Somebody’s lying again

by | Jan 13, 2015 | Editor's Blog, NCGov | 8 comments

McCrory-(full)Uh, oh. Somebody’s lying again. According to an ethics complaint filed by ProgressNC Action, a company called McCrory and Company listed Gov. Pat McCrory as a partner on its website. In addition, in filings with the Securities Exchange Commission, Tree.com and Kewaunee Scientific Corp. both list the governor as a partner with McCrory and Company. But McCrory says he was never a partner; he was only an independent contractor.

It’s not likely that Tree.com and Kewaunee randomly made the same mistake. Somebody must have told them that Pat McCrory was a partner in those firms. It seems probable that the governor himself did.

Maybe McCrory was just embellishing his record. He’s certainly been known to do that. However, he should have straightened all of that out before he filed his ethics forms with the State of North Carolina. Somebody, either the companies or McCrory, is not telling the truth about his role with McCrory and Company.

Then there’s the issue of his Duke Energy stock. That’s the one that has even Republicans concerned. McCrory repeatedly failed to acknowledge that he owned more than $10,000 in Duke stock when he filed his Statement of Economic Interests with the state. McCrory calls it an oversight while ProgressNC calls it a pattern.

Regardless, filing the report wrong either shows incompetence, stupidity, or deceit. He was incompetent if he meant to list it but didn’t. He was stupid if he didn’t think the stock applied. Or he was deceitful if he didn’t want the public to know about it. None of those excuses are good reasons for a sitting governor to fail to report economic interests, especially one who ran on transparency.

However, the ethics forms aren’t what have Republicans concerned. They are worried about the sale of the Duke stock and when it occurred. According to one source, McCrory sold his stock just prior to releasing to his recommendations for dealing with coal ash. If that’s true, he made money on stock right before he announced a policy that might have affected Duke’s bottom line. And he knew about the plan before the general public did. Seems like somebody should look into that sale.

McCory’s problem now is more than just ethics. It’s politics. People already don’t trust their elected officials and believe they’ve rigged the system for themselves. McCrory is the epitome of their concerns. He was a mid-level manager at Duke Energy making a decent living. However, he’s traded on his tenure as mayor and now governor to make big bucks from private companies that have business with the government he’s supposed to serve. If we’re going to restore faith in government, we need less Pat McCrory’s running the show.

8 Comments

  1. Thuaidh Cearuilin

    Hey I wonder if ProgressNC had any trouble getting their 501-C3 status affirmed by the IRS?

  2. lily

    The elephant in the room, If Pat sold the stock knowing that something would be coming down the pike which could effect it’s value and he was privy to this information due to his position, there is a real question as to, whether he would be an insider. If he sold the stock to avoid a potential political conflict of interest, this may be another matter entirely. Normally, an insider is somebody who is operating within the confines of the corporation. Although, that could include a person who gains the information by association with an insider. Anyway you cut it, there is a question as to whether he acted properly. Perhaps he should have held the stock and taken the loss. A person in high public office should clean up these issues before taking on the job. It dose not speak well of his management skills to leave these lose ends.

  3. Mick

    The State Ethics Commission doesn’t investigate until a formal complaint is submitted. If Progress NC didn’t submit it, likely some other entity would have.

  4. Thuaidh Cearuilin

    This is just grasping at straws and I suspect most of you know it. Any interest group has to do SOMETHING to keep those donations rolling in and Progress NC (probably a couple of shut-in malcontents with a computer and fax) is just running the playbook. However “The Mick” is right (for once) the voters will ultimately decide.

  5. andyorrabc@gmail.com

    Mick – Even I could write that political attack ad. Surely NC Dems have resources with more experience than me.

  6. Mick

    My guess would be that a State Ethics Commission review will not have enough evidence/facts that would constitute “smoking gun” proof of unethical activity, and, as such, they’ll simply report that the Gov’s actions generated the “appearances” of a conflict of interest. There would be no formal penalty—except the kind that might be imposed by those voters who would choose to not support him for re-election come 2016. But any such loss of support would be contingent upon how well or poorly his opponent and the Dem Party can focus the electorate’s attention on this suspect pattern of behavior….

  7. lily

    (1) Personal business dealings with a private company his office is charged with regulating (2) Sales of stock prior to taking action as a public official which could effect the value of that stock. These appear to be serious accusations. Where are the Feds when you need them?

    • Art

      The Federal Government is now run by businessmen so republicans …..

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