, retired from the DMV June 1 and now works for the Johnston County Sheriff's Office. As DMV's former assistant director for professional standards, he declined to comment on whether he eavesdropped on employee calls. He also declined to say whether he had been subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury.

Monitoring Lines


Parrish, the Technician, said the DMV phone system allows managers supervising the agency's call center to monitor conversations with the public. Those calling the DMV with questions about license renewal and other issues hear a recorded disclaimer informing them their calls might be monitored for quality assurance.

Parrish said Tatum and Lockamy also had the function installed on their phones, allowing them to listen in on any phone line at DMV headquarters, including those of other high-ranking administrators.

The technician said the function allowed Tatum to program his phone so that a "busy light" would indicate when particular lines were in use. The commissioner could then pick up his phone and press a button to listen to the call, with his handset automatically muted. Those on the line would have no indication their call was monitored.

After Tatum left in 2007, Easley appointed former Superior Court Judge William Gore to lead the DMV. After Gore had been in office about a week, Parrish said, Gore called to ask about the special buttons on his phone. Gore immediately ordered that the feature be deactivated.

Gore said Wednesday he wanted the monitoring capabilities removed from his phone because he had no intention of listening to other people's conversations.

"Having been a judge and lawyer, I didn't want to be in the situation where the phone in my office was being used for some illegal or inappropriate purpose," Gore said.

Robertson, the current DMV commissioner, said only the supervisor for the agency's call center now has a phone set up for listening in on those she supervises. No other phones, including his, are set up to monitor other extensions.

"It ain't happening anymore," said Robertson, who was an agent at the State Bureau of Investigation and said he is well acquainted with the penalties for wiretapping without a warrant. "I know what the law is. I know it's a felony."










Easley Travel Record Still Missing; Panel Comes Up Empty


The outside panel investigating what happened to missing travel records that detailed former Gov. Mike Easley's travel in 2005 has found nothing.

N.C. Crime Control and Public Safety Secretary Reuben Young appointed the panel that included two former judges and a former U.S. Senator to investigate the disappearance of the records.

In sum, while we found minor inconsistencies in the stories about the records, we did not find the records themselves or any clear indication of wrongdoing in their disappearance or destruction. To the best of our knowledge, we have exhausted the possibilities but failed to produce definitive answers and bring closure to the matter.

The 10-page report was signed by Willis Whichard, a former state Supreme Court justice and former Campbell University law school dean; Robert Morgan, a former U.S. senator, former SBI director and former state attorney general; and Ralph Walker, a former superior and court of appeals judge and former director of the Administrative Office of the Courts.

Easley told the panel that he was not aware that the records were even kept. The panel found Easley's story credible.

"While it is, of course, possible that it is not true, we can point to nothing that would enable someone to prove it false," the panel wrote.

The panel began its investigation after a Highway Patrol secretary told The News & Observer that she was told to save space on her computer by deleting the records even though she didn't have a shortage of space on her machine.

Travel records for other years were key to N&O reports that showed Easley took free flights from supporters who had mutually beneficial relationships with Easley.



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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, Newsobserver, Under The Dome, WCNC, Youtube, Google Maps

NC Officials Widen Probe Into Serious State Alcohol Law Violations

NC residents don't believe the hype!

Before you proceed with viewing the contents of this blog post (from NC newspapers), please beware that NC Officials will more than likely do absolutely NOTHING about ABC Board Violations.

In fact the only reason why local NC newspapers publishers have begun printing these type of articles lately is because they realize nationwide Democrats are in trouble politically.

Which is why each time I read a newspaper article about NC Officials proclaiming to "investigate" Public and Political Corruption running rampant in this state, I just throw some salt over my shoulder.

This Corruption stuff has been going on for years because North Carolina is one of the most crooked states in America!

If you or I were committing such CRIMES we'd be thrown in jail tomorrow but NC Politicians can commit crimes, walk away free and still remain in office.

Let's not also forget NC is run by Democrats who in this instance seem to be concerned only about keeping their Political seats warm by any means necessary.

Some of these NC Politicians will probably even kill to keep their seats.

Yes I too am a registered Democrat however....

Although I'm not perfect, I can still say without blinking that NC Politicians (Dems) are extremely Notorious for Public Corruption in the worst way.

Historically Federal Officials are the only ones who have actually done anything to help fight real crime and corruption in North Carolina i.e., FBI.

Therefore I suggest if you are aware of any serious crimes being committed related to Fraud, Embezzlement, Illegal Wiretapping, Alcohol law violations, etc., instead of contacting NC Officials who will just retaliate against you, instead contact Federal Officials or Federal Agencies to report your concerns.








NC State Officials Looks At Wining, Dining Of ABC Execs


The state Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission has widened a probe into possible violations of liquor laws across North Carolina in the wake of a company's lavish holiday dinner for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County ABC Board.

The liquor company Diageo spent $12,700 on the Nov. 18 dinner for 28 ABC Board employees and their guests at Del Frisco's, a high-end steakhouse. The bar tab alone came to more than $4,900, including $1,000 for four bottles of Dom Perignon.

Andy Iredale, Diageo's marketing director for North Carolina, told investigators he had bought meals for ABC employees in many cities and counties.

In a report released this week, state Alcohol Law Enforcement agents charged the Mecklenburg board with accepting illegal gifts. It charged Diageo and Iredale with providing the gifts and unlawfully entering an ABC store for reasons other than conducting business.

