North Carolina government and politics are an ethical cesspool.
Unfortunately the cesspool deepened Tuesday when the State Board of Elections (BOE) gave Gov. Beverly Perdue's 2008 campaign a kiss on the cheek by closing its investigation into the non-reporting of private flights. The $30,000 fine is a pittance for a campaign committee that raised nearly $18 million.
BOE Chairman Larry Leake and the board majority swallowed Perdue attorney John Wallace's contention that although mistakes were made, there was no evidence of criminal intent. But only a blind eye could have missed the evidence that seasoned investigator and soon-to-be file clerk Kim Strach presented to the board with the Perdue-appointed Leake lurking over her shoulder.
Just a week ago, the Perdue campaign turned over a master spreadsheet that accounted for unreported flights. Previously, the campaign maintained that the non-reporting was due to sloppy bookkeeping. But a reading of two reports about gubernatorial campaign-flight accounting reveals the Perdue committee had a sophisticated accounting procedure in place. Not only was it based on a 2004 BOE advisory, the campaign conducted self-audits to make sure everything was right.
So why would a shipshape campaign fail to disclose certain flights? Could it be to protect donors whose flights would have pushed them over the legal donation limit? Could it be the campaign wanted to avoid reimbursing flight donors?
Thanks to the Board of Elections' decision Tuesday, we'll never know.
Questions about unreported flights aren't the only issues the BOE swept into the ethics cesspool. A report released to the board Saturday said former Perdue Chief of Staff Zach Ambrose and General Counsel Will Polk conducted campaign work while assigned to then-Lt. Gov. Perdue's office. So was campaign work done on the taxpayers' dime?
The refusal of the BOE to address this evidence looks like protection of the Perdue campaign, and the governor's near-silence is disheartening.
Perdue could still call for an independent review of her campaign accounting. But I doubt she will, and that's unfortunate. If ever there was a time that North Carolinians needed a confidence boost in their state government, it's now.
Former House Speaker Jim Black continues to serve time in federal prison after collecting and handing out bribes. One former lawmaker and lawbreaker who took a Black bribe, Michael Decker Sr., was released from the federal pen earlier this year. Last summer, former state GOP chair and onetime federal prosecutor Sam Currin walked out of the federal penitentiary after doing time for money laundering and obstruction.
Two more former North Carolina elected officials are waiting to find out if they'll hear the clang of the cell door. Gov. Mike Easley is reportedly under federal investigation for alleged corruption during his eight-year reign. The state has also launched a criminal probe into violations that earned his campaign a $100,000 BOE fine.
Former senator and presidential hopeful John Edwards is under federal scrutiny for allegedly funneling campaign cash to mistress Reille Hunter with whom he fathered a child. No charges have been filed against either Easley or Edwards.
Ethical lapses have infiltrated North Carolina institutions. Last week we learned that the State Bureau of Investigation crime lab is a professional embarrassment. A review of lab work casts concern on hundreds of criminal convictions, including those of three men who were executed.
I won't bother to chronicle the numerous failures of ethics and common sense at the yahoo-infested local Alcohol Beverage Control boards. And enough has been written about the drinkin', speedin' and little bit of lovin' at the State Highway Patrol.
Against this backdrop, Gov. Perdue could have positioned the investigation of her campaign as the dawn of a new day of accountability for public officials. Instead, her inaction has simply added another chapter to North Carolina's sordid history of politicians taking care of their own.
