House Dems Don't Trust Senate, Demands Signed Intent Letter

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Sources: MSNBC

86 Percent Of Voters Don't Trust Elected Officials...Broken Government

86 Percent Say Government Broken: Poll


Wide majorities of Americans do not trust elected officials and think the federal government is “broken,” according to excerpts of a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Monday.

Eighty-six percent of the 1,023 Americans surveyed nationwide said that the government is “broken” compared to only 14 percent who said it is not.

However, only 5 percent of the 86 percent who think government is “broken” believe that it “cannot be fixed.”

The percentage who believe that government is broken has gone up 8 percentage points since CNN/Opinion Research Corp. surveyed the question in October 2006. Twenty-two percent of those polled in 2006 said government is “not broken.”

Additionally, 75 percent said the word “honest” does not describe their officials in Washington, while only 22 percent said it does.

That number is also up from the October 2006 survey, when 65 percent said they would not call government officials “honest.”

The poll was conducted February 12-15 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.














NC Election Board Working On Flights Investigation


There's no timetable yet on when the State Board of Elections will finish an investigation into 31 previously undisclosed flights by Gov. Beverly Perdue's campaign or potentially more candidates, the board's executive director said Wednesday.

Gary Bartlett's comments came after state Republican Party Chairman Tom Fetzer held a news conference to announce he had asked the board to expand its probe of The Bev Perdue Committee to examine more contributions she received during her successful 2008 campaign.

Fetzer also wants the board to treat 31 private flights that Bev Perdue's campaign disclosed over the past six months in a similar manner to the dozens of unreported campaign flights for former Gov. Mike Easley made public during a board hearing. The board fined Easley's campaign $100,000 in October for those flights.

"There is an established pattern of questionable behavior from the Perdue Committee - behavior shockingly similar to that of the Easley Committee - and that behavior warrants investigation," Fetzer said.

Perdue said later Wednesday there's a difference between the flights her campaign has reported and those of the former governor - she's reporting the flights on her own as part of a yearlong audit she paid for after a campaign accounting software switch revealed problems.

"I have consistently self-reported for the last year. Other campaigns have not done that," Perdue told reporters. "My campaign has done everything that I can do fiscally to make sure that everything was done correctly."

Bartlett said his staff has been looking for months at issues cited in two complaints that Fetzer filed in the fall. Fetzer released a board letter this week confirming the probe. The board is obligated by law to review complaints.

Bartlett, who doesn't know when the board's probe will be completed, is also seeking data about campaign flights from 16 other gubernatorial candidates going back to 2004 as part of its investigation. During Easley's hearing, the state Democratic Party suggested that Republican candidates for governor hadn't reported some flights, too.

"I don't think it would be fair to single her out," Bartlett said.









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.






Mayor Foxx And His Real Job


I see that the UPoR attempted to answer the question last week’s Charlotte Business Journal dispatch on Anthony Foxx’s new day job left hanging: Will Mayor Foxx lobby other big city Democratic mayors to buy buses from DesignLine?

Foxx says no. Further, Foxx, and evidently City Attorney Mac MCarley as well, believes that the mayor can work for DesignLine without conflict while both the city-owned airport and city-managed CATS decide whether or not to buy buses from DesignLine. OK. Given that I suppose it is likewise not a conflict for Mayor Foxx to work for DesignLine while DesignLine works out of a warehouse property owned by Childress Klein. Childress Klein only interfaces non-stop with city government on a host of development issues.

Other items of note:

* DesignLine CEO Brad Glosson gave Foxx’s campaign $4000 back in October, as did Glosson’s father, retired Air Force general Buster Glosson. Both men are registered Republicans and supporters of GOP candidates, including former Mayor Pat McCrory, according to state campaign records.
* DesignLine’s Baltimore effort has been repeatedly delayed with some questioning the value of spending $13m. to buy 21 hybrid buses, which will cost a total of $40m. to operate. The latest drop-dead date for DesignLine buses to start regular service in Charm City is January 11th, six months behind schedule.
* The company’s website is being re-worked, but the firm does not own the domain name — designlineusa.com — referenced in its own marketing material.

