newsobserver.com projects - Perry Newson - Comments

Re: Audit settles ethics dispute

classifi — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:29:30 -0400

Concerned53, can you back up your claim that someone altered the files? Such an accusation was never in any article I read.

Re: Audit settles ethics dispute

melted — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 05:15:06 -0400

Hope Thaxton wins her lawsuit, gets her job back and back pay. Perdue had sleazy Easley to learn from and she has learned well. She will be ousted in the 2012 election and will then be fully investigated and charged appropriately at that time. Hold on to your hats cause Bev is no better than Sleazy. I am a democrat but I sure did not vote for Bev.

Perdue's ethics still in question

concerned53 — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:10:02 -0400

Oh, I feel much better now given that we have a democrat as the new state auditor.

Keep in mind that Perdue's legal counsel, was not only given access in private, but if I recall correctly, made changes to financial statements in private so that possible conflicts or mis-statements would NOW be in compliance. Both Perdue and Polk knew exactly what they were doing.

This is just status quo for Easley and Perdue but we let Beverly get away with it. Perhaps because she is in office?

Re: Ethics commission takes Merritt to court

MeckDeck — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:57:43 -0400

North Carolina has an Ethics Commission? Do Jim Black's unindicted co-conspirators know about this?

JAT

Re: Unethical Ethics Commission

FFC1304 — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:23:28 -0400

they cannot shed business as usual, because that's the way its been for 100+ years in Rawleigh. Crookedness and criminals run the show in Rawleigh, and everyone knows it now.

dont EVER vote for another NC democrat, they've RUINED our once great state!

Unethical Ethics Commission

ncflyer — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:10:52 -0400

It would be one thing to block tainted results from an investigation, but why fear an investigation? Incredible.

This is why I'm beginning to subscribe to the politics of a bumper sticker I saw on the back of an old pick-up in Texas. It said, "Don't re-elect nobody, not even your momma!"

When are people going to get tired of the arrogant, business-as-usual in Raleigh?

Re: What are they afraid of?

newsbaby — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:46:31 -0400

A couple of years, Isaac? Try a couple of months.

Some of the State Ethics Commission upper management is engaging in VERY questionable behavior. First they give preferential treatment to a member of a gubernatorial candidate's staff, then they fire an employee for making a factual notation in a log?! Something doesn't add up. Let's leave politics out of this and look at it objectively. The executive director and assistant director obviously have something to hide. If you can't see that then you are being blinded by partisanship...and this is coming from a hardcore Democrat!!

They should have to play by the rules like everyone else. Let's not forget what we should have learned from Jim Black's case. Whether he was investigated by a Republican auditor or not...the fact remains that he is GUILTY!

Yup, THAT state auditor!

Isaac136 — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:05:50 -0400

And this from an auditor!

Folks think that his investigation of the Ethics Commission would be fair and square? I sure don't.

Re: Ethics commission takes Merritt to court

zoobatmania — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:56:15 -0400

You mean this auditor?

The North Carolina Democratic Party would like to extend best wishes to State Auditor Les Merritt on the retirement of his side business.

Mr. Merritt announced in May that on June 30th he would end on the practice of providing investment advice to private clients.

This followed scorching public scrutiny after Mr. Merritt approved a press release advertising his public job to lure clients at an investment firm through which he and his son provide services. The state’s largest newspapers joined NCDP Chair Jerry Meek in 2005 in calling for Merritt to stop compromising his public job with ads featuring a coupon to receive a free hour of consultation services.

Merritt earns $115,000 a year, three times the annual income of the average North Carolina family. Now that Merritt has decided to stop moonlighting, maybe he could give the people of the state his undivided attention.

When we have a Democratic Auditor, Les Merit will be the first one investigated.

Re: What are they afraid of?

Isaac136 — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:40:38 -0400

Whether or not they have an ethics problem, they have good reason to worry about an "investigation" from an admittedly hostile agency with whom they've been engaged in a feud over the past couple of years. Under that circumstance, they should worry that even if they didn't already have an ethics problem -- one would be found.

Re: Ethics commission takes Merritt to court

FFC1304 — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:26:05 -0400

smellin more coverup here...

it is clear that the democrats do NOT like having a republican AUDITOR, especially with his great performance. they will do whatever they can to keep facts and truth from being exposed. it's obvious.

dont EVER vote for another NC democrat!

What are they afraid of?

AwakeReader — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:04:00 -0400

Seems like the Commission may think they have an ethics problem - or two.

Questions raised about Bev's ethics

concerned53 — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 15:41:41 -0400

Friday's N&O article lists some key players but leaves an important one out: our current Lt. Gov Bev Perdue. I am as concerned about her role in this series of events as I am the Ethics Commission for the following reasons:
- Cole & Perdue were in fact acting on their own best interests as for two years she misrepresented her financial statements and as a result, criminal charges could (or maybe should) be filed. How about IRS concerns? What conflicting votes did she oversee during that time that now would be called into question?
- As an "attorney", Cole should have known better than to review documents behind a closed door in an ethics office (unless he really needed to do it for Bev - should we take his word for it that he has told us everything that he did that day?)
- Did anyone apply political pressure on Edwards months after the fact to delete the notations. Could it have been Cole or Perdue that were trying to cover their footsteps during an election year?

Where there's smoke, there is often fire. This is just another example of corrupt and unethical practices by the democrats in Raleigh and a specific case where Bev Perdue is in the middle of it. The N&O should not stop now but get to the bottom of not just the Ethics Commission problem, but the Perdue angle as well. Do we want her to be our next Governor as it looks like we would get more of the same corrupt government in Raleigh? She's one of them!

Re: Questions raised about ethics-Role of Bev?

concerned53 — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 13:35:33 -0400

The N&O article lists some key players but leaves an important one out: our current Lt. Gov Bev Perdue. I am as concerned about her role in this series of events as I am the Ethics Commission for the following reasons:
- Cole & Perdue were in fact acting on their own best interests as for two years she misrepresented her financial statements and as a result, criminal charges could (or maybe should) be filed. How about IRS concerns? What conflicting votes did she oversee during that time that now would be called into question?
- As an "attorney", Cole should have known better than to review documents behind a closed door in an ethics office (unless he really needed to it for Bev - should we take his word for it that he has told us everything that he did that day?)
- Did anyone apply political pressure on Edwards months after the fact to delete the notations. Could it have been Cole or Perdue that were trying to cover their footsteps during an election year?

Re: Questions raised about ethics at commission

Isaac136 — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:47:41 -0400

Disturbing story.

Even with the best possible light on Newson's and Edwards' actions, the way this looks is bad, bad bad.

One of the functions of the Ethics Commission is to help public servants avoid even the appearance of impropriety.

This story will cause every person who has had an issue before this Ethics Commisison to wonder whether his or her concern was heard with political foxes in charge of the hen-house.