A report out from Lake Wylie Pilot titled "Feds eye ex-mayor Cannon's campaign in Charlotte corruption probe"CLICKHERE has some interesting observations from local politicians and what has not been done from plenty of Board of Elections all over the State of North Carolina.
In the report was this
"An Observer review of Cannon’s campaign records since 1999 found reports with misleading, inaccurate and missing information that makes it difficult to tell where the former mayor got much of his money. State law requires that candidates disclose the name, address, occupation and employer of any donor who gives at least $50. In about 100 cases since 2011, no job title was listed for donors to Cannon’s campaigns. In about 250 cases, no employer is listed. In about 38 percent of cases since 2011, the information about Cannon’s donors didn’t include either job title or employer. Then we have this later in the report "The Mecklenburg County Board of Elections is responsible for auditing local races. Told of the Observer’s findings, board director Michael Dickerson acknowledged his office needs to improve its oversight of finance reports.
“We obviously have not scrutinized as closely as we should as far as employer and occupation information,” he said."
Obviously Director Michael Dickerson needs tounderstand campaign finance and what needs to be reported on the reports that come into your office that is state law under 163-278.11
§ 163-278.11. Contents of treasurer's statement of receipts and expenditures.
(a) Statements filed pursuant to provisions of this Article shall set forth the following:
(1) Contributions. - Except as provided in subsection (a1) of this section, a list of all contributions received by or on behalf of a candidate, political committee, or referendum committee. The statement shall list the name and complete mailing address of each contributor, the amount contributed, the principal occupation of the contributor, and the date such contribution was received. The total sum of all contributions to date shall be plainly exhibited. Forms for required reports shall be prescribed by the Board. As used in this section, "principal occupation of the contributor" means the contributor's:
a. Job title or profession; and
b. Employer's name or employer's specific field of business activity.
Then this was written in report
In North Carolina, the state Board of Elections is charged with looking into complaints for all state and local campaigns. It has two employees assigned to do investigations. The agency is supposed to conduct routine audits on as many as 10,000 annual finance reports for state races, but officials said there is a 10-year backlog due to short staffing. “The state is overwhelmed,” Hall said. “They say they want to do reviews, but they don’t.” State election officials have authority to levy fines on candidates who file late finance reports. They can force office-seekers to surrender improper donations. But there is no fine for failing to disclose donors’ jobs or employers. Innocent mistakes? The Mecklenburg elections board performs routine audits for local races to ensure candidates did not receive illegal donations, file late reports or fail to comply with other rules. But information contained in Cannon’s filings calls into question how closely Mecklenburg reviewed the documents. After large donations from William Bodenhamer Jr., an owner of Charlotte’s Yellow Cab, finance reports described his job title variously as “real estate,” “business owner” and “business man.” In one case, his employer was described as “property development.” In another case, it was blank
This is unacceptable for our state to not audit these records but rely on self policing of the obvious that these campaign treasurers know what needs to be done but fails to do so.
Triadwatch has been doing it's part in the past with plenty of instances where we like to self police these local candidates and their campaign finance reports for example:
June 29, 2009 ex mayor of Greensboro was reported with a headline "Greensboro Mayor amends 2007 2008 campaign forms for second time " CLICKHERE
or on May 29, 2009 we have ex Guilford County Commissioner Paul Gibson on Triadwatch with a headline
"Guilford County Commissioner Paul Gibson with a Letter from N.C. Board of Elections on campaign amending "CLICKHERE
This from the Greensboro News and Record from 2009 thank goodness I copied it because they have lost all connection to past history on their web site
"Keith Brown started a movement that led to reinstatement of protest-petition rights for Greensboro citizens. Now he’s prompted a finding by the N.C. State Board of Elections that Action Greensboro made an improper donation of $5,000 to the George Simkins Memorial PAC for supporting bond proposals. Brown, who writes the Triad Watch blog, says his research indicates many Guilford County politicians are lax in following campaign-finance reporting rules. He’s probably right, and those politicians warrant closer scrutiny. If they don’t comply with the law when they’re running for office, they won’t when they’re in office."
It is a shame that a huge corruption scandal brings this issue to the forefront but here in Guilford County we have been talking about this issue for awhile and we need closer scrutiny from the North Carolina State Board of Elections and put some fines into these reports if they do not comply with state law. Seems like Mecklenburg County has similar problems to what we see in Guilford County in regards to non compliance by local politicians on their reports
The below the fold blog post was from last month where you will see a agenda item being postponed till next month which is now. We see in this week's current agenda with attachments for the City of Greensboro where item #20 had this to say in BOLD WORDS
Resolution authorizing Economic Development Incentive Grant and Loan, not to exceed the amnount of $4,176,775 in total, to Land Port Investments, LLC. to be funded by appropriating up to $4,176,775 of voter approved Economic Development Bond funds. (no attachment) This item was postponed from the 9/13 meeting of Council without further advertising. COUNCIL IS BEING REQUESTED TO REMOVE THE ITEM FROM THE AGENDA TO BE READVERTISED FOR A PUBLIC HEARING AT A LATER DATE.
