Mary McAllister

Wright allies faced charges, too

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 08:54:40 -0400

The four House Democrats who voted against expelling Thomas Wright have also faced accusations.

Reps. Larry Womble and Earline Parmon, both Winston-Salem Democrats; Earl Jones, a Greensboro Democrat; and Mary McAllister, a Fayetteville Democrat; have all been accused of poor financial handling.

"Wright has been charged but he’s not been convicted of anything in court,” Womble said. "I'm not one to pre-judge. I’ve always been taught to wait and see and let due process work itself out."

Womble was indicted in 1991 on four counts of extortion after a corruption investigation that started when he was on the Winston-Salem Board of Aldermen. He was found not guilty in 1992.

Parmon was under suspicion when a charter school she founded, LIFT, had its license revoked. The state Department of Public Instruction said the school routinely mismanaged money.

Jones ran a nonprofit, the Guilford County Community Action Program, that was dinged by state auditors when it couldn't account for more than $700,000 in taxpayer money.

And McAllister was forced to pay a $16,294 fine last year after the State Board of Elections said she received a repayment for campaign loans she never made. (W-SJ)

One more from the guest list

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:22:00 -0400

FAYETTEVILLE—One more name for the list today.

State Sen. Larry Shaw, a Fayetteville Democrat, is also on the guest list.

By Dome's reckoning, that means state Reps. Mary McAllister and William Brisson are the only Cumberland County Democratic legislators not on the list.

Not sure what, if anything, that means.

Auditor: Nonprofit dabbled in politics

bkrueger — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 10:56:58 -0500

The state auditor says the nonprofit organization run by state Rep. Mary McAllister has engaged in political activity on her behalf.

In an audit released this morning, Les Merritt said the hard drives of computers purchased by Operation Sickle Cell included examples of political activity on behalf of McAllister, a Fayetteville Democrat who is executive director of the organization, reports Ben Niolet.

Among the examples cited were letters to voters from McAllister seeking support for re-election, scripts for campaign television ads and logistical information about McAllister’s campaigns.

The audit recommended that the IRS investigate to determine whether the political activity violates federal tax code.

But Merritt, a Republican, said in a press release that the organization made appropriate use of state grant money and that the state-funded portion of McAllister’s $115,000 salary as executive director was not out-of-line with the salaries paid to other chief executives of comparable nonprofit organizations. The state pays $55,000 of her salary.

McAllister could not immediately be reached for comment. But in a written response to the audit, the organization disputed the finding that the agency had engaged in political activity on McAllister’s behalf.

Thursday quick hits

ryanteaguebeckwith — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 08:26:48 -0400

* State Rep. Mary McAllister pays $16,294 fine for accepting prohibited contributions and paying herself for loans she never made to her campaign. (Fay-O)

* Campaign finance activist Joe Sinsheimer says the legislature's Joint Ethics Committee shouldn't have agreed to wait to act while prosecutors investigate Rep. Thomas Wright. (WS-N)

* John Edwards calls for limiting the role for private security contractors like Blackwater in Iraq, says their high pay "damages troop morale." (Boston Globe)

* Gov. Mike Easley sends letter to North Carolina's Congressional delegation, asking them to consider voting for a veto override on the SCHIP bill. (W-SJ)

McAllister fined $16,000

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 13:01:42 -0400

Rep. Mary McAllister has been fined $16,294 by the State Board of Elections.

The Fayetteville Democrat was charged $7,000 for the cost of on an investigation into her campaign finance reports and ordered to pay the $9,294 to the N.C. Civil Penalty and Forfeiture Fund.

In June, the State Board found that McAllister made improper loan repayments, failed to report campaign contributions and deposited some donations into a personal account.

After the hearing, McAllister said she didn't do anything intentionally wrong.

In a letter sent Thursday, board chairman Larry Leake ordered McAllister to pay the full amount or contest the fine within 30 days of receipt of the letter.