One thing is for certain, the days of Mayor Pat turning on the VCR for Duke Power’s new hires orientation program are long gone.

Update: SEC filings show that former Gov. Jim Martin is a director for DesignLine.













Mayor’s Hybrid Bus Firm Being Sued


DesignLine International, the hybrid bus maker Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx recently joined as an in-house attorney, is being sued by a supplier of the batteries for the buses.

According to a legal notice in The Charlotte Business Journal, Altair Nanotechnologies, an lithium-ion cells maker based in Reno, filed suit in Mecklenburg County on Dec. 17th to collect on a 2008 DesignLine contract.

The company’s Q3 SEC filing explained:

In September 2008, we accepted a purchase order from DesignLine International USA (DLI) for the delivery of four complete battery module sets. These hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) battery packs were to be used in demonstration buses for three city transit customers, and one for a modular testing program. The DLI HEV bus operates in an electric-only mode for as much as 30 percent of its range and provides a 100 percent improvement in fuel economy over a diesel bus, with fuel savings of up to 6,000 gallons per year. Due to a number of problems related to components outside of the battery cells and a disagreement on payment terms, this program is currently on hold and no additional work is being done with this customer until the open issues are resolved.

A previous Altair filing from 2008 adds, “Any subsequent orders from DLI are expected to be for cells only, with DLI taking full responsibility for module and pack assembly.”

Evidently there is some dispute as to what that all means — and who is going to pay for it.

An October 2008 press release on the contract characterized it as a $540,000 deal.


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Sources: Politico, Bloggingheadstv, WRAL, WCNC, John Locke Foundation, The Meck Deck Blog, McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, Newsweek, Youtube, Google Maps

Actions Of Fired Charlotte Police Officer Destroys Public Trust

3rd Woman Accuses Fired Charlotte Police Officer; Police Chief Says Checks Failed


A third woman is accusing police officer Marcus Jackson of sexually assaulting her during a bogus traffic stop, and police admitted Tuesday they botched a background check that should have prevented Jackson from becoming an officer.

Also on Tuesday, a 17-year-old girl and a witness in the assaults reported last week described two separate encounters with Jackson, who was fired last week and is now in jail.

The teen told the Observer that Jackson ordered her into his patrol car during a traffic stop, drove her to another location and sexually assaulted her.

"I was terrified...," she said. "I was thinking about ways to get out, but the back doors were locked."

At a news conference Tuesday, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Rodney Monroe said Jackson, 25, should never have been hired in 2008 because of a 2005 domestic violence incident.

Monroe didn't explain how the police department's background checks missed the 2005 complaint and restraining order granted by a judge in that case. But he said it was "not very efficient work."

A police source, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to talk about the case, also said that Jackson was twice recommended for suspensions over incidents that occurred before the alleged attacks on the women. One incident involved allegations that Jackson was speeding, the source said, and the other incident involved allegations that he broke into his estranged wife's apartment.

Police have repeatedly declined to spell out details of Jackson's discipline history, although Monroe acknowledged that Jackson had been disciplined for speeding.

Police have also refused to release written incident reports about the sexual assaults but have twice held news conferences to lay out allegations against Jackson.

Police have also declined to release the exact location of the assaults, but have said two occurred in the Eastway Division that Jackson patrolled. It stretches from the Belmont neighborhood near uptown to just beyond Eastland Mall.

Meanwhile, Mecklenburg prosecutors said Tuesday they may have to dismiss more than 50 criminal and traffic cases that Jackson was involved in. They are reviewing all cases in which Jackson was the primary witness.

Said Monroe: "Everything he touched is ... jeopardized."

Jackson's most recent accuser says he assaulted her on two occasions, according to Monroe.

Monroe said Jackson stopped the woman on Nov. 2 and fondled her during an unlawful search, according to their investigation. Jackson again stopped the woman on Dec. 29 and again fondled her, Monroe said.

During the second stop, a male companion tried to intervene by challenging the traffic stop, and then tried to call 911. But Jackson interrupted the emergency call, Monroe said, and unlawfully arrested the man for obstructing and delaying a police officer. Those charges have since been dropped, and the man has been released from jail.