Michael Herring, chief administrator for the state ABC Commission, said these are the most serious accusations leveled in years.

Herring said his agency has sent Diageo and Iredale violation notices stemming from the Charlotte dinner. They face a fine of $140,000 or a year's suspension of theirliquor permit. They couldappeal.

After news accounts of the dinner, Mecklenburg ABC employees and board chairman Parks Helms repaid $9,334. The company picked up the bill for its two employees and their spouses, as well as the entire $2,032 tip.

The state ABC Commission's chairman, Jon Williams, ordered the investigation in November. The state commission, which adjudicates allegations of liquor law violations, did not issue any comment beyond the agents' report.

Attempts to reach a Diageo spokesman were unsuccessful. The London-based company's brands include Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker, Captain Morgan, Tanqueray, Guinness and Crown Royal.

Iredale told Alcohol Law Enforcement agents he'd also bought meals for local board employees in Asheville, Lenoir, Greensboro and Winston-Salem, and in Carteret, New Hanover and Onslow counties.

Iredale said he offered to treat Craig Pleasants, general manager of Wake County's ABC Board, to meals, but Pleasants refused.

Pleasants confirmed that Thursday night. "He just said, 'I'd like to take you out for a meal,' and I said, 'I don't think that's a good idea right now,'" Pleasants said.

Pleasants said that for the past several months, he has been turning down offers of meals - two in the past two days. Typically, someone offers a free meal every couple of weeks, he said, though these are hardly invites to lavish blowouts. "Mostly what we're talking about is a meat and two vegetables somewhere, and it's really talking business," he said.

Pleasants said such meals are allowed under state ABC guidelines.

The N.C. ABC Commission this week gave Iredale 10 days to provide receipts for other dinners provided to ABC employees. Among those are receipts from a Nov. 17 lunch at Charlotte's Ritz-Carlton hosted by Jim Beam Brands for Helms, the Mecklenburg board chairman, and ABC Board CEO Calvin McDougal.

Neither Helms nor McDougal could be reached Thursday.

North Carolina maintains a state ABC Commission that operates a central liquor warehouse, the sole source of products for the stores. The state commission, though, can intervene at a store only when there is a major problem, such as corruption. The local ABC boards that run the stores are appointed public panels with their own bureaucracies.

Critics are using the controversy to renew calls for the state to get out of the liquor business.

Controversies prompted the commission to issue ethics guidelines in 1996 and 2003.








Charlotte-Meck. ABC Board Caught In Another Lie



The distiller that the Mecklenburg County ABC Board got a $9000 dinner from and the board then claimed it had “no business relation with Diageo other than selling its products in ABC stores in Mecklenburg County.” Yeah, not so much.

WCNC reports that the board only routinely writes six-figure checks to Diageo each month. During 2009 the board has had $11m. worth of business relations with Diageo.

Still, this has not pushed the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Commissioners to remove the board and its chair Parks Helms and start over. Instead the Republicans on the board remain narrowly focused on whether board violated any ethics law by accepting the $9000 gift. This is staggeringly beside the point. Helms and fellow board members are presumed to be held to a higher standard than petty thieves.

They are in a position of trust, given immense power with little direct, day-to-day public oversight. If we can’t trust them to do the right thing, then we need to find people we can trust.





ABC Officials Repay Pricey Holiday Dinner


The Chairman of the Mecklenburg County Alcoholic Beverage Control Board and top staff members have paid back $9,000 to an international liquor company that treated the local officials to a holiday dinner last month.

The payback comes as state officials are conducting an investigation into the dinner at Del Frisco's steakhouse in Charlotte, where a hostess said the cheapest steak is $32.95. State ABC Commission officials said last month that they have the authority to remove local board members and employees who violate state laws against accepting gifts.

“We shouldn't have done it,” ABC board Chair Parks Helms told the Observer Monday. “We made a mistake.”

He said that the dinner for 28 people may have appeared improper and that the board will revise its policies to ensure that guidelines about accepting gifts are clear in the future. The Observer's news partner, WCNC-TV, first broke the story in November.

State ABC Commission Chair Jonathan Williams, who ordered an investigation by the state Alcohol Law Enforcement Division, commended the board.

“I am pleased to learn the Mecklenburg ABC is taking steps to ensure that this situation is not repeated in the future,” Williams said in a prepared statement, “and also has taken action to address some of the specific questions surrounding the propriety of receiving a gift of this nature.”

He said the investigation is ongoing and that he couldn't comment further.

The state ABC commission runs the central warehouse through which local stores buy their liquor and handles liquor law violation cases but has rarely exerted authority over liquor stores. Those are run by the local boards that are appointed by county commissions and city councils.

Helms, who attended the dinner with his wife Eleanor, is paying $1,000. He was the only board member in attendance. Among the staff, CEO Calvin McDougal, who was accompanied by his wife Portia at the dinner, is paying $4,000. Both men are covering the tab for staffers for whom repayment would be a financial hardship. Other staff must pay $330 each.

A statement issued by the Mecklenburg board suggested that London-based Diageo, which makes brands such as Smirnoff vodka and Johnnie Walker Scotch, wouldn't gain much by picking up the bill: “The Mecklenburg County ABC system has no business relation[sic] with Diageo other than selling its products in ABC stores in Mecklenburg County.”