There are so many angles to look at this situation and the most obvious is to wonder if we will see as reported below the fold our local Crony Capitalist Roy Carroll will give campaign money to plenty of our local elected officials and some who are vying for a seat in the upcoming eleactions knowing that this item has been brought up in front of the Greensboro City Council last month and now will get readvertised at a later date probably once the new Greensboro City Council gets sworn in.
It is not illegal to give campaign contributions to local elected officials even when you have business in front of the city but it sure is unethical to see this happening on a local level. We should have a rule that if you do business with the city or have contracts with the city or county then you will be barred from any contributions for a 2 year period before and after the item comes in front of the elected officials.
Will we see the local Greensboro News and Record do any reporting of this situation?
Do situations like this right before a municipal election raise questions?
Could we see any new laws barring campaign contributions from people who have business with local municipalities?
We will see where this goes but it is interesting to see them after a month take this item off the agenda for good and hopefully not put any more money in local developer Roy Carroll's pockets.
Item #31 from Greensboro City Council agenda with attachments for September 13, 2011 meeting:
Resolution authorizing Economic Development Incentive Grant and Loan, not to exceed the amount of $4,176,775 in total, to Land Port Investments LLC to be funded by appropriating uo to $4,176,775 of voter approved Economic Development Bond funds. (no attachment) COUNCIL IS BEING REQUESTED TO POSTPONE THIS ITEM UNTIL OCTOBER 4, 2011 MEETING OF COUNCIL< WITHOUT FURTHER ADVERTISING.
So who is Land Port Investments LLC? CLICKHERE none other than our Guilford County CRONY CAPITALIST Roy Carroll.
To see a history of what has transpired in the past in regards to our CRONY CAPITALIST Roy Carroll this post on TRIADWATCH will help with a title Crony Capitalism and Local Developer Roy Carroll Red Flags on this American Express Incentive Deal More Info. and Repost CLICKHERE
One major aspect of this item in front of the Greensboro City Council at this time is that Developer Roy Carroll likes to throw around his influence in regards to local elections which usually turn into $1,000 campaign contributions to local politicians already on council and some who are trying to get on council. Will we see Roy Carroll doling out his money to the local candidates right before they vote on this issue? Is this legal? or Ethical?
Back in 2007 we had Developer Roy Carroll form a Political Action Committee called "North Carolinians for Leadership in Government" here is that postRoy Carroll + PAC = Greensboro City Council , he has since disbanded the PAC and started giving himself.
Then this past election in Greensboro a few years ago the campaign contributions were off a little with $250 contributions to Jim Kee ,Dr. Trudy Wade,Robbie Perkins and also help from his wife Vanessa with some $100 contributions as well.
Now we see that Roy Carroll is back in business with seeing a contribution to at large Greensboro City Council candidate Cyndy Hayworth for $1,000 on 5-27-2011.
What will we see from our local Crony Capitalist Developer Roy Carroll in the next month will he give contributions to sitting local elected officials knowing full well this item will come up in front of the Greensboro City Council. Or will we see the back door contribution where it will not be reported till after the election is over .
in the post i stated this back on May 23, 2011
"In the local section of Greensboro News and Record which is behind the pay wall so no links to article that on May 22, 2011 Donald Patterson has a article with a title " City Weighs shovel-ready site".
We learn from the article that in the next few weeks the Greensboro Ecomonic Development Alliance with chairman Dan Lynch with the help from Andy Scott assistant City Manager are wanting to have a shovel ready 100 acre site available to prospect for future tenants. Some of the proposal could be paid for with money from the economic bond approved in 2006.
Here is the kicker from the article:
Under the proposal a developer would provide the land and the city would get water and sewer in place in addition to clearing, rough grading and erosion control. The developer also would have to agree to certain restrictions on the property, such as not sub dividing it.
Local officials would not identify any potential developers or sites. "All that will be known when we go to council"Lynch said. That will be part of detailed proposal.
Can anyone guess who this proposal is geared toward? Could it be our localCrony Capitalist Roy Carroll? or Maybe the Crony Capitalist partner out in Rock Creek Center in Dick Beard who is Greensboro Coliseum Director Matt Brown's Head Cheerleader.
This whole idea smells like the American Express Data Center and Roy Carroll wants some back door incentives to pay for water and sewer to the development. I could be wrong on this one but i smell a rat in the making. We will see what the Greensboro Economic Development Alliance proposal is to the Greensboro City Council but hopefully we will not be hearing Roy Carroll's name on this one.
We heard for the longest time that American Expess was not wanting incentives to open up this data center but then we really know why they did not want the incentives because 6 months later they are in the process of closing a major customer service center out near the airport where more than 1,500 jobs would be moving out of the state to other centers occupied by American Express.How would it look for American Express to shut down and leave 1,500 workers out of a job but then have millions in economic incentive money coming to a data center that will employ at best 60 people.
It is always BS to hear these blowhards spewing out these no name companies that were going to locate in guilford county but the site wasn't available.
Hey Dan Lynch you would have more credibility if you didn't get quoted in paper with this:
"Lynch said one company recently came looking for a 200 acre site." They are still looking" he said when asked for details " That's all I can say"
Can't wait for this dog and pony show in front of the Greensboro City Council, with the head cheerleaders in the Greensboro News and Record following in tow.