Jackson is charged in the latest reported case with two counts of sexual battery, one count of felonious restraint and one count of interfering with an emergency communication, police said.

Jackson was initially arrested and charged Dec. 30 after two other women accused him of sexually assaulting them in the weeks before.

In both cases, police say, Jackson pulled the women over on traffic stops, while on duty in his marked patrol car.

The first reported case involved the 17-year-old girl. She told the Observer that Jackson stopped her about 11:30 p.m. Dec. 18 near 10th Street and Seigle Avenue close to uptown.

"He told me I looked like a suspicious driver," the teen said.

When she told Jackson she didn't have a driver's license, she said he ordered her into his patrol car and began driving around.

"He told me he didn't want to take me home if I would get in trouble with my parents," she said.

Then, she said: "He just asked me for a favor. ... He asked me for sex, and did whatever he was gonna do. Then he told me I could go."

The girl declined to give details of the alleged assault, but an arrest warrant says Jackson forced her to perform oral sex.

The teen says she has been too afraid to leave her house since the incident.

"I haven't actually been doing anything," she said. "I've been terrified of running into him."

The second reported incident involved a 21-year-old woman and her male companion.

Police say Jackson stopped their car Dec. 28 and sexually assaulted her.

Reached by the Observer on Tuesday, the male companion involved in the incident said Jackson stopped the couple about 2 a.m. After asking for their identification, Jackson told them to follow him to a nearby apartment complex, where he demanded to frisk the woman. She asked for a female officer.

"He said 'No. If you don't let me check you, I'm going to arrest your boyfriend and take him to jail,'" according to the male companion.

"She said, 'I don't want you to arrest him,'" he said.

The companion said he saw Jackson touching his friend's breasts, and that when she returned to the car, she told him that Jackson wanted her to take off her dress but she refused.

In connection with those incidents, Jackson was charged with three counts of sexual battery, second-degree sexual offense, kidnapping, extortion, indecent exposure and felonious restraint.

At Tuesday's news conference, Monroe continued to urge the public, as well as any other victims, to contact police if they information.

Monroe said he's investigating how the department's background checks failed in the Jackson case.

Police said they were aware when they hired Jackson in 2008 that he had been accused of domestic violence in 2003. In that complaint, the mother of a 15-year-old girl Jackson was dating wrote that Jackson had threatened her daughter, pushed her into a locker and tried to hit her with a car.

It's unclear whether those allegations should have prevented Jackson from being hired, but police noted that he was found not guilty of violating the protective order in that case and that his arrest record had been expunged.

Police said they were not aware of the 2005 domestic violence incident.

In that complaint, Jackson's then-girlfriend claimed, "The defendant grabbed me by the face several times, screaming and yelling. ..."

"The defendant hit me in the back of the head, slapped my face, pushed me down in the floor, forcing (me) in (a) walk-in closet," she wrote in the complaint.

A judge in that case ordered Jackson not to own or carry a firearm during the two weeks of the restraining order.

Monroe said Jackson would not have been hired if police had known about the 2005 incident.

"The information was there for us to see," Monroe said. "It concerns me greatly."













Accused, Fired Charlotte Police Officer Stared, Followed Her Down Road>


The third woman accusing Charlotte police officer Marcus Jackson of sexual assault says he pulled up beside her as she headed home from work, and stared at her for three blocks as they drove side-by-side down Eastway Drive.

"He kept looking at me," she said Wednesday, crying. "He kept looking at me."

Then, she says, he turned on his lights and pulled her over. Jackson ordered her out of her car and grabbed at her breasts, she says.

About eight weeks later, on Dec. 29, the 37-year-old Mexican woman says she was driving home at the same time, along the same route. Again Jackson appeared, this time pulling in behind her as she parked near her apartment.

Her boyfriend, Abel, arrived at the same time. He says he tried to call for help when the officer began frisking her, and Jackson arrested him. The charges were dropped, but Abel may be deported.

Jackson was initially arrested and charged Dec. 30 in connection with alleged assaults on two other women, one of whom is also Latino. Those alleged assaults also happened during traffic stops.

Jackson appeared in court Wednesday to face four new charges in the third case.