The state ABC warehouse essentially serves as storage for the local stores' liquor and sets prices. The distillers still own the liquor until the stores buy it. The local stores determine what is ordered for the warehouse and then pay for it.

Helms said a steady stream of government scandal stories had caused an overreaction to news of the dinner.

“In the business world, you have meetings and dinners with the people whose products you sell,” he said. The Mecklenburg board's statement also said that, in the past, the state commission exempted unsolicited meals from state laws prohibiting distillers from giving gifts to retailers.

In a recent interview with WCNC-TV, Williams said: “In the sales and commercial world, wining and dining is part of how business is done,” he said, “but we're public servants.”

Local board members from Mecklenburg and other jurisdictions have been criticized in the past for annual conferences where liquor companies and others who do business with the state provided drinks, subsidized golf and other freebies. Organizers dropped the golf game from the schedule in 2007 after an Observer story about one of the conferences.



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Sources: WRAL, McClatchy Newspapers, Newsobserver, Charlotte Observer, Charmeck.org, The Meck Deck Blog, John Locke Foundation, WCNC, Google Maps

Park Helms Breaks NC's Alcohol Laws! Where's Jennifer Roberts?

NC State Law Enforcement Agents Says Charlotte- Mecklenburg ABC Board Violated Rules


NC State Alcohol Law Enforcement agents said the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County ABC Board and the liquor company Diageo broke state alcohol laws during a November dinner for the board at which Diageo paid the $9,000 tab.

The agents' report also details several other dinners and lunches for Mecklenburg board members or employees that were paid for by liquor companies. Board Chair Parks Helms and CEO Calvin McDougal went to lunch at the Ritz Carlton the day before the Nov. 18 dinner at Del Frisco's steakhouse.

The agents charged the board with accepting illegal gifts and charged Diageo and one of its representatives with providing the gifts and unlawfully entering an ABC store for reasons other than conducting business.

The state ABC Commission's chair, Jon Williams, ordered the investigation in November, and the commission adjudicates allegations of liquor law violations. The state commission did not issue any additional comment beyond the agents' report.

Helms and McDougal and other employees attending the dinner, originally reported by Observer news partner WCNC, have since repaid Diageo. There were 28 employees and spouses at the dinner at Del Frisco's steakhouse.

Helms and McDougal have both said that the state commission has previously left it up to local boards to decide whether to accept gifts from distillers. A 1996 memo from the state commission offers unclear guidance, highlighting state law banning gifts but then saying that local boards can decide whether to accept them.

The Mecklenburg board did more than $11 million worth of business with Diageo last year.

Diageo's representative who organized the dinner said he has previously offered to treat Craig Pleasants, general manager of Wake County's ABC Board, to meals but has been refused.





Fire Parks, County ABC CEO Now!


OK folks.

Here’s your smoking gun. State liquor board investigators say that the Mecklenburg County ABC Board violated state law by accepting a $9000 steak dinner from a distiller the board did $11m. worth of business with last year. Plus investigators also uncovered other liquor-seller free lunches, including a Ritz-Carlton feast featuring good ol’ Parks Helms and county ABC CEO Calvin McDougal the day before the $9K dinner.

In all these weeks of chatter about the big Del Frisco’s dinner Parks and McDougal never saw fit to mention that Ritz-Carlton swag. Imagine that. Wonder what other freebies are out there that we don’t know about.

As we’ve said before, it is down to trust. I want to hear Jennifer Roberts stand up and say she trusts the current ABC leadership to do the right thing. If she can’t or won’t do that, then Roberts needs to get a vote out of the county commission to remove Parks and McDougal. Now.



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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, Newsobserver, The Meck Deck Blog, John Locke Foundation, Google Maps

City, County Officials Review Corrupt Corporate Welfare Tax Breaks

Cities, Counties Take Back Corporate Tax Breaks


Cash-strapped communities have a message for corporations that promised jobs in return for tax breaks: A deal's a deal.

As the economy sputters along, municipalities struggling to fix roads, fund schools and pay bills increasingly are rescinding tax abatements to companies that don't hire enough workers, that lay them off or that close up shop. At the same time, they're sharpening new incentive deals, leaving no doubt what is expected of companies and what will happen if they don't deliver.

''We will roll out the red carpet as much as we can (but) they are going to honor the contract,'' said Brendon Gallagher, an alderman in DeKalb, Ill., where Target Corp. got abatements from the city, county, school district and other taxing bodies after promising at least 500 jobs at a local distribution center.

So when the company came up 66 workers short in 2009, Target got word its next tax bill would be jumping almost $600,000 -- more than half of which goes to the local school district, where teachers and programs have been cut as coffers dried up.

The newfound boldness comes from communities and states that have long bent over backward to lure companies and jobs by offering abatements and other incentives -- to the tune of an estimated $60 billion a year in the United States, according to the Washington-based economic development watchdog group Good Jobs First.

The willingness to write -- and enforce -- the ''clawback'' provisions comes even as companies across the country struggle and against a broader backdrop of governments getting tough on business practices.

What's more, the poor economy has communities thinking about how the tax breaks they dole out will play with residents who have grown increasingly angry at the thought of anything that hints of corporate welfare.

''The public is a lot more aware of tax abatements and there's a climate of skepticism about what can be perceived as corporate handouts,'' said Geoff McKimm, a member of the Monroe County Council in Indiana.

