newsobserver.com projects - state auditor - Comments

Re: Fired ethics staffer sues

vince_clortho — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 09:32:45 -0400

this is what's going on at the "ethics commission?"

Re: Fired ethics staffer sues

newsbaby — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 09:13:19 -0400

Good for you Ms. Thaxton!

Re: Fired ethics staffer sues

FFC1304 — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 07:18:52 -0400

the democrackkks are FULL of coverups in NC...there's another 'Whistleblower' about Bev Perdue to be exposed soon!

WHO will be the NEXT NC democrackkk to fall into flames of corruption?

Re: Fired ethics staffer sues

Atnor — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:37:32 -0400

Good for her. And if it wasnt retaliation, what exactly was it for? You would think Thaxton would know. :)

Re: Ethics suit could cost $40,000

bkrueger — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:33:39 -0400

It's actually in the second paragraph, but it's there to identify the reporter who wrote the item.

We have a lot of reporters who contribute to this blog (see the list in the right-hand column), but sometimes someone else does the actual posting.

Re: Ethics suit could cost $40,000

Cottonelle — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:39:19 -0400

Why is "reports Dan Kane" in the first paragraph?

It's a crooked Auditor that is causing this spending.

zoobatmania — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:14:15 -0400

There is no story here, he's just trying to save his job.

Re: Ethics suit could cost $40,000

ebetz — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:31:14 -0400

Demorats in Action!!! Why are we spending any State money at all on these Lawyers. The Demorat party committed these "sins" during an election campaign and the money for legal actions resulting should come from their campaign funds!!! Why are tax $ involved? Because Demorats priorities on spending money is Tax dollars first, get some donor to front the money second, campaign funds third and finaly personal dollars but on if it means not having to go to jail!!

Re: Auditor, ethics bill nears passage

bet — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:38:29 -0400

Dear Sir or Madam Legislator:

Representative Paul Stam's letter to his colleagues (provided below)regarding SB 1875 is a Scotsman's Argument, and whilst backpedaling, me thinks Rep. Paul Stam also maybe protesting a little too much too.

Given that Stam's Amendment to SB1875, had already been declared dead by Senator and Dictator Tony Rand's de facto decree of opposition, why not then was it not his "duty to vigorously" campaign and vote against the bill, instead of a silly and most likely useless show of force?

Minority Leader Stam's manner of doing the people's business of SB1875, could certainly be perceived and termed as one of "vigorously negotiating" by some. But if a little time were taken to study the matter, I believe that other very disconcerting perceptions might evolve.

And let's get real real about one thing. Politically, how could the Auditor, when faced with a particularly bad bill limiting his authority to ferret out the bad guys, do anything but publicly favor a softened (amended) version, even if he suspected that it was only a worthless act of grandstanding lip service at best, and even possibly an act to distract or camouflage even?

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rep. Paul Stam
Republican Leader
North Carolina House of Representatives
613 Legislative Office Building, Raleigh, NC 27803-5925
(919) 733-2962 - Pauls@ncleg.net

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

RE: SENATE BILL 1875, “Clarify State Auditor Authority”

Rep. Paul Stam

July 16, 2008

House and Senate GOP Colleagues,

There have been misstatements about the process on this bill in the Blogosphere and in the press. This is my perspective on it.

Earlier this spring a dispute erupted between the State Auditor and the State Ethics Commission. Rep. Bill McGee, Rep. Laura Wiley and I serve on the Legislative Ethics Committee which meets jointly with the Senate with equal members of Republicans and Democrats. It was co-chaired by Rep. Glazier and Sen. Clodfelter. The main proponent of the SEC position was Sen. Clodfelter. He had staff draft a bill (SB 1875 v1) and the House counterpart HB 2544). The deadline to authorize filing the bill was that day.

At 6:00 p.m. Rep. Glazier was chairing the meeting and in obvious back pain. He asked for an agreement that we would file the bill to meet the deadline but it would come back to the Legislative Ethics Committee before moving forward. Rep. McGee and I co-introduced the House version as primary sponsors in order to maintain a degree of control over it.

Thereafter Rep. Glazier had surgery and was out for several weeks. Probably because of his absence, the Legislative Ethics Committee never met again. However, Rep. Glazier did negotiate extensively by Email (from his sickbed) and took the bill through the House Ethics Committee, which also has equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats. During the weeks that Rep. Glazier was out I negotiated the matter with the SEC, other members, Rep. Glazier, and staff. At every step of the way I conferred with and sought input from the State Auditor’s office.

I agree that the bill was unnecessary. I stated this to be the Auditor’s opinion on the House floor. But the bill does not strip the Auditor of anything. It does require referrals to other agencies. I insisted on amendments (including the pending Stam Amendment which the Senate will consider today) that did not make that reference precipitous. I insisted on amendments that retained the absolute authority of the Auditor to perform his audit functions. On page 3, lines 2-4 of the Third Edition, the reference to subdivision (1) is to the Auditor’s core audit function.

I insisted on Section 6 requiring the State Ethics Commissions to answer ethics questions from the State Auditor in writing and within a limited period of time. This had been the problem that had caused the dispute between the SEC and the State Auditor’s office to begin with. The bill as reported out had an exception for legislators but only because they could not find the Senate negotiator to fix it. I insisted on an amendment – which the House adopted and which the Senate will consider today, requiring the SEC to answer ethics questions in a timely way even as to legislators.

I respect the opinion of those who voted no on the bill. I have no issue with that. The bill was unnecessary. But since it was obvious to me that some bill would be passed by the Majority, I felt it my duty to vigorously negotiate it and protect the ability of the Auditor to perform his functions. At the same time I sought to solve the communication problem that had caused the original dispute – that is, that the SEC would not talk to the Auditor. If the Senate adopts the Stam amendment today then the bill will have actually improved the law.

I hope this explanation is helpful.

Rep. Paul Stam

House Republican Leader

House Republican Leader Paul Stam represents District 37 and Wake County
in the North Carolina House of Representatives.

Re: Auditor, ethics bill nears passage

bet — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:33:56 -0400

Senate Bill 1875 fouls transparency, stymies accountability; Fox, Henhouse, Chickens

Deceit and Deception find an enabler in this bill. Remember when the General Assembly Leadership promised more openness and ethics reform? Are we, the public, once again being deprived of honest services? (And the Amendment, could that have just served as lip service to the constitutional guarantee of representation? Pre-arranged even?)

Re: Auditor, commission bill passes hurdle

captsfufp — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:14:36 -0400

This is one of those reactionary bills that keep changing our state government. Just b/c the state auditor is GOP, they want to strip him of powers. Just like they stripped the Lt. Gov. of power when he was a Republican, just like they stripped the state superintendent when...do we see a pattern? Y'know...eventually, we'll get some Democrats elected to these spots, and they'll probably want to do their jobs!!

Les will be out of there in a few months anyway, leave the man alone...

Re: Ethics bill to move forward

tangoz — Wed, 21 May 2008 00:04:16 -0400

The Democratic politicians are doing this to cover their own backs. The good ole boy entrenched corruption by the Democrats continues.........