Investigator Kim Westbrook Strach said the delay in assessing the final amount of the fine was because the board had to re-check McAllister's amended reports.

Document(s):
mcallister-fine.pdf

A new sheriff in town?

bkrueger — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 11:51:23 -0400

Gary Pearce and Carter Wrenn agree that Joe Sinsheimer has become a force to be reckoned with in Raleigh.

Pearce, a Democrat, and Wrenn, a Republican, sang Sinsheimer's praises in separate posts this week on their shared blog.

Pearce started things by writing that "Joe (the Sledgehammer) Sinsheimer may be the most powerful person in Raleigh today."

Last year, Sinsheimer had the guts to take on Jim Black when no one else would. For his trouble, Joe got trashed by the Democratic establishment. Democrats suggested darkly that Joe was being paid by Black's enemies.
Then Joe turned out to be right: Black was a crook.

Then Wrenn wrote that Sinsheimer is "the most feared name in Democratic politics today."

There's no substitute for good research and Mr. Sinsheimer's carving out a niche all his own. His particular bone of contention is corruption. How effective is he? Ask Jim Black, Rep. Thomas Wright and Rep. Mary McAllister. All are involved in scandals Sinsheimer's exposed. He's a one-man clean-up government crusade."

Adams' response

ryanteaguebeckwith — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 16:34:05 -0400

The head of the N.C. Legislative Black Caucus Foundation said a recent controversy over its scholarship program may be due to "racial targeting in Raleigh."

In a letter to The News & Observer received this week, Rep. Alma Adams questioned why campaign finance reformer Joe Sinsheimer, "a white Democrat," is "viciously" attacking "black Democrat legislators" by filing complaints with the State Board of Elections against Reps. Mary McAllister of Fayetteville and Thomas Wright of Wilmington and criticizing the foundation.

"His scrutiny appears racially directed," the Greensboro Democrat wrote.

Sinsheimer ran a Web site dedicated to exposing wrongdoing by former House Speaker Jim Black, who is white. He noted that he has also been outspoken in his criticism about Democratic Reps. Jim Harrell and Nelson Cole and state Utilities Commissioner Bill Culpepper, all of whom are white.

"Good government needs to be colorblind," he told Dome. "If I find people that I believe have violated the law, I'm going to continue to file complaints whether they are white legislators or African-American legislators."

McAllister fined

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 14:45:10 -0400

The State Board of Elections fined state Rep. Mary McAllister.

A $5,669 fine was for improper loan repayments to McAllister by her campaign committee. The board also levied a civil penalty of $7,000 against McAllister for the cost of its investigation into campaign finance irregularities by the Fayetteville Democrat, Andy Curliss reports.

McAllister declined to comment following the board's ruling.

Quite contrary

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 11:41:14 -0400

Quite contrary

"I never did anything intentionally or knowingly wrong."

— State Rep. Mary McAllister, speaking at a State Board of Elections hearing on June 27, 2007. She acknowledged problems with her campaign finance reports but said they weren't intentional.

Comments (1)

Not intentionally?

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 11:34:33 -0400

Rep. Mary McAllister says she didn't do anything intentionally wrong.

In testimony before the State Board of Elections this morning, the Fayetteville Democrat acknowledged that there were errors in her reports, but repeated that she has not done anything "intentionally or knowingly" improper with her campaign finances, Andy Curliss reports.

McAllister also said that she made no loans to her campaign, even though her campaign finance reports indicate it paid her almost $14,000 for loan repayments.

Under questioning by members of the elections board, McAllister was unable to explain $5,000 that she took out of her campaign account without reporting it. Elections officials said the money was taken out of the account on Nov. 23, 2004 and, that on Dec. 6, 2004, McAllister deposited $4,000 in checks and $5,000 in cash into a personal money market account.

McAllister testified that she could not recall where the money came from.

Elections officials also said McAllister had received an unspecified amount in political donations that were deposited in her personal banking account.