With that in mind, county officials drew up an agreement with Printpack, a packaging company, that includes a provision requiring the company to refund either $197,000 or that year's abatement, whichever is more, if the number of employees at a new factory falls below 140.

Another provision requires Printpack to refund the entire abatement if it employs fewer than 75 people -- a guarantee meant to prevent companies from leaving a ''skeleton crew'' at a location to avoid paying up.

''With so many businesses going to Mexico, communities are desperately trying to hold onto jobs,'' said Amy Gerstman, the county's auditor. ''This was a carefully put-together abatement.''

And businesses increasingly are being forced to hold up their end of the bargain.

In Texas, where companies can get money from the Texas Enterprise Fund if they promise to create a specific number of jobs, the number of clawbacks rose to nine in 2008, compared to a total of seven for the previous three years combined, the governor's office said.

In Illinois, the number of companies from which the state sought to ''recapture'' incentive money has steadily climbed, from six in 2005 to a total of 37 by 2008.

Meanwhile, more communities are contemplating similar action.

In St. Louis County, officials have told Pfizer Inc. that if it cuts 600 jobs, as planned, they'll rethink the $7 million in tax breaks they promised to give the drugmaker for the next 10 years.

And in Detroit, while the state was approving expanded tax credits in exchange for General Motors Co.'s promise not to move its headquarters, the city council was talking about cracking down on tax breaks for GM and other major employers.

''We know that there are more clawbacks getting triggered because more deals are falling short,'' said Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, who has written extensively on clawbacks.

It's unclear exactly how much is being recovered because nobody collects comprehensive statistics on clawbacks, LeRoy and others say. States that do keep statistics track only their own deals, not those initiated by local governments. Communities also may revoke the entire abatement or only a portion of it, while others sometimes simply rule out future abatements, LeRoy said.

Finally, some communities crack down on companies quietly, out of concern that they could scare off other potential employers, LeRoy said. He said that fear persists even though there is no evidence that having or enforcing clawbacks poisons the business climate.

''We were told that we were going to ruin Topeka's ability to attract businesses; we'd give Topeka a black eye,'' said James Crowl, assistant county counselor in Shawnee County, where last year officials approved a settlement that calls for Target to pay $200,000 a year for 10 years after failing to create as many jobs as it had agreed to.

So what happened?

''Last year we opened a Home Depot distribution center right next door,'' said County Counselor Rich Eckert.

In DeKalb, some officials were concerned about sending a bad message to other businesses considering locating there, said Gallagher, the alderman. But he didn't buy it.

''We are 65 miles from Chicago (and) if someone wants to locate 120 miles from Chicago, I can't stop them,'' he said.

Besides, he said, $600,000 means less to Target than to a struggling community, where he said the city alone is facing a $2 million revenue shortfall.

Target was disappointed, but understood the decision, spokeswoman Jill Hornbacher said.

''We are very committed to DeKalb and that distribution center and proud to be there,'' she said.

And don't expect communities to back down soon, officials said.

''There is much more (language) tied to jobs now because of economy,'' said Lee Garrity, city manager in Winston-Salem, N.C., which along with the surrounding county is sharing more than $26 million that computer giant Dell Inc. paid after announcing it will close its assembly plant next year.

Garrity said officials are thinking about provisions that are even more specific.

''We are discussing whether we need to require the jobs of the company go to people who live in the city,'' he said.







2 More Companies Pass Up Promised NC Incentives


A pair of specialty outsourcing companies won't collect job-creation grants from North Carolina taxpayers as the recession hits health care and financial services differently.

The state's Economic Investment Committee, which awards and oversees the major incentives program used to lure expanding companies, on Tuesday canceled a 2005 deal with Hewitt Associates Inc. The Lincolnshire, Ill.-based company had planned to bring 900 new jobs to Charlotte. Those human resources administration and information technology positions didn't happen as the global financial crisis hit the banking city hard.

But two years of recession hasn't slowed the expansion of Durham-based Quintiles Transnational Corp.

The global pharmaceutical testing firm decided to postpone collecting a Job Development Investment Grant payment of $299,000 in a gesture to help out the cash-strapped state budget, an offer the committee accepted Tuesday.

The company will defer collecting the money until the middle of next year, about when the state's budget for the current year closes out.

"Quintiles has been very fortunate that we have performed well and even in this downturn we have seen expansion in our business," spokesman Phil Bridges said. "We recognize that the current economy has put the state of North Carolina in a tough financial position. Quintiles made the offer to defer payment on the (grant) as a way of saying thank you, not only for investing in us but believing in us and our future growth in North Carolina."

Quintiles could receive up to $21.4 million over 12 years under a grant awarded in 2006 to create and sustain 1,000 new jobs. The grants come from taxes the company's employees pay the state.

Since 2006, the contract drug research company has spent $51 million to build a new headquarters and hired nearly 400 workers at salaries averaging nearly $81,000 a year.

Quintiles runs clinical drug trials for pharmaceutical companies, handles documentation necessary for regulatory approval, and recruits and hires drug company sales representatives.

Hewitt met its target to create at least 158 new jobs by the end of 2006 and was due to collect $181,000, a figure the state Commerce Department couldn't and Hewitt wouldn't confirm Tuesday.

But the global provider of human resources support and consulting services wasn't able to hire at least 630 additional employees by the end of 2008 or hit its target of 900 jobs by the end of this year.

