House Speaker Joe Hackney said the legislature will discuss expelling Rep. Thomas Wright.
At a press conference this afternoon, the Chapel Hill Democrat said that he will ask Gov. Mike Easley to call a special session of the General Assembly to consider removing Wright from office if the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee recommends it.
That would be a historic move. The House Ethics Committee has not expelled a member in more than 100 years.
"We're going to move ahead expeditiously to resolve it," he said.
On Monday, Wright was indicted by the Wake County district attorney on five counts of obtaining property under false pretenses and one count of obstruction of justice after a lengthy criminal investigation.
Prosecutors say he solicited donations from three companies for charitable work in Wilmington, then spent them on personal items.
The Wilmington Democrat, now in his eighth term, was a top lieutenant for disgraced former House Speaker Jim Black.
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Josiah Turner, 1880
This just in: Josiah Turner was expelled in 1880.
Actually, it didn't just come in. We had that on the blog back in May, but I completely forgot about it.
Here's the old post.
— RTB