newsobserver.com projects - Cowell campaign blurring the lines? - Comments

Re: Cowell campaign blurring the lines?

jjsmith2 — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 11:38:57 -0400

You might want to disclose who you are RalResident

Re: Cowell campaign blurring the lines?

RalResident — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 08:21:20 -0400

I think a little enlightenment might be in order here, but where to start? “Wasting blog space on the Treasurer’s race. . .” Well, let’s see billsfan, here in North Carolina the State Treasurer is an elected official who has the second most constitutional powers behind the governor. No need to be interested in that race. The Treasure is the sole fiduciary (that means has individual control of and responsibility for) over $75 billion in state funds, to include about $66 billion in pension funds for our retired state employees and teachers. The Treasurer chairs the State Banking Commission and has executive oversight of our banking system. The Treasurer Chairs the Local Government Commission which approves city and county debt for infrastructure projects and works with local governments to maintain their fiscal health. The Treasurer is THE ONE elected official we have who is specifically tasked to watch our state’s debt position and hence our bond rating through the Debt Affordability Report . The list goes on, but I guess you’re right billsfan, nothing to be concerned about here. Yawn.
Now how might an ethics issue in this race effect you bellaparola? Well, first you should know that despite what Ms. Cowell would like for you to believe, this is not a gray area. The new ethics laws have been a point of emphasis in the legislature for a year or so. All members and staff received extensive training and the rules are clear. Using legislative staff to work on a campaign is a clear no no unless the work is voluntary, after hours and out of the office. The essence of this allegation is that an elected official used government resources for personal gain. Let’s add this up: there’s a possibility that a candidate for an office that has autonomous control over $75 billion may have used government resources to advance a personal agenda, e.g. get elected to a higher office, and we don’t need to be concerned about getting to the bottom of that?
For those of you who aren’t concerned about the ethics of all this. As Ms. Cowell admits, the operation of her campaign was “inappropriate” and that “mistakes were made,” so we might need to wonder: if Ms. Cowell can’t lead a twenty-something campaign manager and manage a 2 or 3 person staff AND stay on the right side of the ethics lines, how on earth is she going to be able to lead a 350-employee professional staff?
One final thought, and according to the email cited in the article this is not in dispute; that twenty-something campaign manager was also running Cowell’s legislation to support the “brand.” That’s beyond troubling. And here I thought we sent legislators to Raleigh to craft legislation that is first and foremost in the peoples’ interest. Silly me.
Yep, just another “petty issue” let’s all go back to talking about the Godless ad. That’s way more fun.

Talk about petty issues ...

bellaparola — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:51:11 -0400

This really takes the cake. From reading all of the above I don't have any idea what's going on, but I can say for sure that it is absolutely irrelevant to anything in my world. Ethics are important. The story above doesn't threaten my ethical equilibrium at all.

Re: Cowell campaign blurring the lines?

billsfan — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:06:38 -0400

First off, I have to be honest, wasting blog space on the Treasurer's race at this point is a little ridiculous, especially considering the circumstance here. Is this a soap opera or a credible story?

Let me understand this situation, Senator Cowell announced her candidacy in mid-2007. Ms. Johnson left employment under Senator Cowell in March 2008. Is Ms. Johnson even a credible source of information? She wasn't even there for the primary, let alone the general election campaign.

As soon as Senator Cowell seemed to become aware of a situation that blurred the Senate office and Treasurer campaign separation, she counseled the campaign manager regarding standard of separation. This area of the law leaves some room for interpretation and case-by-case evaluation. Several candidates seem to struggle mightily with this separation. Senator Cowell’s counsel of "firewalling" the campaign and the Senate office seems to set a clear standard. Unless there are more specifics here like other documented incidents that were ignored by the candidate--this was a real waste of space and effort.

I am assuming that unless Ms. Johnson has more facts, this is a disgruntled former employee making accusations. Hard to believe she would be in the know without having been involved for the last 8 months. Let's try to elevate the conversation here.

This closes this episode of "As The Treasurer's Race Turns." Yawwnnnnn!

Cowell is one of our best

Isaac136 — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:56:44 -0400

Janet Cowell is one of the best legislators we've ever had - with a stellar record for decency, fairness and integrity that is richly deserved.

I would imagine that the horror stories over at the General Assembly regarding clashes between enthusiastic campaign staffers with the General Assembly staff would make for interesting reading, but this is clearly an effort by an angry former staffer to hurt Cowell at the tail end of the campaign. It's misunderstanding turned into an item that gets attention solely because of the timing and the determination of a former friend to draw some blood. It's pure spite and a definite misrepresentation of the kind of public servant Cowell was at city council, while in the NC senate and will be after November 4th.

Janet Cowell is one of the cleanest candidates running and deserves far better than this.

Not surprising - Cowell is NOT a friend to state employees

wwf165 — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:45:36 -0400

Senator Cowell tried to take away all of the assigned parking spaces of state employees who work in downtown Raleigh, while protecting her own legislative parking space.

Re: Cowell campaign blurring the lines?

PoliticalJunkie — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:36:03 -0400

She voted for dell incentives, coincidence?

Cowell campaign blurring the lines?

markjohnson — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:07:04 -0400

State Sen. Janet Cowell tried to use her Senate office to get a Dell lobbyist to help fix a campaign worker's laptop, according to a former Cowell Senate staffer.

The line-crossing between the campaign and the taxpayer-funded senate office was one of several examples of apparently inappropriate coordination between the two operations.

Sherry Johnson, who resigned from Cowell's senate office in February after complaining about demands from the campaign, said Cowell called last winter and asked another Senate staffer, Cindy Garrison, to contact a Dell lobbyist to help repair or replace a campaign worker's laptop.

Cowell said the campaign worker was a North Carolina resident who she was trying to help. Cowell initially said she asked for the lobbyist's phone number but then said she didn't remember if she asked the Senate staffer to call. Garrison said she vaguely remembered the exchange but was certain she did not call a lobbyist and may have called Cowell back to ask if the instructions were correct.

"This is another of those fine lines," Cowell said. "This was someone who had trouble with a laptop, and I knew someone who might be able to help and the (phone) number resided on a database in the office."

Johnson agreed that Garrison did not call any of the lobbyists because Johnson intervened on her behalf, calling Cowell about the request.

"I could not get it to resonate with her that the entire request was inappropriate from top to bottom," Johnson said. "I told her to remember the rule that if it's something you don't want on the 11 o'clock news or on the front page of the newspaper, then don't do it. And then it registered with her."

More after the jump.