An internal investigation revealed Eddie Carroll Thomas had undue influence over one of the largest sections of the Division of Motor Vehicles.
The Greene County patronage boss could get people jobs, transfer troublesome colleagues and reassign workers and held considerable influence.
Carroll abruptly retired five years ago after state records showed dozens of calls from his work hpone made to top officials in state government. State and federal investigations looked into two state contracts connected to his business partners.
"I personally was shocked and offended by what was contained in the investigative report," DMV Commissioner Bill Gore said. "And I was offended not only as an administrator but as a citizen."
Thomas' influence comes from his role as a fundraiser for Govs. Jim Hunt and Mike Easley. (N&O)
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Re: Investigation shows undue influence
I think (well, I hope) that North Carolina is not quite in the running to compete with sleaziest state government. There are a few states well ahead of ours, and there's reason to believe -- or hope -- that we can clean up.
That is, we still have a newspaper that people still read and that still commits resources to uncovering these shenanigans. We're still enough of a "small town" here in Raleigh that people are still offended by corruption.
I hope.