________________________________________________________________________________
We will see what happens in future in regards to campaign contributions and the $4 million dollars in economic bond money
This raffle issue with N.C. Senate candidate Jeff Hyde is like the energizer bunny it keeps on going and going and going. Here is a little back post on this issue from July 19, 2010 with a title of post "Jeff Hyde Campaign and the Mysterious Raffle Winner, Who is the Winner?" CLICKHERE .
Now we have a article in this weeks Rhino Times with a title "Hyde Raffle Report Still Raises Questions", CLICKHERE . In this article John Hammer had this to say:
"The problems started when the raffle was won by Hyde's sister Becky Smith, a fact that he would not confirm until last week when he was told that it was a matter of public record in a memo from the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
And it gets worse. Hyde's sister didn't buy a ticket and didn't want the $5,000 that she won in the raffle, so the campaign never awarded a prize and just kept the $5,000. The campaign has raised about $28,000 total, so $5,000 is a considerable amount of the campaign finances and, according to the reports currently filed, there was no $5,000 payout and no $5,000 donation. "
Finally we find out that Becky Smith is Jeff Hyde's sister, but wait it gets better. Later in the article here is what was written:
"This week Hyde said he and his wife bought 10 tickets, his father bought one ticket and a cousin bought two tickets. They all had the last name Hyde and accounted for 13 of the 83 raffle tickets sold. Hyde said that in case one of the tickets bought by a family member won, they thought it would be better if the winner announced was not named Hyde, so they put his sister's name on all 13 tickets. She had a pretty good chance of winning, since her name was on 13 of 83 tickets, or almost 16 percent of the tickets."
Now we see that he wants to put every person with a last name hyde under the name of his sister becky smith for the raffle. If we take what was said above in that jeff and his wife bought 10 tickets then on his campaign returns it does show $1,000 between the 2 of them but it was not designated for raffle as some other people who did give to his campaign in the returns. Also , if the raffle tickets cost $100 a piece and we see that his father bought a raffle ticket but on his campaign returns it shows a Richard C. Hyde from Gastonia N.C. with a $27.00 contribution well below the $100 raffle contribution he was advertising. If you look at his blog he had a campaign to get $27 by the 27th for the 27th district of April not for his raffle. So if Richard Hyde is his father then he didn't give to the raffle either but was counted in the raffle.
When you have contests and other raffles there are plenty of rules like for example no family members or people who work for the companies can win prizes or raffles. This raffle is a great example of why no family members should be able to win and Jeff Hyde knew better but has wanted to hide this for a long time now. All he needed to do is come clean at the beginning and plenty of us who look at campaign laws and returns would have said ok it was a novice mistake but now we see there is more to the story from the Rhino Times and below is the scribd version of the Jeff Hyde's campaign returns with the raffle members who did give on his returns
North Carolina campaign laws doesn't talk about using raffles for your campaigns but even in Guilford County we have had a few others use a raffle to get campaign contributions from Trudy Wade to Lisa Ingle Clapp. If we can consider what has happened in the Jeff Hyde raffle and what has not been reported on his campaign returns where we all know that he needs to amend his returns and show that his sister did give a $5,000 contribution for winning the raffle then this would have cleared up all of this a long time ago.
It also might be time to let our state legislatures know that we might need some ground rules on who can win from campaign raffles or if you do have a raffle to get campaign money then the campaigner and his family members cannot be a part of the raffle for reasons like what we have seen in this issue with the Jeff Hyde Committee.
The George C Simkins Jr. Memorial Political Action Committee 3rd Quarter reports reveals a relationship that behind the scenes has been talked about but now is there for all to see .
To see the 3rd quarter report click on the title above or CLICKHERE , then click on the Simkins PAC then proceed to the report.
The treasurer for the Simkins PAC is non other than Melvin "Skip" Alston Guilford County Commissioner as reported in TRIADWATCH, Mr. Alston needs to understand North Carolina Laws and how they work in regards to campaign contributions.
If you can see the 3rd quarter report it shows that Action Greensboro gave $5,000 to the Simkins PAC.
Action Greensboro is a member of the Greensboro Partnership, and is united with Greensboro Economic Development Alliance and the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce to form a more powerful, unified voice for economic development, urban livability, and business growth.
Under North Carolina General Statute
§ 163‑278.19. Violations by corporations, business entities, labor unions, professional associations and insurance companies. (a) Except as provided in subsections (a2), (b), (d), (e), (f), and (g) of this section it shall be unlawful for any corporation, business entity, labor union, professional association or insurance company directly or indirectly: (1) To make any contribution to a candidate or political committee or to make any expenditure to support or oppose the nomination or election of a clearly identified candidate; (2) To pay or use or offer, consent or agree to pay or use any of its money or property for any contribution to a candidate or political committee or for any expenditure to support or oppose the nomination or election of a clearly identified candidate; or (3) To compensate, reimburse, or indemnify any person or individual for money or property so used or for any contribution or expenditure so made ________________________________________________________
The Action Greensboro $5,000 contribution to the Simkins PAC was reported under line 6 which is contributions from indviduals. Please explain how Action Greensboro is a contribution from a indvidual? It is also illegal for a professional association, corporation or business entity to contribute to a political committee. Please explain how Action Greensboro gave $5,000 to the Simkins PAC?Action Greensboro is a 501c-3 organization, can a not for-profit organization give to a PAC?It is also a limit of $4,000 to give to a North Carolina registered PAC, How can Action Greensboro give $5,000. These are the questions that need to get answered.
