Remember Kevin Geddings? No? Well, Kevin Geddings was the former political consultant who went to prison in 2006 for failing to disclose earnings on an ethics form. When Geddings was appointed by former Speaker Jim Black to the newly created lottery commission, he failed to disclose on his ethics form that he had once been paid $25,000 by Scientific Games, a lottery company that was vying for the contract to administer North Carolina’s lottery.
Geddings never received a dime as a lottery commissioner and nobody ever even accused him of profiting from his position. They accused him of trying to hide his relationship to the firm.
Eventually, Geddings conviction was overturned and he was released from prison. But remember who prosecuted him? George Holding, the current Republican Congressman from the 13th Congressional District. At the time of the conviction, Holding said, “Today’s verdict sends a very, very clear message that public servants in North Carolina may not lie to the people, they may not hide the truth from the people and they may not profit on the backs of the people.”
I wonder what Holding has to say about Governor Pat McCrory failing to list his Duke Energy holdings on his ethics forms? Did McCrory not “hide the truth from the people?” Or does that level of scrutiny only apply to the Democrats that Holding pursued and prosecuted?
Unlike Geddings, who never profited from his relationship with Scientific Games while he was in state government, McCrory certainly made money from his stock in Duke while he was governor. And more importantly, decisions from McCrory’s administration have an impact on the company’s bottom line. Geddings wasn’t commissioner long enough to help Scientific Games even if he had wanted to.
So I’m waiting for the Republican outrage over McCrory’s omission. McCrory has avoided making financial disclosures since he was running for the office. Now, we know that he also tried to hide some of his financial relationships from the public. It would be disingenuous of him to say he forgot since Duke was his employer for 30 years.
In the midst of all this mess, the SBI and its mission to investigate public corruption is being transferred to the governor’s office from the attorney general’s office. I wonder if Pat McCrory will now investigate himself?
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
Those Fracking NC Lawmaker need to keep in mind NC historical events to do with toxic waste and someone needs to brush up how to dump Fracking Radioactive Waste in NC Landfills !
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_County_PCB_Landfill
The reason I was exonerated and my conviction was overturned was because I did nothing wrong except being a political opponent of the U.S. Attorney at the time. We need to move beyond using inconsistent ethics disclosure rules as a way to destroy people who are trying to serve the public. This “gotcha” mentality made destructive by abusive federal prosecutors does nothing to advance the cause of better government in America.
Thanks, Kevin. I hope you’re doing well. I hope your points came out in the article. That said, McCrory has bigger problems than just filing ethics disclosure forms. He’s got a history of questionable relationships.
I think we all know the answer to the question of Pat McCrory investigating himself or anyone else for that matter who has any connection whatsoever to his administration. Without the proverbial smoking gun, videotape, and a busload of Popes all testifying that Paddy boy did this, that or the other, it’ll be a non-event.
It’s at about this point that Dan Forest sticks his head in the Governor’s door and opins, “Stupid is as stupid does.”
I swear to you all, Chicago politicians pale in comparison to the NC kind!
The governor apparently cannot see an issue with an elected official hanging onto stock in his previous employer’s company – not disclosing this ownership and failing to divest the stock until after that company dumped tons of coal ash into a vital water source and now wants consumers to pay to clean it up. We see the reason the governor moved SBI to his own office.