As candidate for governor, Beverly Perdue was pressed by Republican nominee and Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory on ethical issues that went to the forefront regarding the Easley administration. She also faced critics who said that as governor she wouldn't dare to cross the power brokers in the General Assembly.
Did Perdue, in reaction to her critics, promise the moon on election night when she told the media that she would "hold everybody in this administration to the highest possible ethical conduct"? At the time, the impression was that even a friend's appointment to this board or that commission (some with important regulatory duties) would be in jeopardy if concerns were raised about ethics. No indictment or anything that serious would be required to end someone's chances of serving.
The governor-elect said as much in the glow of her election victory when she said, "I'm not going to put up with any kind of mess. And that if there is the least whiff, hint, of something that doesn't pass the sniff test, then they need to resign. ... We're going to clean it up."
Sniffer on the blink?
It appears from a report Sunday by The News & Observer's J. Andrew Curliss on some appointees serving or those who have served during the Perdue administration that the governor may be experiencing a little seasonal stuffiness.
Consider a couple of Curliss' finds.
Lloyd "Mickey" Meekins Jr. of Lumberton was appointed to the state's auctioneer licensing board by former Gov. Mike Easley in 2006. Meekins apparently got some help in making his Easley connection from McQueen Campbell, an Easley buddy and frequent pilot. Campbell was named by Easley to the N.C. State University Board of Trustees but resigned as that board's chairman in the wake of a controversy surrounding the promotion of then-first lady Mary Easley to a job with a $170,000 salary.
Meekins is also a pilot. In fact, he flew Perdue, who was then lieutenant governor, on a few stops along the campaign trail. And his wife gave Perdue a $4,000 campaign donation.
Perdue reappointed him to the board in October of last year, after his term on the board had expired.
Interestingly, Meekins was the board chairman at the time of the dismissal of the auctioneer board's executive director, Bob Hamilton, who as it happens had brought disciplinary cases against Meekins and another auctioneer and board member several years before. (The dismissal was before Perdue took office.)
The board had disciplined Meekins for "substantial evidence" of "bad faith or dishonesty" in the sale of a truck . It's hard to see how Meekins, under the ethical standard Perdue has proclaimed, could continue to serve.
Familiar name
Then there's Randy Allen. If the name sounds familiar, it's because Allen is a member of the Wildlife Resources Commission who was appointed to his seat by Easley in the same month that Easley reserved a lot at Allen's Cannonsgate development on the coast.
Easley bought the lot at a discount of $137,000. Allen remains on the commission, and the Cannonsgate deal has been part of federal and state investigations involving Easley.
The N.C. Wildlife Federation has raised an understandable flag of alarm, questioning whether seats on the panel were improperly handed out to big campaign contributors. The federal indictment of former top Easley aide Ruffin Poole contains enough allegations involving Allen's activities that Perdue would be on firm ground if she asked him to resign his official post.
There are other appointees still serving who could, under a strict interpretation of Perdue's "sniff test" standard, at least be called into question.
Bev Perdue has done a good job in making her administration more open with the people's business than Easley's was. Although she can't necessarily be expected to chase down the history of every past appointee, she and her staff should take the current vetting process seriously.
The governor made a promise, and it was a forceful promise, that her standards for appointment and service would be high indeed. It is fair for the people to hold her to it.