TRIADWATCH will be sending a letter to the North Carolina Board of Election on this issue and to see the legalities of this contribution to this Political Action Committee.
This cozy relationship between 2 powerbrokers in Guilford County has been talked about for a long time but to see Action Greensboro give money to the Simkins PAC either by mistake or out in the open for everyone to see, shows all the citizens of Guilford County the foxes who are guarding the hen house.
UPDATE, A letter has been sent to the North Carolina Board of Elections on 11-14-08 to answer questions on this questionable contribution of Action Greensboro to the Simkins PAC.
North Carolina Senate Candidate for District 28 Dr. Trudy Wade has turned in her second quarter campaign reports for 2010. Let me start out by saying that everything in this post is legal for what the Trudy Wade Campaign has turned into the State Board of Elections BUT to the candidate who should believe in transparency in local government you can see that below the fold aggregated contributions from individuals a total of 140 who gave $50 in cash, plus 8 who gave $50 check plus a few $25 and $30 as well which is around 25% of all her campaign contributions where you will not see who gave to her campaign.. Here is what North Carolina law states in:
163-278.11
a1) Threshold for Reporting Identity of Contributor. – A treasurer shall not be required to report the name, address, or principal occupation of any individual who contributes fifty dollars ($50.00) or less to the treasurer's committee during an election as defined in G.S. 163‑278.13. The State Board of Elections shall provide on its reporting forms for the reporting of contributions below that threshold. On those reporting forms, the State Board may require date and amount of contributions below the threshold, but may treat differently for reporting purposes contributions below the threshold that are made in different modes and in different settings.
then we have this North Carolina General Statute
§ 163‑278.14. No contributions in names of others; no anonymous contributions; contributions in excess of fifty dollars; no contribution without specific designation of contributor.
(a) No individual, political committee, or other entity shall make any contribution anonymously or in the name of another. No candidate, political committee, referendum committee, political party, or treasurer shall knowingly accept any contribution made by any individual or person in the name of another individual or person or made anonymously. If a candidate, political committee, referendum committee, political party, or treasurer receives anonymous contributions or contributions determined to have been made in the name of another, he shall pay the money over to the Board, by check, and all such moneys received by the Board shall be deposited in the Civil Penalty and Forfeiture Fund of the State of North Carolina.
(b) No entity shall make, and no candidate, committee or treasurer shall accept, any monetary contribution in excess of fifty dollars ($50.00) unless such contribution is in the form of a check, draft, money order, credit card charge, debit, or other noncash method that can be subject to written verification. No contribution in the form of check, draft, money order, credit card charge, debits, or other noncash method may be made or accepted unless it contains a specific designation of the intended contributee chosen by the contributor. The State Board of Elections may prescribe guidelines as to the reporting and verification of any method of contribution payment allowed under this Article. For contributions by money order, the State Board shall prescribe methods to ensure an audit trail for every contribution so that the identity of the contributor can be determined. For a contribution made by credit card, the credit card account number of a contributor is not a public record. (c) No political committee or referendum committee shall make any contribution unless in doing so it reports to the recipient the contributor's name as required in G.S 163‑278.7(b)(1). (1973, c. 1272, s. 1; 1979, c. 1073, s. 19; 1987, c. 113, s. 2; 1999‑453, s. 4(a); 2001‑319, s. 10(a); 2002‑159, s. 55(k); 2004‑125, s. 5(b); 2005‑430, s. 1; 2006‑195, ss. 1, 5.2; 2007‑484, s. 23.)
We have seen where other North Carolina Senators like Don Vaughan from Greensboro who has turned in his second quarter campaign returns for 2010 CLICKHERE , which shows $0 aggregated contributions from individuals because he gets all the information from all of his contributors for all to see. This is called transparency in local government .Senator Don Vaughan has spoken out on this issue on 8-2-2010 at his senate facebook group where he said this ,
"Transparency, honesty and integrity are the cornerstone of my campaign and public service. I was the only Guilford County legislator to receive the "Sunshine Award" for excellence in campaign reporting. I believe we should continue to strengthen reporting requirements, such as doing away with the $1000 threshold and ...reporting all contributions no matter what the amount."
As you can see from his returns he does get the sunshine award and hopefully when Dr. Trudy Wade gets elected to the North Carolina Senate she will be the first senator to sign onto a bill co signed by another Guilford County Senator in Don Vaughan on reporting of all campaign contributions to everyone's campaign because as we have seen above and also with the below the fold look at Dr. Wades campaign returns it sure does not look good to see all of those aggregated contributions going to the complete edge of reporting of $50 with no reports in her returns. Time to shine some Sunlight on the Trudy Wade Campaign, let's see if her next returns will have the aggregated contributions under $50 with the names of her contributors because she has another campaign rally coming up in September.
