E-mail panel ready to start work

bkrueger — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 11:44:42 -0400

Gov. Mike Easley has named his e-mail panel.

Easley announced today that the panel, which he has asked to review policies concerning the retention of e-mail messages under the state's public records law, will hold its first meeting Thursday morning.

Easley had previously announced that Franklin Freeman, one of his senior aides, will lead the panel and that Ferrel Guillory, director of the Program on Public Life at UNC-CH, will serve on the panel.

Other panel members announced today:

Ned Cline, former managing editor of the Greensboro News & Record.

DeWitt F. "Mac" McCarley, the city attorney for Charlotte.

Staci Meyer, chief deputy secretary for the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources.

George Bakolia, the state's chief information officer.

Bryan Beatty, secretary of the N.C. Department of Crime Control and Public Safety.

David Lawrence, a professor at the UNC School of Government and an expert on public records laws, will serve as an advisor to the panel.

The first meeting will be at 10:30 a.m. Thursday in the Council of State meeting room on the 5th floor of the Administration Building at 16 W. Jones Street in Raleigh. Easley said meetings of the panel will be open to the public.

Claims Dept: Perdue on Moore and Parton

bniolet — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 15:02:59 -0500

The claim: In recent weeks, Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue’s campaign has claimed in news releases, its Web site and in a YouTube video that State Treasurer Richard Moore is responsible for the financial problems of an entertainment complex in Roanoke Rapids.

Moore and Perdue are both running for governor. The Perdue campaign also has claimed that Moore withheld a study that said the city’s plans for a theater featuring Randy Parton would fail without other attractions and that he failed to properly scrutinize the project.

The background: Since the city opened the $21.5 million theater, ticket sales have been paltry, questions have been raised about how Parton spent public money and Parton has been banned from the theater bearing his name. The amenities, such as a hotel and restaurants, called for in a feasibility study are not yet open.

What we found: As state treasurer, Moore is chairman of the Local Government Commission. The panel must approve all public debt in North Carolina.

The Local Government Commission was created in the Depression era when several North Carolina towns had overloaded themselves with debt. The commission has focused on narrow questions of whether a city or county could afford to pay back the money it intended to borrow. It has not questioned the wisdom of the city or county’s plans.

"They’ve never second-guessed saying, 'Are you sure this is a good deal?'" said David Lawrence, professor at the School of Government at UNC-Chapel Hill.

More after the jump.