A little turbulence
Impatience, at the least, seems to have been a problem at the State Board of Elections as a probe into campaign flights by candidates for governor dragged on.
By directing their lead investigator to wrap things up without interviewing a former top aide to Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue, board officials thrust their chins out and invited Republican critics to take a swing. GOP state chairman Tom Fetzer has been glad to comply.
But if the Democratic-majority board has put itself into an uncomfortable spot, there is a fairly simple remedy. What the board can and should do is summon Zach Ambrose, Perdue's former campaign manager and chief of staff, for a public grilling as it considers the findings of investigative bulldog Kim Strach.
The board's executive director, Gary Bartlett, also could acknowledge that it might have been a bit premature for him to announce last month that the investigation headed by Strach had turned up no evidence "indicating any intent of wrongdoing." Strach now says that Democratic board chairman Larry Leake directed her to finish her report without querying Ambrose. Even if the board was feeling some urgency to complete its probe, that was a curious omission, although Leake denies that it led to a whitewash.
Flight surgeryThe investigation grew out of the board's efforts to unravel former Democratic Gov. Mike Easley's tangled accounting of campaign flights utilizing private aircraft.
Easley's campaign ended up being fined $100,000 after it was discovered that numerous such flights had gone unreported. Because a donated flight's value is supposed to be treated as a campaign contribution, failure to report means that limits on contributions could be evaded and a campaign could avoid making required reimbursements.
Perdue's campaign, through internal auditing, identified 41 flights that had not been properly reported - 35 from the 2008 election and six from 2004. Several reasons were offered for the non-compliance, although Strach suggested in her report that the campaign's bookkeeping procedures were solid enough that they should have prevented such oversights.
The elections board uncovered one other unreported flight - to Michigan, where Perdue held a 2007 fundraiser with lawyers, financial types and insurance execs that pulled in $29,550. How did that one slip through the campaign's reporting cracks? Zach Ambrose might have an idea.
Democrats in chargeThis past spring, the Perdue campaign sought to have Strach quit the investigation because of a family tie: Her husband has been a state Republican Party general counsel (he no longer holds the position). The implication that Strach could not properly carry out her duties because of her husband's job is unfair to her and glosses over the fact that the board's actions against Easley and other Democratic politicians were the decisions of a board under 3-2 Democratic control.
Strach, however, objects to what she apparently regarded as meddling by Leake and Bartlett in the flights investigation. As the board's top officials, they were entitled to give her guidance. But Leake's assurances that there was no attempt to go easy on Perdue would be more convincing if Strach had been given more leeway.
The board has long been understaffed, and Bartlett understandably was anxious for Strach to move on to other business that was piling up. Under the new state budget, three new investigatory positions will be filled.
That will help the board in its efforts to keep North Carolina political campaigns on the up and up. But it also looks as though Strach might be moved aside in favor of someone with a law degree. Careful there, guys, lest you give the impression that she was just too effective for her own good.Read the article and comments online at:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/16/583258/a-little-turbulence.html#ixzz0trL9hvBh
To view the picture in color from The Charlotte Observer click the link below:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/07/15/1564930/perdue-report.html
PS: Please remember, you can always donate to the NCGOP online by visiting www.ncgop.org. Donate online today!
No comments:
Post a Comment