UPDATE:
FEC over at Vie de MalchanceCLICKHEREhad this to say in a post "Unfortunately, more and more political info is showing up online and we really can’t concentrate on it all. Right now, there’s a campaign finance report for Trudy Wade at the NCBOE with a whole bunch of $50 anonymous donations, reminiscent of Jim Black. The problem is there are too many pols to be watched and only so many of us."
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04/29/2010 Aggregated Individual Contribution
Individual Contribution 71951 Check $50.00
Candidates and current Greensboro City Council members and Guilford County Commissioners should be prohibited from entering into for-profit enterprises dependent upon public support.
Candidates and current Greensboro City Council members and Guilford County Commissioners should be prohibited from making campaign contributions to entities who publicly endorse political candidates.
Candidates and current Greensboro City Council members and Guilford County Commissioners should be prohibited from accepting campaign contributions from those with conflicts of interests, including leading members of organizations receiving taxpayer money, and/or developers, contractors or their lawyers or agents, for 12 months before and after doing business with Greensboro and Guilford County’s governments.
The Jeff Hyde Committee held a reverse raffle at the Conservatives for Guilford County summer picnic here is what the committee had to say about this raffle on their application for the raffle.
The Jeff Hyde Committee is holding a Conservative Victory Raffle, now through June 25th. Only 300 tickets have been printed. Enter our raffle for a chance to win $5000.00 and you would be helping elect local Conservatives to State and County offices. Your Contribution will go along way in the efforts to use Conservative Principles to tackle the Problems that face our State and threaten our prospersity. Jobs, Deficit spending and taxes, and Education. Buy a Conservative Victory Raffle ticket for $100.00 and reserve your chance to win Five Thousand Dollars on Friday, June 25 at the Take Back America Picnic. The Picnic will be held at Bur Mil Park and the winner will be annoucned at the end of the evening. You do not need to be present to win. Proceeds for the raffle will be used to purchase media ads on local TV, Radio and Print media.
Even before this raffle ever took place there was some of us on facebook who were questioning what and how he was going to handle this raffle at a Conservatives for Guilford County (C4GC) picnic. We had questioned how will you he handling the money and if they are going to make checks payable to your committee, which the Jeff Hyde Committee added to be in compliance with state law.
After this Take Back America Picnic and after last week's reporting of second quarter campaign contributions it was clear that something was missing in the returns. People had wanted to know who had won the raffle and if we can take what was reported at Guarino's blog by commentator Jon Firebaugh here is the comment
"I think the winner was a Becky Smith from Gastonia. It was the last item on the agenda. Jeff Hyde should know."
Triadwatch did get in touch with Jeff Hyde and here is what he had to say,
"Thanks for your concern. I did heed your advice and since I am a novice at running for office I called the State Board of Elections to discuss the raffle before hand and the prize after wards. I spoke with Adam (? can't recall his last name and don't have it handy) We executed the raffle according to finance laws.
The winning raffle ticket was drawn by Pam Furr of Rush Radio and announced at the C4gc. The winner was not present. When contacted the winner said she did not want the money. I contacted Adam again on Monday. and explained. I asked if their was any special form to fill out. Answer no. If their is no disbursement then no form. He also said "congratulations!" The winner #0067 does not want to be acknowledged and I am trying to respect her privacy. "
If the winner doesn't want to be identified then where is he or she in campaign returns that are in a scribd version above? When it comes to campaign donations there are state laws that also states that the maximum amnount a single person can give a candidate is $4,000 and if you did get this raffle back as a campaign gift then there should be a disbursement back to this person for $1,100 to get to the maximum of $4,000. You could get the whole $5,000 if this mystery person is a family member who won the raffle prize. Was the winner Becky Smith? and if so is she a family member?
Jeff Hyde states that he did get in touch with the State Board of Elections but there must have been some confusion on what transpired because in any case when it involves campaign contributions you will have to identify the disbursement of the raffle or if this person was giving the money back to the campaign then it also needs to be reported.It is not reported anywhere on the Jeff Hyde Committee campaign contributions. We will see what transpires and if this mystery raffle winner will need to be reported on the committee's campaign forms.
Raleigh News and Observer with a title "Democrats raise money, eyebrows" CLICKHERE
It seems like business as usual for the North Carolina Democratic Party with fundraisers like this.Will they ever change? Probably not. Will they ever learn? Probably not.
Here is a few quotes from the article.
"Holding a fundraiser the day before voting on the budget and an ethics bill is an action that the word hypocrisy does not begin to define," said Tom Fetzer, the chairman of the state Republican Party. "This clearly violates the spirit of state ethics laws and reveals that all the Democrats' talk about ethics is just that."
It is illegal under state law for lobbyists to make political contributions to legislators or members of the Council of State, including the governor. It is also illegal for elected officials to raise money from political action committees while the legislature is in session.
But there are no such limits on political donations to political parties. Political parties, in turn, can make unlimited donations to the re-election campaigns of state lawmakers.
