Someone in the state auditor's office has been reading the Democratic Party Web site.
According to server logs released by the state party today, a computer in the state auditor's department has been used to check the Web site 217 times in the past six months, making him one of the top 40 visitors in that time period.
"The state auditor's office should not use state resources for political purposes," said Democratic Party spokeswoman Kerra Bolton.
Auditor Les Merritt, a Republican in his first term, is running for re-election. One of his former employees, Beth Wood, is running for the Democratic nomination for auditor.
Bolton said that one of the auditor's computers was used to look at sections of the Web site dedicated to Wood, her fundraising efforts and the Democratic Women of North Carolina.
In response, Merritt said he reminds his staff routinely not to use state resources for political activity. He also questioned the timing of the release, noting that his office is investigating Democratic gubernatorial candidates Richard Moore and Beverly Perdue for using state resources on political activity.
"It is possible that the Democratic Party's press release is an attempt to blunt findings that might be part of a subsequent report," he said in a statement.
The statement was the first confirmation that Merritt's office is investigating Perdue and Moore. The two candidates requested investigations of each other's offices in September.
Blog RSS feed
Re: Auditor's staff surfs Democratic Web site
If you are holding a public office in North Carolina and the state headquarters of one of the major political parties is going to distribute various political assertions about the leadership, management or conduct of that office, then you absolutely have to stay on top of the situation--and indeed, earlier, not later, in the daily news cycle because in some cases your office must respond promtply to unfounded or inaccurate allegations by outside political sources about the performance of the duties of that office.
Or as JFK used to say: "Let me say this about that."
What should be more troubling to watchdogs of state government in Raleigh is the apparently unlimited access to the state auditor's office by political campaigns to "request" investigations of opposing candidates. Investigations should be conducted according to the official and measured determination of the appropriate offices themselves and not as a "to do" list of political errands or chores demanded by campaigns of candidates for public office in the next election.
Imagine if a dozen or more candidates entered the 2008 race for lieutenant governor in both party primaries and if in the same calendar week, every single one of those campaigns "requested" official investigations of all of their opponents. Now that would be a fine howdy-do to advocates of prudent management of such offices as that of the state auditor.
The two major Democratic campaigns for governor of North Carolina in 2008 had better raise the level of their political debate and competition considerably in coming months or they may find more and more voters considering the alternative of voting for a Republican gubernatorial hopeful whether the candidate's first name is Jim or not.
David P. McKnight