Hewitt could have collected up to $8 million if it created the jobs and kept them for 10 years.

The company is the 14th to quit the JDIG program out of 100 approved for job-creation sweeteners since the program started in 2003.

Boat builder Chris-Craft Corp., computer builders Dell Inc. and Lenovo, and memory-chip maker Qimonda North American decided in recent years to cut staff rather than expand as their sales soured, ending their claims on promised incentives. After opening a $600 million data center near Lenoir, Internet giant Google last year turned down the grant it was promised in 2006.

Hewitt restructured its human resources business process outsourcing business in 2006, then was set back as some clients suffered when the financial crisis hit, Hewitt spokeswoman Amy Wulfestieg said. The company employs about 450 in Charlotte, she said.




Dell Shuts NC Plant Despite $300 Million in Tax Incentives


Despite winning more than $300 million in incentives and tax breaks from North Carolina and local governments four years ago, Dell Inc. has decided to shutter an assembly plant because of changing economic circumstances.

This fall Dell announced it would close the plant and lay off more than 900 employees. Company officials say they expect the shutdown to be completed in January.

In 2004 the North Carolina General Assembly was called into a special one-day session by then-Governor Mike Easley (D) to offer Dell $240 million of economic incentives to build a manufacturing facility. Coupled with what Forsyth County and the city of Winston-Salem added, the deal came to more than $300 million in tax breaks and benefits.


Rushed Package

During the special one-day session in 2004, Governor Easley’s senior advisor, Dan Gerlach, argued legislators needed to act quickly to prevent other states from getting the facility. The lawmakers did, and the state put together a complex assortment of incentives, grants, and tax breaks.

With layoffs already ongoing and Dell’s prospects worsening in July of this year, Department of Commerce officials continued supporting the deal. Secretary Keith Crisco told reporters, “We need three to four years to judge it in total. [Dell is] the kind of company we need to be all over [recruiting] in this state.”

With Dell’s plant closure, some critics are pushing for more broad-based approaches to corporate recruitment. Representative Marilyn Avila (R-Wake) thinks targeted tax incentives miss the point.


Simple Solution

“We should develop a statewide economic development plan, which is simply lowering corporate taxes,” she said.

Avila has long argued the state’s tax structure and regulations hinder job creation. She believes the use of incentives should be stopped.

Governor Bev Perdue (D), however, still equates such incentives with job creation.

“When 49 other states are using incentives, if you want to compete [you have to as well,” Perdue said in an interview with WRAL-TV in Raleigh.

Speaker of the House Joe Hackney (D-Orange) pointed out Dell did not use all the available money.

"While the bottom line is still being calculated, either we didn't lose money or we had a net gain in revenues for the state," he said.

Lawsuits Likely

Hackney’s comments illustrate another dimension of the state’s incentive policies. The complexity and myriad performance measures mean disputes between Dell and the state over money owed or needed to be repaid will likely end up in court at taxpayer expense.

Dell spokesman David Frink said recently in the Winston-Salem Journal, “Our belief and our understanding is that we met the performance thresholds required for those incentives during those years, and no, we are not obliged to repay those.”

North Carolina officials hold the opposite view. State Revenue Secretary Ken Lay says the state can require Dell to pay back the money because it no longer meets criteria used to receive it. He calls such a move a “look back.”

Half the Promised Jobs

Public officials promised taxpayers this deal would not lose money for the state. In spite of the much-publicized promise of more than 2000 jobs, the Dell facility never produced more than 1,100 jobs and still received millions of dollars from the state.

If it can be proven the state lost any money, public officials might well have serious problems on their hands from voters and legal challenges from groups like the NC Institute of Constitutional Law, which has challenged many of the state’s targeted tax incentives.

Former North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Robert Orr runs the NC Institute of Constitutional Law. In a letter to the Charlotte News-Observer newspaper, he wrote: “It's very tempting to think that economic development can happen by granting a few companies exceptions to a state's otherwise unattractive tax code. But it doesn't work that way. States should be welcome mats to all business, not just those the politicians have picked as a winner.”



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Sources: NY Times, McClatchy Newspapers, News & Observer, Heartland.org, John Locke Foundation, Dell, GMAC, Hewitt, Wikipedia, Youtube, Google Maps

R.C. Soles, Another NC Democrat Senator Retiring Following Controversy

NC Senator R.C. Soles Retiring



Sen. R.C. Soles, a Tabor City Democrat, said Wednesday he will not seek re-election next year, a decision that comes three weeks after a Columbus County grand jury found probable cause to indict him for shooting a young man in the leg outside Soles' home in August.

Soles, 75, is the longest serving member of the Senate and, as chairman of the Democratic caucus, a member of the leadership. He is the latest in a string of senior Democrats stepping down that likely change the look and likely the style of how the Senate operates.

"I plan to serve out the remainder of my term with the vigor and diligence my constituents deserve and I will continue to practice law," Soles said in a prepared statement. "Public service is a noble calling and I have tried to live up to the ideals of a true leader."

Soles long was at the center of grumbling in his hometown of Tabor City about young men who were former legal clients and hung around his home or law office. In at least one case, Soles pepper sprayed one of the men and, in others, young men banged or kicked at Soles' door.

In the August incident, Soles shot 22-year-old Thomas Kyle Blackburn, who was allegedly trying to kick in Soles' front door.