This is the same North Carolina Democratic Party who are in the middle of a scandal as we speak in regards to campaign contributions funnelled through the North Carolina Democratic Party to the Mike Easley campaign and they have this fundraiser while the state house is in session and right before the budget is getting ready to be approved, amazing.
Overhauling the whole campaign system is a understatement and the first rule should be this.
IF YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO BUY YOUR OWN PLANE THEN YOU DON'T GET TO CAMPAIGN ON SOMEONE ELSE'S PLANE , FLY COMMERCIAL OR DRIVE YOUR OWN CAR.
The video from above is from the Greensboro City Council meeting on 2-16-2010 where Greensboro City Council member Danny Thompson was thanking other council members Perkins,Kee,Wade and Mayor Knight for donating their Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus tickets to his church to take some deserving montagnards family for a night out.
How many other events do Greensboro City Council members get tickets for?
Is this a perk for being a elected official?
Does this perk go against state law of gift giving?
How many GGO tickets do local elected officials get to hand out?
Should this be reported on campaign contribution forms?
These tickets were given to the Greensboro City Council members by Ringling Brothers. We have seen from Governor Bev Perdue that she did a executive order for state level employees back in the fall , below is part of the executive order.
EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 24 REGARDING GIFTS TO STATE EMPLOYEES
WHEREAS, those in State government who do the work of the public must continuously ensure that their actions reflect the ethical standards that are essential to maintaining the public’s trust; and
WHEREAS, N.C. Gen. Stat. 133-32 makes it unlawful for a State employee to willfully receive or accept any gift or favor from a contractor, subcontractor, or supplier of the State agency if the State employee is involved in (1) preparing plans, specifications, or estimates for public contracts; (2) awarding or administering public contracts; or (3) inspecting or supervising construction; and
WHEREAS, N.C. Gen. Stat. 133-32 applies to a limited group of State employees; and
WHEREAS, no State employee should be permitted to accept gifts or favors from contractors working or seeking to work with the employee’s agency; and
Below is from the North Carolina Board of Ethics back in 2001 with a little Google research,CLICKHERE
TICKETS
Should a Public Official accept free tickets from an agency vendor to a sporting event, play, or fundraising event?
Answer: Generally, no. It is generally not proper for Public Officials to accept gifts or services from someone whom the official regulates, contracts with, or otherwise does business with as part of his service as a Public Official. At a minimum, this can cause the appearance of a conflict of interest.
Does it make any difference if the tickets to a sporting event are season tickets or tickets the vendor received as part of its sponsorship of the event so that there was no purchase made specifically for the Public Official?
Answer: No. It does not matter how the vendor got the tickets.
Can a vendor take a Public Official to entertainment events when the Official has traveled to the vendor’s home city or when both vendor and Official are out of town (like at a non-vendor sponsored seminar)?
Answer: Not if it is otherwise prohibited. Ethics requirements do not end at the border.
Who knew that Greensboro City Council members get tickets to events and is this a perk of the job. But in this day and time in North Carolina where people are wanting to curry favors with plenty of local officials and we might see where local officials might want to do the same thing and maybe curry favor with getting tickets for a group of people to want their vote in the upcoming elections . It might be time to look at this program of giving out free tickets and am probably certain that the GGO golf tickets are floating out there for local elected officials to give out as they please. This post is not about who received these circus tickets but was a post about who got to give out these tickets. If ringling wanted to personally give them to a group home or some deserving group it is totally fine but having it go through a local elected official sure does raise some red flags.
The City of Greensboro and Guilford County governments should be prohibited from funding or approving projects or programs from which local elected officials derive income or profit that depend upon local governmental financial support.
Current Greensboro City Council members, Guilford County School Board members, Guilford County Commissioners and Candidates for local elected office should be prohibited from entering into or receiving compensation from enterprises dependent upon local governmental support.
Current Greensboro City Council members, Guilford County School Board members, Guilford County Commissioners and Candidates for local elected office should be prohibited from making campaign contributions to entities who publicly endorse political candidates.
Current Greensboro City Council members, Guilford County School Board members, Guilford County Commissioners and Candidates for local elected office should be prohibited from accepting campaign contributions or endorsements from those with conflicts of interests, including but not limited to; leading members of organizations receiving taxpayer money, and/or developers, contractors or their lawyers or agents, for 12 months before and after doing business with Greensboro and Guilford County’s governments.
Current Greensboro City Council members, Guilford County Commissioners and Candidates should be prohibited from entering into for-profit enterprises dependent upon public support.
Current Greensboro City Council members, Guilford County Commissioners and Candidates should be prohibited from making campaign contributions to entities who publicly endorse political candidates.
Current Greensboro City Council members, Guilford County Commissioners and Candidates should be prohibited from accepting campaign contributions from those with conflicts of interests, including leading members of organizations receiving taxpayer money, and/or developers, contractors or their lawyers or agents, for 12 months before and after doing business with Greensboro and Guilford County’s governments.
