A family feud may be brewing between two cousins who are former members of the state Board of Transportation — Louis Sewell and Tommy Pollard.
According to the Jacksonville Daily News, the N.C. Department of Transportation is removing a traffic light that Pollard got installed 20 years ago while he was on the board, Dan Kane reports. The light caused some controversy for Pollard because he owned property at the location. A state investigation cleared him of wrongdoing, but also suggested the board needed better conflict-of-interest rules.
Pollard wrote a letter to the Daily News protesting the light's removal, and in a Daily News story published on Monday, he suggested his cousin may have had something to do with it.
"Louis Sewell has the political power and clout even today to keep the stoplight's removal on the backburner if he wanted to," Pollard told The Daily News.
Sewell told the paper he did not push for the light's removal, but he did pass along complaints about the light to the DOT.
The DOT told the paper that the light is being removed after a study in October showed it wasn't warranted. Earlier this year, the DOT had spent about $40,000 to upgrade it, the paper reported.
Sewell resigned from the board in September after The News & Observer reported that he had steered state transportation money for two projects near land that he or a son co-owns.
Pollard told the Daily News that he informed Sewell in the summer that he was backing Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory for governor. At a recent campaign event, Pollard boasted raising $50,000 for McCrory's campaign.
Sewell has been a longtime Democratic fundraiser, even though he is a registered Republican. He backed the winner in the race, Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue, a New Bern Democrat.
Sewell told the Daily News that he was not happy with Pollard's decision to support McCrory.
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