As big campaign donor sentenced to prison, Dan Forest records still a secret
A billionaire businessman and political megadonor, Greg Lindberg, was sentenced to seven years in prison Wednesday in North Carolina’s biggest recent political corruption scandal.
Lindberg gave millions to Democrats and Republicans, with the most, $2.4 million, going to support the campaign of Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, who is running for governor against Democratic incumbent Gov. Roy Cooper.
Neither political party has given Lindberg’s money back.
Lindberg was sentenced in Charlotte on charges related to his attempt to bribe Republican Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey with up to $2 million in campaign contributions, the Charlotte Observer reported.
Forest’s latest campaign finance report shows that he has received $6.9 million in donations from individuals and PACs. But the donations from Lindberg mostly went to separate groups. One of them, the Republican Council of State Committee, funded a recent campaign ad featuring Forest and the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson.
The News & Observer requested Forest’s schedule and emails during the period of Lindberg’s political donations, under the state public records law, to find out how frequently they communicated. Sixteen months later, the N&O has not received the records.
The N&O made the records request in April 2019 for Forest’s daily calendar and schedule from June 1, 2017 to Feb. 28, 2018, including meetings, as well as all electronic correspondence sent and received by the lieutenant governor during that same time frame.
Steven Walker, the lieutenant governor’s chief of staff and general counsel, told the N&O via email this week that he is still working on it among several other records requests. In March, after a similar response, the N&O also requested the office’s list of public records requests. The office hasn’t turned that over either.
Lindberg hosted a fundraiser for Forest in August 2017, and Forest attended an event at Lindberg’s company in September 2017.
Forest’s chief of staff contacted Causey’s office in August 2017, seeking a meeting between Lindberg and Causey, according to records from the Department of Insurance. Lindberg and Causey ended up meeting in November, according to indictments, The News & Observer previously reported.
Forest was not charged or investigated in relation to Lindberg, nor called as a witness in the trial. He has not given back the Lindberg donations, nor have Democrats, including Wayne Goodwin, a former insurance commissioner who is running again this year.
Forest said the Lindberg trial had nothing to with him.
“Money is neutral,” Forest told the N&O earlier this year.
“If the money came from a nefarious purpose or something like that, that’s different. But [others] received the money legally, we received the money legally. There’s nothing wrong with any of that,” Forest said in a January interview. “So it’s a non-issue. It’s been a non-issue for the Democrat Party, it’s been a non-issue for the black caucus, it’s been a non-issue for the historically black colleges that received a lot of money from Mr. Lindberg, it’s just a non-issue.”
Forest’s campaign website has a page about the Lindberg scandal. He calls any tie between him and it “fake news.” Forest’s campaign also notes that the lieutenant governor does not have jurisdiction over the N.C. Department of Insurance or insurance regulation.
Forest’s Republican primary opponent, state Rep. Holly Grange, questioned Forest receiving the money, calling it “tainted,” the N&O and news partner ABC11 previously reported.
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