Local developer Roy Carroll has now officially closed his Political Action Committee(PAC) called North Carolinians for Leadership in Government as seen above. This is a great example of what a pay to play politics looks like and back in 2008 here is a post titled "Roy Carroll + PAC = Greensboro City Council CLICKHERE . It seems like lately Roy Carroll wants to put his money in sponsoring the yearly Pigs Poultry and Politics through the local special interest group called TREBIC instead of his PAC CLICKHERE .
Roy Carroll did do a great thing in donating the rest of the balance in the PAC account to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in the amnount of $1,110.97 to learn more about JDRFCLICKHERE
The new Mayor of Greensboro Bill Knight has turned in his end of the year 2009 campaign contribution forms to the Guilford County Board of Elections with many discrepencies that are simple to get but way too many local politicians think it is ok to not put these items on their forms.
Let's take a look at what our campaign laws of this state have to say.
163‑278.11. Contents of treasurer's statement of receipts and expenditures.
(a) Statements filed pursuant to provisions of this Article shall set forth the following:
(1) Contributions. – Except as provided in subsection (a1) of this section, a list of all contributions received by or on behalf of a candidate, political committee, or referendum committee. The statement shall list the name and complete mailing address of each contributor, the amount contributed, the principal occupation of the contributor, and the date such contribution was received. The total sum of all contributions to date shall be plainly exhibited. Forms for required reports shall be prescribed by the Board. As used in this section, "principal occupation of the contributor" means the contributor's:
a. Job title or profession; and
b. Employer's name or employer's specific field of business activity.
As you can see from the above North Carolina law your campaign forms need to provide this information of job title and profession. From the above scribd document of the mayor's campaign forms he had a total of 29 different campaign contributors and 21 of them are by their treasurer Beth Hemphill labeled "Unknown" which is around a 72% of the forms are not complete and should be amended.
How hard it is to get in touch with these people to find out this information let's take a closer look at some of the unknowns on this list. Google is a great source along with the white pages online to find this information out.
Here is some phone numbers to guide you to the promised land of providing this information to treasurer Beth Hemphill
Jimmy Shoffner 288-2727
Orton Jones 288-8898
Reginald Sipe 273-9312
Michael Nash 370-4144 and if this is the lawyer here is his web site for occupationCLICKHERE, he is even unknown on his address as well
James McNairy III 378-1564 , here is a link to his profession CLICKHERE
Walter Underwood 292-4685
George Brumback 288-8702, the same one on the local bond commission
Jeff Tillman 851-2194, with his own blog runsmart2winCLICKHERE
Anne Callicott (self employed/homemaker), (Zip code: 27408) $200 to SHARP PENCIL PAC on 05/24/05, what is Sharp Pencil PAC? That is Howard Coble's affiliated PACCLICKHERE
It isn't that hard to get this information and this is just the first posting of campaign forms that will get a second look from this blog and hopefully others as well. We can also note from this end of the year returns there was plenty of contributions that went up to the limit on giving before you have to divulge any information to the board of election with on the scribd document you can see that 22 out of 24 gave the maximum of $50 to his campaign without reporting your vital information.
Maybe in the future it will be that any person who even gives a sum of $1 or more will need to show all their information to the campaign reports not just over $50. We also have a new law where the threshold to report has went from $3,000 down to $1,000 on all campaigns in North Carolina . So this means plenty of more candidates will have to file reports in a timely manner.
Let's see how many other local candidates campaign reports look like and if anyone else like Guilford County Commissioner Kirk Perkins will get a Gold Star for reporting CLICKHERE
or will they be like the mayors reports that you see above which wouldn't even get a Star. The mayor is also Howard Coble's treasurer and is a accountant as well. This is the reporting he does on his own campaign, wow.
More at the Greensboro News and Record with a report at inside scoop titled "It Pays To Be Mayor" CLICKHERE
North Carolina State Senator and Minority Leader Republican Phil Berger was given a audit letter from the North Carolina Board of Elections on November 20, 2009. The audit letter is below.There are some serious allegations in the audit letter when it relates to lobbyist giving contributions during a period of time when the legislature is in session.There are also other problems with his campaign forms where the North Carolina Board of Elections says the following.
"While these bulleted items are required by law to be disclosed, we realize that a significant amnount of time has passed since the reports in question were filed. Therefore we will not require reports to be amended to disclose the above mentioned items unless requested by members of the public, but you should strive to make sure all reports filed in the future include all required information."
The bulleted items are in the documents below and it sure does want someone to say to the North Carolina Board of Elections to request that State Senator Phil Berger amend your campaign contribution forms . Triadwatch might just be that person from the public to request that the State Senator amend his returns.
Below is a open letter for North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue from Joe Sinsheimer who is a campaign finance reformer and was awarded by the N.C. Press Association back in 2007 with the William C. Lassiter First Amendment Award, which is given annually to a non-journalist who has worked for open government and free speech.
With permission from Joe Sinsheimer here is his open letter to the Governor of North Carolina Beverly Perdue.
