Lobbyist and former NC lawmaker is no longer on firm’s website
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Former state Rep. Jason Saine no longer appears on The Southern Group’s website.
- Over 30 businesses, nonprofits or local governments have registered Saine as lobbyist.
- Wilkinson was among four lobbyists indicted in a case tied to the 2024 distillery tour.
Former state Rep. Jason Saine is no longer shown on the website of a prominent lobbying firm that hired him after he took part in a controversial distillery tour in 2024 that is now under investigation.
The Southern Group’s website for the Raleigh office lists four other lobbyists, including Kevin Wilkinson, who opened that office in April 2024, two weeks before the distillery tour in the Louisville, Kentucky, area, attended by lawmakers and lobbyists, became public.
Saine, a Lincolnton Republican who at the time was the House’s chief budget writer, initially wouldn’t comment on the trip, but then confirmed it and said he went on it. He left the House three months later and joined The Southern Group in November of that year.
As of Monday, more than 30 businesses, nonprofits or local governments have registered Saine as their lobbyist, the N.C. Secretary of State’s lobbying division shows.
Saine did not return a phone call or text on Friday, nor did Wilkinson. Southern Group founder Paul Bradshaw, who works out of the Tallahassee, Florida, office, declined to comment on Saine’s status Monday morning.
Last month, Wilkinson was among four lobbyists indicted by a Wake County grand jury on a misdemeanor charge of solicitation to commit violations of the offense of giving gifts by lobbyists and lobbying principals. The charge is tied to the 2024 distillery tour of Kentucky’s bourbon trail, and the indictments say the lobbyists each “encouraged” a client to financially support trip expenses.
Greater Carolina, a nonprofit social welfare group based in Mooresville, sponsored the trip. It was founded by a former aide to Saine. It is led by David Coble, a Mooresville businessman who occasionally co-hosts a radio show with Saine.
Coble is also the local representative of a developer that won $15 million from state lawmakers in the final version of the 2023 budget to build a road through its planned residential development that would connect two heavily used highways. A year earlier, the developer, Mooresville BTR, had told the town it was paying for the road as it won approval for the project.
Saine has not been charged in the distillery tour investigation. Lawmakers are not allowed to accept gifts under state law, but it’s not a criminal offense if they do, Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said. Carolina Forward, a left-leaning nonprofit based in Carrboro, had filed a complaint about the distillery tour.
The investigation into Greater Carolina is continuing and looking beyond the distillery trip, Freeman said last month.
Saine was also charged with driving under the influence in South Carolina on Sept. 8.