The Keiths to success

by | Nov 2, 2015 | Editor's Blog, NC Politics, NCGov | 4 comments

I emerged from a week of fog caused by a nasty respiratory illness just in time to read the N&O’s disturbing and remarkable story of apparent corruption in the McCrory administration. While pay-to-play politics in the current administration is the central figure in the story, the supporting cast includes loyalty, transactional politics, the prison-industrial complex, privatization of government, and wealth, privilege, and entitlement. It has the makings of a political epic.

The hint of scandal has followed Pat McCrory since his first days in office. He took money from a company his office regulates while he is a sitting governor. He sold his Duke Power stock while his former employer was being investigated for a coal ash spill. Now, though, it appears McCrory may have traded government contracts for campaign donations. At the very least, his donor believed he was owed something for his contributions.

When the contract for prison maintenance was ending for the Keith Corporation, the company’s owner told McCrory and prison officials that he “had given a lot of money to candidates running for office and it was now time for him to get something in return.” A smart governor would have run the man out of the room. McCrory gave him a contract extension.

The owners, Graeme Keith, Sr. and his son Greg, had been big donors to both parties. They gave money to Democrats when they were in power, in particular former Speaker and fellow Charlottean Jim Black, who served time for corruption. But Graeme Keith gave far more to the Charlotte Republicans like US Senator and former Speaker Thom Tillis, who took over state government beginning in 2011. If Democrats want to know where their funding went, they should look no further than this episode. Transactional donors follow power, not parties.

Keith not only wanted to get contracts, he also wanted to keep maintenance privatized even though prison officials found contractors saved little money and posed security risks. In this instance, public sector employees provided superior services to a private contractor, but the contractor got the gig. Contrary to the beliefs of the free market ideologues, the forces that make government successful are not the same ones that make businesses successful.

One area of government that does adhere to supply and demand, though, is the criminal justice system. We’ll build as many prisons as necessary to house the supply of prisoners. And as long as people like the Keiths are making money locking other people up, people like Pat McCrory will resist reforms that would keep people out of prison. A for-profit prison system is really not in anybody’s interest except the people making money off it.

Clearly, Secretary of Public Safety Frank Perry thought extending the contract was a bad idea, especially in light of Keith’s statements about campaign contributions. But Perry is also throwing McCrory and his administration under the bus. Perry gave interviews in which he said that Keith made numerous statements to the effect, “I’ve made my contributions and I should keep my contracts.” Nixon at least surrounded himself with people who would try to protect him. Perry clearly doesn’t see that as his role in relation to McCrory.

Finally, the Keiths are exactly the type of people who make others believe that the system is rigged. Graeme Keith obviously feels entitled to his contract because of the money he can afford to give politicians. Greg Keith tried to use his money to win his son a starting slot as quarterback on his high school football team. When that didn’t work, the family rented out their $2.8 million home and bought a $700,000 one in a school district looking for a QB. The Keiths are utterly unsympathetic people who use their money and connections to get what they want at the expense of the rest of us. So much for greed is good.

McCrory is complaining about the story, claiming it’s unfair but not really disputing the facts. The FBI is investigating and if indictments come down, he’s probably toast. Regardless, the political damage is already substantial. He ran on cleaning up cronyism and increasing transparency. He’s done neither.

With McCrory’s approval ratings in the tank and likely to fall further, Republicans face a question similar to the one that Democrats faced in 2012. Do they run with a seriously damaged gubernatorial candidate or do they toss him and try to find someone else at the eleventh hour? Maybe now moving those primaries to March doesn’t look like such a good idea.

4 Comments

  1. Lex

    You know, it’s not that hard to avoid the kind of strictly defined quid-pro-quo that constitutes what the law considers to be corruption. It really isn’t. And yet, here it’s as if Keith and McCrory were acting out a demo script for law students. *shakes head*

  2. Onlooker

    Didn’t The Charlotte Observer characterize him as “the boy on the runaway horse”? Pretty apt.

  3. Norma Munn

    Perhaps we need to emulate Jim Cramer’s “Hall of Shame” for elected officials in NC. Instead of CEOs who were damaging the companies they led, we could list those with the most scandals. I would say those who broke their campaign promises, but the list would be too long.

    Seriously, is anyone surprised by this conduct? Graft, making money off one’s public position, ignoring the public good — all seem to be the norm in Raleigh. No one gets indicted, no one gets thrown out of office, so what would one expect them to do?

    And just where is Roy Cooper and his office on this? Why should I trust him to be any different as Governor if he can’t carry out his current responsibilities regarding public corruption? Or would that rock the boat too much re his getting precisely the kind of contributions that lead to this mess?

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