November 18, 2009 Governor Bev Perdue Office of the Governor 20301 Mail Service Center Raleigh, NC 27699-0301
Dear Governor Perdue,
The recent State Board of Election hearings on Governor Easley and his alleged campaign activities, as well as the Verizon contracting scandal, have once again shaken confidence in our state government. These repeated scandals are damaging our state’s reputation for honest government and demand executive leadership. While we all hope the General Assembly will take on the call of reform in the 2010 session, there are a number of positive and immediate steps you could take as governor to help restore confidence in state government:
First, ask Ruffin Poole to resign from the Board of Directors of the Golden LEAF foundation. Mr. Poole’s decision to refuse/fight a subpoena by the State Board of Elections demands this action. While Mr. Poole has a constitutional right against selfincrimination, it is disgraceful that a state appointee to a board as important as Golden LEAF would refuse to answer questions from another state board. Having already spent close to $400 million of state money and with another half a billion in its accounts, Golden LEAF should play a forceful role in the state’s economic future without North Carolinians worrying about unseemly corruptive influence. Golden LEAF’s work should be held to the highest ethical standards. Recent testimony from the State Board of Elections indicates that Mr. Poole does not meet those standards. While you may lack legal grounds to demand Mr. Poole’s resignation, the governor does command a bully pulpit and you would send a strong message of your expectations of those servings in state government if you asked Mr. Poole to resign immediately.
Second, release all the investigative reports on the missing 2005 State Highway patrol records including those from the special investigative panel you formed in August and the patrol’s internal affairs unit. In May 2009, the News and Observer first reported Capt. Melvin’s February 2009 visit to the Easley personal residence to deliver what Capt. Melvin has since described as a “personal” hard drive. Six months later, we still do not have answers to what Capt. Melvin delivered, nor do we have answers to the important question of whether the Highway Patrol has been engaged in a political cover-up. To date, the only report that has been issued from your administration is a four-page document which could be generously described as “amateurish.” On August 26, 2009, N.C. Crime Control Secretary Reuben Young told reporters: “Governor Perdue and I are determined to do everything in our power to find the answers regarding the 2005 records.” It is now time for you to honor that commitment and release all of the investigative reports in this matter including those produced by the patrol’s internal affairs unit.
Third, impose a 90-day freeze on the environmental permitting process for Titan Cement and ask Attorney General Roy Cooper to conduct an investigation into whether any undue political pressure has been involved in the permitting process to date. The Attorney General’s investigation should focus on actions taken by the Easley Administration to exempt Titan from the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) as well as the state senate’s abrupt decision to kill legislation on this matter this year without a vote. Three recent events have diminished public confidence in the state’s environmental permitting process. These events include 1) the federal bribery convictions of a NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) official and two corporate executives in the Agri-Ethanol case; 2) testimony during the State Board of Elections hearings that top Easley administration officials were helping a coastal developer with a permitting issue at the same time they were soliciting a $50,000 contribution from that same developer; and 3) federal officials recently serving DENR with a half dozen subpoenas that indicate that they are probing whether anyone made payoffs or offered gratuities to state officials during the permitting process. The people of North Carolina, especially those living in southeast North Carolina near the proposed plant, have to know with 100% certainty that the Titan case has been handled fairly. Given recent events, that can’t be said right now. That is why I am asking you take this extraordinary extra step in this controversial case.
Three years ago, just months before Jim Black pled guilty to three separate felonies, I sent Governor Easley a similar letter that included this paragraph: “Too many North Carolinians still believe that government service is an opportunity to enrich themselves or protect their industry’s economic interests. Gubernatorial leadership, as well as further changes to our state’s campaign finance laws, will help alleviate this problem.” Governor Easley never responded to the letter, an action I believe spoke volumes about his interest in honest government. I hope and trust you will choose a different path.
Yvonne Johnson 48.59% 16,689 Write-In 0.10% 34 TOTAL= 34,347
Congrats to Bill Knight who had a campaign war chest of around $23,000 according to the pre election campaign report. The Mayor of Greensboro Yvonne Johnson had a war chest of around $38,000 according to the pre election report.
One aspect of this election that happened is that one developer has been defeated in Sandra Anderson Groat in the at large race but another developer has now been brought on to be a part of council in Jim Kee in district #2. It will be interesting to see if the make up of the new council will be more aligned with hearing from the citizens of Greensboro or be a rubber stamp for King Zoning Stud Henry Isaacson in regards to zoning cases being brought to the Greensboro City Council. Since we know that Henry Isaacson in a news and record article on Sunday before the elections had this to say had this to say about mayor Yvonne Johnson, "Here’s a woman who has had a tremendous amount of experience in city government,” said Henry Isaacson, an attorney and Johnson supporter. “She knows this city north, south, east and west. That is my yardstick for a mayoral candidate.”
Henry Isaacson's yardstick is counting votes and it looks to me that it might be a little bit harder for the zoning stud lawyer to get his way like he has been getting away with in the past. Look forward to the video of council meeting for the next few years to see if there is any difference.
It might also be time to bring some real ethics reform to the Greensboro City Council because we have seen companies like the Koury Coproration have a rezoning case come in front of council and have the president and other members of the irrevocable trust of joseph koury give around $500.00 to the Mayor Johnson campaign on around 6/1/2009 right before the rezoning case came in front of council. This is called the pay to play aspect of local governments and it needs to stop.ETHICS, ETHICS , and ETHICS time for a change.
