Legislators: Start over on land sales

Easley and lawmakers say the state property commission must go

Legislators moved Monday to abolish a state commission created three years ago that was supposed to help the state sell millions worth of surplus property but has not yet produced a sale.

Gov. Mike Easley also said Monday, through a spokesman, that the effort should be stopped.

"The governor wants the commission abolished -- abolished," said Easley spokesman Seth Effron.

Key lawmakers said a bill to be filed today would end the N.C. Commission on State Property, which has two full-time employees and a 16-member board. So far taxpayers have spent $220,000 on the commission, a pet project of former House Speaker Jim Black, with few results.

In the commission's place, legislators would create a nine-member board to identify surplus property and make sure it is sold, adding cash to the state's general fund and giving a boost to county tax collections, the lawmakers said.

"We're going to disband what is there, start fresh and get going on this," said Rep. Bruce Goforth, a Buncombe County Democrat who heads the House Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government.

Sen. Katie Dorsett, who leads a similar committee in the Senate, agreed.

"We need a complete restructuring and more accountability," said Dorsett, a Guilford County Democrat who was secretary of administration under Gov. Jim Hunt. She oversaw, among other things, property sales.

Goforth and Dorsett said the bill would be introduced by the end of today, in time to meet a crucial deadline for consideration this year. The bill is backed by other leaders in both chambers. Easley was not aware of the pending legislation and could not yet comment, Effron said.

In addition, a bill already filed that would have given the property commission more authority will die in a committee handling it, according to that bill's primary sponsor, Sen. Robert Pittenger, a Mecklenburg County Republican.

Time has run out

Pittenger said time's up on the property commission, including the need for changes to help it work, and he has asked for work on it to stop. He filed his bill because he said he believes in the goal of returning state property to taxpayers.

Since the N.C. Commission on State Property was formed in 2004, it has not produced any sales and has been dogged by turmoil, ethics concerns and resistance from agencies that had land targeted for possible sale.

A report in Sunday's News & Observer detailed the commission's efforts and some of its problems. The problems included ethics questions involving a proposal to sell land in West Raleigh next to the State Fairgrounds that was not considered surplus; failure to sell property in Alamance County owned by the N.C. National Guard even though it apparently had not been used in 15 years; and an attempt to sell property owned by a state home for the mentally retarded in Morganton that was considered critical to the mission of the home.

The commission also has strong ties to Black, a Democrat from Mecklenburg County, who pleaded guilty last month to public corruption felonies.

The current director, for example, is the son of a crucial Black fundraiser -- a man who raised money used by Black in a bribery scheme in 2003 to stay in power. The commission's administrative assistant used to work in Black's legislative office and was paid by his campaign.

Moreover, the commission's former full-time executive director says he was ousted after making an ethics complaint against a commissioner -- a complaint upheld by the state Attorney General's Office. A deputy attorney general issued a reprimand to Patrick H. Bell of Gaston County, then-co-chairman of the commission. A few months later, the commission hired Bell as the new director with a 23 percent salary increase.

"This whole thing just needs to be tabled," Pittenger said, "and then we regroup, find better personnel and properly address the main concern of selling surplus property."

Goforth said he would like to see the commission dismantled immediately, but didn't know how or whether that could happen. It is not now handling any property proposals.

In a draft of the bill, which Goforth and Dorsett said has been in the works for several months, a new commission would identify properties as either critical to the state; not cost-efficient in current use; underutilized; seldom used; or as having no current or future use.

Doing so would lead to sales, they said. Two new employees would be hired. The new effort would be placed within the state Department of Administration instead of being independent, as the current commission is.

The current commission's chairman looked over the bill Monday and said he did not see any problems with it at first glance.

"We haven't been selling anything so far," said the chairman, John Bridgeman of Gaston County. "Maybe this will do it."