Mecklenburg District Judge Hugh Lewis told Jackson that if he can post his $423,000 bond, he will be placed under electronic monitoring and 24-hour house arrest.

Mecklenburg Public Defender Kevin Tully, who has assigned a staff attorney to defend Jackson, said Wednesday: "There have been statements by public officials on the front page of the newspaper expressing their opinions that he's guilty of these charges. That threatens the integrity of the system, which is a person is innocent unless proven guilty."

With two of Jackson's accusers being Latinos, some members of that community say some police prey on immigrants because they may be in the country illegally.

"The police take advantage of the fact that so many of us are afraid," said Marco Rodriguez, a landscape worker in East Charlotte. "The possibility of deportation prevents us from speaking out."

Other Latinos applaud Chief Rodney Monroe's handling of the case. They're encouraging the chief to root out officers who may abuse power.

Police declined to answer specific questions about the Latino community's concerns about police treatment.

Latino leaders say the case hurts police efforts to bridge ties with a community that doesn't fully trust them.

Monroe, as part of his 2009 strategic plan, launched a campaign to repair what he called the "damaged" relationship between the groups. He met with Latino media and organized community meetings that other officers attended.

Many immigrants see the police as an arm of immigration enforcement.

While police are not directly involved with the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's 287(g) program that identifies illegal immigrants, police make the vast majority of arrests that lead to deportations through the program.

Jorge Medina, co-host of "La Voz de Charlotte" on Radio Formula (1310-AM), said listeners want Monroe to take steps to stop any police abuses.

"Hopefully this will raise the standard of police work when dealing with Latinos," he said.

Jordan Forsythe, a Charlotte immigration attorney, said she's looking through her list of clients to see if any were arrested by Jackson.

If she finds any, Forsythe said she'll file for a U-Visa, which is designed to give crime victims temporary legal status and work eligibility in the United States.

At the Dec. 29 traffic stop, Abel, 29, said he confronted Jackson, and the officer ordered him to go into the apartment while he questioned his friend. Abel said he called 911 when he says the officer began frisking his friend.

"I dialed the number," said Abel, who asked that his last name not be used because of his immigration status, "but he grabbed the phone before I could say anything."

Jackson unlawfully arrested Abel on a charge of resisting a public officer, authorities said.

Abel spent six days in jail. The charges were dropped, but he was run through 287(g) and found to be undocumented. He said he lost his job because his boss didn't believe he had been wrongly jailed.

The sheriff's department said immigration officials told Abel he will have to appear before an immigration judge.

Forsythe, who isn't involved in Abel's case, says Abel could be eligible for a U-Visa, but he still faces deportation.

"Once you get to the jail," she says, "you can't unring the immigration bell."

Despite Jackson's arrest, the 37-year-old woman blames herself for Abel's legal problems.

And she still fears the police and Jackson's release.

"He recognized me and my truck ...," she said. "He knows where I live. He followed me here."












Royce Mitchell Fired From Charlotte City Job


Royce Anthony Mitchell, named as a “person of interest” in the shooting death of 15-year-old Tiffany Wright on Monday, has been fired from his job with the City of Charlotte, city officials said Wednesday.

Mitchell, who has been charged with statutory rape and indecent liberties with a minor, had worked in the Charlotte Department of Transportation.

Kim McMillan of the City of Charlotte said Wednesday morning that “after administrative review, the City of Charlotte has terminated the employment of Royce Mitchell for falsifying his employment application, which is in violation of city policy.”

Mitchell, who was hired by the city in 2007, earned $25,808 annually with the street maintenance department, McMillan said.

McMillan did not say in what way Mitchell falsified his employment application, but city officials said Wednesday that as a result of the Mitchell case, they plan to expand background checks to include a search of federal offenses around the country. Mitchell served time in a federal prison on drug charges.

Until now, city officials' criminal background checks have included local and state records, and federal records in the Justice Department's Western North Carolina District.

Wright, who was eight months pregnant, was shot in the head Monday morning while waiting for a school bus.

Police are trying to determine if Mitchell was the father of the baby, who was delivered by doctors and is still alive.



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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, Fox News, Youtube, Google Maps