Soles' lawyer, Joseph Cheshire of Raleigh, has said the shooting was self-defense. Cheshire and Soles repeatedly have said that Soles has been generous to former clients in hoping to ease them back to a law-abiding life. Soles has denied having sexual relations with any of the young men.





2nd Fired Exec Claims NC Security Co. Connected To Sen. Tony Rand Broke Law


A second former board member for a small, politically connected security gear maker said the company's chairman tried to persuade him to join an insider trading scheme.

Law Enforcement Associates Corp. reported former sales director and board member Martin Perry's claims of multiple legal violations to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Perry said company board chairman and state Sen. Tony Rand, D-N.C., invited him to join a plan to manipulate the company's stock. Perry said he and fired Chief Executive Paul Feldman were interviewed by FBI agents about their claims in September.

A letter Perry wrote to the U.S. Labor Department which outlines the charges closely tracks earlier allegations by Feldman.

Perry, like Feldman, said Raleigh-based LEA also may have violated export laws by working with a company in which LEA founder John Carrington had an ownership interest.

Both the company and Rand denied Perry's allegations.

"It's basically just a rehash" of Feldman's earlier claims, Sen. Tony Rand said Wednesday. "Any allegation of wrongdoing are absolutely untrue."

Rand said LEA's directors plan to meet Thursday, and will likely discuss what an outside attorney has learned about the allegations.

The company said in its filing with the SEC that it does not believe Perry's allegations, "nor does the company believe the resolution of these matters will have any material effect upon the financial statements or other information contained in its reports to the SEC."

LEA said it believes the two former executives were seeking Federal Whistle-Blower Protections available under Federal Securities Law.

Carrington, a former Republican state senator from Raleigh, pleaded guilty in 2005 to violating U.S. export laws when Sirchie Finger Print Laboratories, a company he once headed and that spun off LEA in 2001, illegally shipped more than $1.2 million in equipment to China through middlemen. Carrington agreed to a denial of export privileges for five years.

Perry and Feldman said they warned the LEA directors against the company doing business subsequently with Safe Source Inc., because Carrington had an ownership stake in the company.

Perry and Feldman said dozens of state politicians owned stock in LEA.

Gov. Beverly Perdue bought about $1,000 worth of LEA stock in 2002 when she was lieutenant governor, her spokeswoman said earlier this month. The stock was not listed on her ethics disclosure form until 2006, when its value topped the $10,000 minimum threshold for reporting, spokeswoman Chrissy Pearson told The News & Observer of Raleigh. Perdue still owns every share of the stock she purchased in 2002, Pearson said.

Perdue has asked at least four state agencies to examine nearly $200,000 in buys of surveillance equipment from LEA since Rand became the company's chairman in 2003. Some gear was bought without competitive bidding.

Rand has said he is leaving the Senate this month to become Perdue's parole chief.



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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, Under The Dome, Miami Herald, NC General Assembly, Google Maps

NC Voters Tired Of State's Corrupt Democrat Reign...Decision 2010

Economy, Easley May Haunt Democrats In 2010


North Carolina's awful economy and a new chapter of campaign and ethics investigations made governing difficult for Democrats in 2009.

Those same troubles threaten to shift the state's political landscape away from Democrats if the issues stick around for most of 2010.

State Democrats contend their tough decisions on the budget headed off worse problems, but Republicans believe that and probes of former Gov. Mike Easley and other Democrats give them an opportunity to run the majority party out of power in November.

"The cycle of corruption in this state, in which the Democrats have been largely if not wholly responsible for, and the billion-dollar tax increase in the middle of the recession - those are going to be the two cornerstones of our message in 2010," said state GOP Chairman Tom Fetzer. "I think North Carolinians are ready for a sea change."

But Republicans have had a hard time persuading voters and donors they'd do any better at the helm.

Democrats have held the Executive Mansion since 1993 and have maintained a majority in both legislative chambers for all but four years since the late 1890s. They've also knocked off three GOP incumbents in federal races since 2006, including Sen. Elizabeth Dole. Now they're aiming for GOP Sen. Richard Burr's seat next year.

State Democrats argue tough decisions on taxes and spending stopped the state economy from a free fall while protecting public education and the state's treasured top marks from the nation's bond-rating agencies.

"If we had not raised taxes this year, we would have had a disaster in this state," said new Senate Majority Leader Martin Nesbitt, D-Buncombe.

As for Republicans, he added, "They've got no real record to run on."

How North Carolina perceives Congress and President Barack Obama's handling of the economy - and how quickly any recovery reaches the state - also will play a role in how party candidates perform next year.

"They key is what the state's economy is like come next November," said David McLennan, a Peace College political science professor. "There's a lot that could happen in the meantime."

The state's economy shows no signs of a roaring recovery in 2010, which should mean less revenues for state government and likely more budget cutting for Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue and the Legislature. Lawmakers reconvene in May to adjust the second year of a two-year state spending plan they approved last summer.

Some Democratic budget-writers are worried the current-year budget shortfall could be between $400 million and $800 million, requiring them to make deeper cuts for the budget starting July 1.

Perdue believes the shortfall will be around $400 million, and she's already ordered agencies to withhold money to handle a budget gap. That would mean cuts would be far less than those required after the $3 billion shortfall Perdue faced last year. Perdue and Democratic lawmakers passed a budget last summer that generated $1 billion in new revenues, including higher sales and income taxes.

