RALEIGH -- Basnight Construction, which until recently had Senate leader Marc Basnight as its president, has a small slice of a $25 million state contract to build a pier and aquarium in Nags Head.
There's nothing untoward about the arrangement, say Basnight and contractors involved in the project.
Basnight, a Manteo Democrat and the most powerful person in the state Senate, answered reporters' questions about the contract Wednesday after a Senate meeting. The issue first arose when conservative-leaning Web sites reported that Basnight Construction was building the pier and research center.
In reality, the contract for building the pier went to Clancy & Theys Construction in Wilmington, which subcontracted between $2 million and $3 million worth of site prep work to RPC, a Kitty Hawk company. RPC, through a competitive bid process, awarded another subcontract to Basnight Construction, which is owned by Basnight's cousin.
Basnight Construction was the "lowest responsible bidder," said Robert Parker, who owns RPC.
"This is a high-integrity company and business and nobody's going to tell us, 'You got to go contract with this guy because they're related to so-and-so," said Scott Cutler, a vice president of Clancy & Theys in the company's Raleigh office.
Basnight dismissed the claims as politically motivated attacks.
"If I had benefitted on any project in North Carolina in any way, I believe that would be wrong," Basnight said. "I've never made any deals."
Basnight and other Democratic senators are sure to see the allegations again during this year's election season. The pier has already been a source of attacks from Republicans and interest groups since the $25 million contract was approved during a year when lawmakers struggled to fill a massive hole in the state budget.
The elaborate structure will feature an aquarium and wind turbines that generate electricity. It is being built on the oceanfront at Nags Head, in the senator's district.
No money from this year's state budget will be used in the project, and large chunks of the funding were earmarked for the pier and similar projects well before the recession kicked in.
Efforts to reach Basnight's cousin, Jimmy Basnight, failed Wednesday.
Sen. Basnight said he formed the company with his brother and cousin in the 1970s. About 10 or 15 years ago, Sen. Basnight ended his involvement in the company, he said. He took no payments and was not involved in projects. But he kept his title as president of the company, in part because he held one of the contractor's licenses necessary for the company to operate.
Basnight said he urged his cousin to stay away from state contracts. In August, when Jimmy Basnight told him of the plan to bid for the sewer work at the pier, Marc Basnight withdrew his title as president, he said.
