Merritt releases report on Nesbitt

State Auditor Les Merritt released a report Tuesday on state Sen. Martin Nesbitt.

The report, at the center of a dispute over whether the auditor should investigate violations of the state ethics law, became public after Nesbitt waived his right to confidentiality for the State Ethics Commission to give its side, Ben Niolet and Mark Johnson report.

In the report, Merritt says he believes the Asheville Democrat should have disclosed on ethics filings that he worked with his son's racing team. Nesbitt was an unpaid crew chief.

Merritt's report details how Nesbitt and his son own a business that owns a warehouse that Nesbitt's son used as collateral for a loan for the racing team.

"It's hard to get around the fact that Nesbitt Ventures' business plan is to 'own and lease real estate' but their sole property is being used to provide financial backing to Nesbitt Racing," Merritt said. "Therefore, if Nesbitt Racing fails, which could happen if a major financial sponsor backed out, Nesbitt Ventures and its owners are left holding the debt."

But the ethics commission does not see a conflict because Nesbitt's son doesn't live with his father, which means his financial dealings are irrelevant to Nesbitt's.

"When (Merritt) doesn't like (the ethics commission's) opinion, he says, 'I'm going to apply my own law,'" Nesbitt said.

A bill to prohibit the auditor from looking into ethics cases is moving forward in the legislature.