"We've made tough, hard decisions that positioned this state to come back as quickly as any other state," said Perdue, who has three years left in her term. "The pain's not over. I've been very honest about that. But do I think we're moving in the right direction? Yes I do."

House Speaker Joe Hackney said he doesn't believe taxes will have to be raised to close next year's budget gap in part because a recovery will begin to take hold. "There'll be some optimism by the fall of next year that we are turning this thing around," said Hackney, D-Orange.

GOP legislators said voters should be angry because last year's tax increases were symptomatic of too much spending in 2006 and 2007 and a failure by Democrats to set aside enough reserves.

"It just would have been less painful if we had enough set aside in the budget for those rainy days," said Sen. Eddie Goodall of Union County, the Republicans' joint caucus leader.

Far-reaching legislation - such as an overhaul of the state's tax system - will be difficult to pass during an election year before the once-a-decade drawing of legislative and congressional district boundaries in 2011.

Meanwhile, the continuing state and federal investigations of Easley and his associates could last throughout next year if charges are filed.

A local prosecutor examining whether Easley or others should be charged based on evidence uncovered in a state elections probe said recently it could take several months before he decides.

Republicans would need to wrest from Democrats six seats in the Senate and nine in the House to control those chambers. Several incumbent Democrats representing swing seats or districts that lean Republican have chosen not to run.

In federal races, all 13 U.S. House seats are up for election, but the biggest race will be for Burr's job. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, former state Sen. Cal Cunningham and Chapel Hill lawyer Kenneth Lewis are mounting Democratic primary bids.

Peace College's McLennan said a bruising and costly Democratic primary battle should stand to help Burr, who had nearly $3.5 million in campaign coffers in September.

"It's going to be a real tough road for Democrats to hoe," he said.

Longtime state Democratic consultant Brad Crone said the outcome of the 2010 elections will depend on which party can attract independent voters and whether black voter turnout approaches levels seen during the 2008 election when Obama was on the ballot.

"The good news is we've got time to get back on our offensive game," Crone said.





Jennifer Roberts Supports Park Helms' $9,000. ABC Deal Dinner...NC Corruption



Mecklenburg ABC Board Chairman Parks Helms insisted Wednesday that the agency did not mislead the public about its relationship with an international liquor company that treated officials to a $9,000 holiday dinner.

The board paid more than $11 million to Diageo Americas from January to November, according to documents obtained by WCNC, the Observer's news partner.

Agency officials previously released a statement saying it "has no business relation with Diageo other than selling its products in ABC stores in Mecklenburg County."

The disclosure comes as the state Alcohol Law Enforcement Division is investigating the Nov. 18 dinner for 28 people paid for by London-based Diageo, which makes brands such as Smirnoff vodka and Johnnie Walker Scotch. State ABC Commission officials have authority to remove local board members and employees who violate state laws against accepting gifts.

Last week, Helms announced that he and other top staff paid back the cost of the meal at Del Frisco's steakhouse in south Charlotte.

In his first public remarks since the disclosure about payments to Diageo, Helms defended himself and accused political rivals of spreading falsehoods.

Helms said there is no link between the holiday party and payments to the company. The board pays $47 million a year to Diageo and dozens of other vendors for the purchase of their products, he said.

"It's disappointing to me we are going down the road of making innuendo accusations," Helms said.

But Helms' assurances failed to quell criticism from some county commissioners, who appoint members of the local Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.

The agency's statement did not explain that it not only sells liquor, but also makes direct payments to Diageo.

Commissioner Karen Bentley said that Helms should resign.

The board's previous statements about its relationship with Diageo "was at minimum, misleading," Bentley said. "At maximum, it was completely false."

County Commission Chair Jennifer Roberts also said the ABC Board's previous statement was "misleading."

Distillers lobby the state ABC commission to keep their products in its central warehouse through which local stores buy their liquor.

ABC stores are run by local boards across the state. Distillers also try to persuade local panels to stock their brands in the stores.

Local boards place orders from the central warehouse and after the alcohol arrives, the board has 30 days to make payments to liquor companies.

Records show the Mecklenburg ABC Board wrote 22 checks to Diageo from January to November. The board is Diageo's biggest customer in North Carolina.

Helms said Mecklenburg officials decide which brands to carry in their 21 stores based on sales.

A 1996 memo from the state ABC Commission prohibits manufacturers or vendors from giving local ABC boards money "or any other thing of value."

The Mecklenburg ABC Board has previously said that "unsolicited meals is an accepted business practice" and excluded from the law barring gifts.

Helms, who attended with his wife, was the only board member at the dinner. He has said he is repaying $1,000. Board CEO Calvin McDougal, who went with his wife, is repaying $4,000. They agreed to cover the tab for ABC employees for whom repayment would be a hardship. Others must pay $330 each.

On Wednesday, Helms said he did not know who was hosting the dinner before he arrived. He said that the ABC Board has dealings with 60 to 70 vendors whose brands are sold in Mecklenburg County stores.

But commissioner Bentley said Helms "should know better."

"If he didn't violate the policy, he violated the spirit of it," Bentley said.

Roberts, the commission chair, said she did not know if the board would take action against Helms. However, she noted, that he has repaid the company for the dinner.

"They have made things right," Roberts said. "The dinner was mistake and it is not going to happen again."





