Secretary of State | newsobserver.com projects

Minority businesses not recertified

Submitted by ryanteaguebeckwith on September 4, 2007 - 12:08pm.

A state auditor's review has found that the N.C. Department of Administration was not re-certifying businesses as minority-owned and women-owned, a status that gives them a better chance of winning state contracts.

A deputy director in the department's Historically Underutilized Business Office confirmed that roughly 20 businesses had lost the designation because of a computer glitch, the review said.

The review also found 60 vendors doing business with the state that qualified for HUB status but did not have it, Dan Kane reports.

Another five had the designation but shouldn't have, the review said. They had been "inactivated" by the HUB office, or had not been listed on the office's web site as HUB businesses.

More after the jump.

Who is on the Council of State?

Submitted by ryanteaguebeckwith on April 17, 2007 - 2:01pm.

Answer:

The governor, lieutenant governor and eight other top statewide elected officials.

The other officials are the secretary of state, attorney general, auditor, treasurer, superintendent of public instruction and commissioners of agriculture, insurance and labor.

Typically, the council meets monthly to approve land purchases, condemnations and right-of-way easements, but it also sometimes deals with weightier issues.

In February of 2007, the Council of State was asked to approve an execution protocol that would involve doctors. It voted 7-3 in favor.

The first female member of the Council of State was Janice Faulkner, who was appointed by Gov. Jim Hunt in March of 1996.

That fall, Elaine Marshall became the first elected member of the Council of State when she won the race for that same position.

In 2008, voters elected the first female majority — six of 10 members — on the Council of State, including governor, schools superintendent, auditor, treasurer, labor commissioner and secretary of state.

Brief:

The governor, lieutenant governor and eight other top statewide elected officials.