Staffer says DMV chief favored friend

Commissioner calls charge a lie; staffer briefly suspended

DMV Commissioner George Tatum oversees the documentation of millions of North Carolina motor vehicles, but he has come under fire for a document attached to just one -- a kit car that looks like a vintage 1937 Ford truck.

Although the car isn't a real '37 Ford, it has a title from the Division of Motor Vehicles that says it is. The title might have reduced what the vehicle's owner must pay in taxes and could inflate the value of the vehicle on the open market.

How the fake '37 Ford came to be titled as a real '37 Ford has provoked a charge that Tatum wanted DMV inspectors to approve the title as a favor for a family friend.

Tatum said he played no role in helping his friend, Robert Kinlaw of Fayetteville, get the title in January 2004. But DMV records indicate that Tatum's staff was made aware of the friendship.

"This is a friend of Commissioner Tatum's," said an e-mail message from Tatum's administrative assistant, Deloris Perry. "Will you please call Mr. Kinlaw and help him with this problem."

A DMV inspector in Nash County refused to issue the title because the car was not authentic. But when Kinlaw took the truck to a second inspector in Fayetteville, he got the title.

The News & Observer learned of the switch and questioned Tatum about his role. He denied exerting any influence and ordered an examination of the disputed vehicle. That task fell to Joey Gardner, an assistant director in the DMV's license and theft bureau. He went to Fayetteville and found that the truck was indeed a replica.

The inspection reminded him, he said, of an earlier conversation in which Tatum had mentioned a '37 Ford truck replica's being rejected and how he would get it approved.

Gardner related that conversation in a memo to one of his bosses, bureau Director John Robinson Jr. Gardner's memo said Tatum told him "they would just get it straightened out when they got it home. I took that to mean when the vehicle was taken back to Fayetteville."

Gardner was promptly visited by two internal affairs officers, who asked about his memo. Then they told him he was suspended with pay for "psychological" issues and took his badge and gun.

"I told them, 'I think it's ironic that you want to suspend me when I've written something that's damaging to the commissioner,' " Gardner said in an interview last week.

The suspension lasted only hours. Dan DeVane, the Department of Transportation's chief deputy secretary, ordered Gardner back on the job. He has the badge but still lacks the gun.

Tatum said he did not help Kinlaw get the vintage title and did not mention to anyone at the DMV that Kinlaw is a friend.

"I can tell you that [Gardner's claim] is a lie," Tatum said.

Tatum and DeVane declined to comment on the suspension, calling it a personnel matter.

But the case has caused Tatum to order a review of the more than 80,000 vehicles titled as antiques in North Carolina.

Why title matters

States issue vehicle titles to identify a vehicle and its owner. A vehicle can't get registered for driving on North Carolina roads without one. State residents must provide documents such as a title signed over from the previous owner, or proof of purchase along with an indemnity bond, to receive one.

Gardner, whose job includes overseeing DMV inspectors, said a replica titled as an original could help the owner sell the vehicle at an inflated price.

He also said that the owner could pay far less in taxes. In Kinlaw's case, he paid $15 in highway use taxes on the truck because the DMV values a 1937 Ford truck at $500. (The tax amounts to 3 percent of the book value.) But the tax on a newly built custom car is based on the cost of labor and materials, which Gardner said is typically in the $10,000 to $30,000 range. That adds up to $300 to $900 in taxes.