McCrory: N.C. Dems on fishing expedition

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:15:33 -0400

Pat McCrory says state Democrats are on a "fishing expedition."

The Republican gubernatorial nominee said today that the N.C. Democratic Party has filed a public records request for correspondence between the mayor, the city manager and his staff and three Charlotte businesses for the past 12 years.

In a press release sent out shortly before 5 p.m., the McCrory campaign says that City Attorney Mac McCarley estimated the request would cost "more than $100,000" and take "up to a thousand hours" of work to complete.

"I am disgusted by this fishing expedition being conducted by the North Carolina Democratic Party with the blessing of Beverly Perdue," McCrory said in a statement, calling it "dirty tricks."

Perdue spokesman David Kochman said they were aware of the records request and had no problem with it.

"One of the reasons we have campaigns is for voters to learn about candidates and the work they've done," he said. "I would hope that the mayor has nothing to hide. If that's the case, there shouldn't be any problem sharing more information about his record."

On the issue of cost, Kochman said that it's standard for a government body to charge reasonable costs to comply with a records request.

Update: McCrory spokeswoman Amy Auth said that the request was for correspondence related to two Charlotte-based companies, Bank of America and Duke Energy — where McCrory formerly worked — and U.S. Airways, which has a hub in Charlotte's airport.

She said he has nothing to hide.

"He will gladly compare his record to the rest of state leadership," she said.

Second Update: In its two requests, the Democratic Party offered to pay to defray the cost of copies up to $200, for a total of $400.

Third Update: McCarley, the city attorney, said this would be the biggest public records request in recent memory, topping a $100,000-plus request from an unsuccessful bidder on a city contract and a citizen who supported the unsuccessful effort to repeal the sales tax.

He said that the charge to the Democratic Party would probably be between $200 and $1,000 for the cost of copies, with the $100,000 figure referring to the cost of staff time, which can't be recouped. He said it will probably take "most of the summer" to comply.