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 <title>newsobserver.com projects - Merritt releases report on Nesbitt - Comments</title>
 <link>http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/merritt_releases_report_on_nesbitt</link>
 <description>Comments for &quot;Merritt releases report on Nesbitt&quot;</description>
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 <title>Re: Merritt releases report on Nesbitt</title>
 <link>http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/merritt_releases_report_on_nesbitt#comment-6921</link>
 <description>&lt;p&gt;Do you people SEE how the democrackkks can simply manipulate the legislature to cover their a**es???  DONT YOU SEE IT???  CLEAR DELIBERATE&lt;br /&gt;
CORRUPTION ADMITTED!!!&lt;/p&gt;</description>
 <pubDate>Wed, 28 May 2008 12:33:02 -0400</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>FFC1304</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">comment 6921 at http://projects.newsobserver.com</guid>
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 <title>Re: Merritt releases report on Nesbitt</title>
 <link>http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/merritt_releases_report_on_nesbitt#comment-6920</link>
 <description>&lt;p&gt;Those around Asheville seem to think that this car racin team and facilities arent owned wholly by Nesbitt&#039;s son.  He has avoided direct questions from local radio shows, and is the ONLY WNC politician to consistently REFUSE to come on to LIVE RADIO Talk shows!  Whats he scared of?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Is he N E X T ???   LOLololol&lt;/p&gt;</description>
 <pubDate>Wed, 28 May 2008 12:30:45 -0400</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>FFC1304</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">comment 6920 at http://projects.newsobserver.com</guid>
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 <title>Merritt releases report on Nesbitt</title>
 <link>http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/merritt_releases_report_on_nesbitt</link>
 <description>&lt;!-- Begin check for Blog Icon --&gt;
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	&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;State Auditor &lt;a href=&quot;/profiles/les_merritt&quot;&gt;Les Merritt&lt;/a&gt; released a report Tuesday on state Sen. &lt;a href=&quot;http://ncleg.net/gascripts/members/viewMember.pl?sChamber=Senate&amp;amp;nUserID=119&quot;&gt;Martin Nesbitt&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The report, at the center of a &lt;a href=&quot;/under_the_dome/tip_about_legislator_led_to_ethics_fuss&quot;&gt;dispute&lt;/a&gt; over whether the auditor should investigate violations of the state ethics law, became public after Nesbitt waived his right to confidentiality for the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ethicscommission.nc.gov/index.htm&quot;&gt;State Ethics Commission&lt;/a&gt; to give its side, Ben Niolet and Mark Johnson &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.charlotte.com/politics/story/642826.html&quot;&gt;report&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the report, Merritt says he believes the Asheville Democrat should have disclosed on ethics filings that he worked with his son&amp;#39;s racing team. Nesbitt was an unpaid crew chief.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Merritt&amp;#39;s report details how Nesbitt and his son own a business that owns a warehouse that Nesbitt&amp;#39;s son used as collateral for a loan for the racing team.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;It&amp;#39;s hard to get around the fact that Nesbitt Ventures&amp;#39; business plan is to &amp;#39;own and lease real estate&amp;#39; but their sole property is being used to provide financial backing to Nesbitt Racing,&amp;quot; Merritt said. &amp;quot;Therefore, if Nesbitt Racing fails, which could happen if a major financial sponsor backed out, Nesbitt Ventures and its owners are left holding the debt.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;But the ethics commission does not see a conflict because Nesbitt&amp;#39;s son doesn&amp;#39;t live with his father, which means his financial dealings are irrelevant to Nesbitt&amp;#39;s.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;When (Merritt) doesn&amp;#39;t like (the ethics commission&amp;#39;s) opinion, he says, &amp;#39;I&amp;#39;m going to apply my own law,&amp;#39;&amp;quot; Nesbitt said.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2007&amp;amp;BillID=S1875&quot;&gt;bill&lt;/a&gt; to prohibit the auditor from looking into ethics cases is &lt;a href=&quot;/under_the_dome/ethics_bill_to_move_forward&quot;&gt;moving forward&lt;/a&gt; in the legislature.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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	&lt;div class=&quot;node-blog-teaser-comments&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/merritt_releases_report_on_nesbitt#comment&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.newsobserver.com/images/front_new/icon_discussion.gif&quot; width=&quot;11&quot; height=&quot;7&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt; Comments (2)&lt;/a&gt;
	
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 <comments>http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/merritt_releases_report_on_nesbitt#comment</comments>
 <category domain="http://projects.newsobserver.com/tags/auditor">auditor</category>
 <category domain="http://projects.newsobserver.com/tags/les_merritt">Les Merritt</category>
 <category domain="http://projects.newsobserver.com/tags/mart_nesbitt">Mart Nesbitt</category>
 <category domain="http://projects.newsobserver.com/tags/martin_nesbitt">Martin Nesbitt</category>
 <category domain="http://projects.newsobserver.com/tags/nesbitt_racing">Nesbitt Racing</category>
 <category domain="http://projects.newsobserver.com/tags/nesbitt_ventures">Nesbitt Ventures</category>
 <category domain="http://projects.newsobserver.com/tags/state_ethics_commission">State Ethics Commission</category>
 <category domain="http://projects.newsobserver.com/project/under_the_dome">Under the Dome</category>
 <pubDate>Wed, 28 May 2008 08:42:12 -0400</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>ryanteaguebeckwith</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">7292 at http://projects.newsobserver.com</guid>
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