2nd Fired Exec Claims NC Security Co. Connected To Sen. Tony Rand Broke Law


A second former board member for a small, politically connected security gear maker said the company's chairman tried to persuade him to join an insider trading scheme.

Law Enforcement Associates Corp. reported former sales director and board member Martin Perry's claims of multiple legal violations to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Perry said company board chairman and state Sen. Tony Rand, D-N.C., invited him to join a plan to manipulate the company's stock. Perry said he and fired Chief Executive Paul Feldman were interviewed by FBI agents about their claims in September.

A letter Perry wrote to the U.S. Labor Department which outlines the charges closely tracks earlier allegations by Feldman.

Perry, like Feldman, said Raleigh-based LEA also may have violated export laws by working with a company in which LEA founder John Carrington had an ownership interest.

Both the company and Rand denied Perry's allegations.

"It's basically just a rehash" of Feldman's earlier claims, Sen. Tony Rand said Wednesday. "Any allegation of wrongdoing are absolutely untrue."

Rand said LEA's directors plan to meet Thursday, and will likely discuss what an outside attorney has learned about the allegations.

The company said in its filing with the SEC that it does not believe Perry's allegations, "nor does the company believe the resolution of these matters will have any material effect upon the financial statements or other information contained in its reports to the SEC."

LEA said it believes the two former executives were seeking federal whistle-blower protections available under federal securities law.

Carrington, a former Republican state senator from Raleigh, pleaded guilty in 2005 to violating U.S. export laws when Sirchie Finger Print Laboratories, a company he once headed and that spun off LEA in 2001, illegally shipped more than $1.2 million in equipment to China through middlemen. Carrington agreed to a denial of export privileges for five years.

Perry and Feldman said they warned the LEA directors against the company doing business subsequently with Safe Source Inc., because Carrington had an ownership stake in the company.

Perry and Feldman said dozens of state politicians owned stock in LEA.

Gov. Beverly Perdue bought about $1,000 worth of LEA stock in 2002 when she was lieutenant governor, her spokeswoman said earlier this month. The stock was not listed on her ethics disclosure form until 2006, when its value topped the $10,000 minimum threshold for reporting, spokeswoman Chrissy Pearson told The News & Observer of Raleigh. Perdue still owns every share of the stock she purchased in 2002, Pearson said.

Perdue has asked at least four state agencies to examine nearly $200,000 in buys of surveillance equipment from LEA since Rand became the company's chairman in 2003. Some gear was bought without competitive bidding.

Rand has said he is leaving the Senate this month to become Perdue's parole chief.




Jennifer Roberts, Part of the Problem



I think I’m done cutting Roberts any slack on this DSS mess. For her to obstruct and slam the attempts of other commissioners to find out what is going on with county’s massive, $200m. DSS operation is too much. And for Roberts to suggest that a closed session airing of DSS’s dirty laundry is not her preferred way to go is an insult to the intelligence of all Mecklenburg County taxpayers.

The only reason Commissioner Bill James and the other GOPers are suggesting the closed session route is in response the “disclosure” stonewall County Manager Harry Jones has erected around the investigation — a construction effort aided and abetted by Jennifer Roberts. Fine. Let’s hear DSS chief Mary Wilson answer questions in open session. Super. Next.

It will also be interesting to see if Commissioner George Dunlap’s confirmation that a federal grand jury probe is underway of DSS shakes anything new loose. Why it took a full month for the probe’s existence to be reported remains a mystery, but at least everyone in town has caught up to the story.

However, it would be wrong to assume that the probe will result in any indictments, both as a matter of fairness and institutional inertia. Prosecutors are political animals and will require some slam-dunk, smoking gun type evidence of wrongdoing for them to move on a DSS devoid, until very recently, of adult supervision of its funds.

On the third hand, not all gross mismanagement rises to the level of criminality. This is why the county commission must itself reestablish public trust in one of its largest ongoing budget expenses. Jennifer Roberts needs to help that process or get out of the way.




Parks Helms Still At Large. Still.


Keep yapping, Parks. Every word is a mini-indictment.

The guy takes over the ABC board and within months a liquor company is treating ABC officials to a $9000 steak dinner. And Parks has the stones to suggest the ethics of such a thing are ambiguous and uncertain. The contempt this man has for his fellow citizens knows no bounds. In fact, Helms’ dissembling over Steakgate recalls nothing so much as his good buddy Jim Black’s infamous fruitcake and canned ham soliloquy, in which the soon-to-be convicted felon lampooned concerns about ethics in government.

When that evil man dies in prison I plan to celebrate with fruitcake and canned ham.

As for Parks, if the Mecklenburg County Commission cannot muster up the votes to remove the guy from the ABC board, we might as well shut down representative government around here. This is not a close call. Only Helms’ long, kingmaking reach has stayed the hand of Democrats on the board who should — and no doubt do — know better.

The sole purpose of a $9000 steak dinner is to buy influence. Period. The ABC operation has one job, buy and sell liquor. Period. ABC has monopoly authority to do so, and suppliers accordingly have tremendous incentive to curry favor with the monopolists. All that is required is a monopolist with enough ego and hubris to accept such favors.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Park Helms. Please take him.



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Sources: WRAL, McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, Miami Herald, The Meck Deck Blog, John Locke Foundation, Under The Dome, NC General Assembly, Google Maps