From the Burlington Times-News
Barry Smith - Burlington Times-News
Sometimes I have to wonder why red flags don’t go up in people’s minds. This is supposed to be the year of ethics reform in the North Carolina legislature. A special committee has studied ways to change the state’s lobbying, ethics and campaign finance laws to make the operation of government and decision-making more transparent and free of undue influence.
Gov. Mike Easley has taken on the issue by appointing a new head of the state’s ethics board. The House has passed out, and the Senate is considering, a series of bills aimed at addressing some of the scandals in state government that have come to the forefront over the past year. Yet, episodes of lapses in judgment continue to occur. A few weeks ago, when the Carolina Hurricanes were making their run that led to the Stanley Cup, some lawmakers fessed-up to accepting free tickets from lobbyists for high-dollar seats at the RBC Center.
But over the Independence Day weekend, they were outdone. The State Ports Authority organized a cruise for more than 200 invited guests, mainly state and local officials, during the festival of tall ships in Beaufort. As reported by the Raleigh News & Observer, the Ports Authority had a ferry diverted from its normal run to wine and dine the officials during the holiday festival. On the menu were shrimp, scallops, sandwich wraps, fruit, pasta salad, desserts, beer and wine. A steel band provided entertainment. State House members, Cabinet members and local officials were among the guests who sent in an RSVP.
The Ports Authority has apologized for the lavish July 1 excursion, which gave guests a close-up view of the tall ships. And Easley, recognizing the bad smell, has called for a full report from the Department of Transportation (DOT) and Ports Authority on the cruise. The cruise appears inappropriate from nearly every angle.
To begin with, why is the DOT allowing the ferry, named the Floyd Lupton, to be used for such an event? Its purpose is transportation, not to be used as a high-dollar party boat. You have to wonder what the Ports Authority hoped to gain from hosting such a lavish party for people in high places. Might they want to curry favor in the future for proposals that come from the authority?
And then there are the state and local officials involved. Didn’t they wonder if such a fancy event would at least give an impression that something is a bit out of order? I guess not. There’s supposed to be an air of reform in the state capital. Reform certainly wasn’t in the air for state officials when the tall ships were along the coast.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Currituck dredging deadline disputed
From the Raleigh News and Observer:
Former ferry chief expected to testify
RALEIGH - Jerry Gaskill, former head of the state ferry service, had to get a ferry operating from Currituck to Corolla by June 15, 2004, and federal prosecutors say he had employees dredge an illegal channel to meet that deadline.Gaskill, who oversaw the ferry service from 1993 until he was indicted in January, is charged with conspiring with employees to dredge the channel without the proper state and federal permits. Permit requests had been denied in the past because of the sensitive habitat nearby, prosecutors say.
"They knew when they were doing it, it was wrong," Assistant U.S. Attorney Banu Rangarajan told a jury Monday during her opening statement.
Gaskill, who denies wrongdoing, also is charged with lying to federal investigators and violating environmental laws. His trial might end as soon as Wednesday. He is expected to testify.
Prosecutors say that on May 6 and 7, 2004, seven ferry service employees used two boats to do "prop washing" or "kicking" -- using the boats' propellers to cut a channel in, in this case, Currituck Sound. The channel that was 6-feet-deep and 30 feet wide by 730 feet violated the Clean Water Act and another federal environmental law, prosecutors say.
The ferry was to carry passengers and schoolchildren to and from mainland Currituck to the remote town of Corolla on the northern Outer Banks. After the dredging was discovered, the state Department of Transportation agreed to fill in the channel. The ferry is not running at this time.
Gaskill's defense lawyer, Tommy Manning of Raleigh, told jurors that Gaskill had nothing to do with the dredging.
Manning disputed the idea that Gaskill was under any deadline pressure since on May 5, 2004 -- the day before the channel was illegally created -- Gaskill told the state transportation board that problems had delayed the ferry's start until August 2004.
Manning laid the blame for the dredging on one of Gaskill's underlings, Billy R. Moore, one of four state Department of Transportation employees who have pleaded guilty to federal charges. He is expected to testify. It was not Gaskill but Moore, the ferry service's dredging superintendent, who instructed his employees to create the channel, Manning said.
"You will not hear any evidence that Jerry Gaskill directed any of these men to do what happened," Manning said.
As state and federal officials questioned the illegal dredging, Manning says, Moore denied "prop washing" and kept telling Gaskill and others that his employees had only measured the depth of the water. Not until two months later did Moore admit to Gaskill what he had done and then implicated Gaskill when talking to investigators, Manning said.
Former ferry chief expected to testify
RALEIGH - Jerry Gaskill, former head of the state ferry service, had to get a ferry operating from Currituck to Corolla by June 15, 2004, and federal prosecutors say he had employees dredge an illegal channel to meet that deadline.Gaskill, who oversaw the ferry service from 1993 until he was indicted in January, is charged with conspiring with employees to dredge the channel without the proper state and federal permits. Permit requests had been denied in the past because of the sensitive habitat nearby, prosecutors say.
"They knew when they were doing it, it was wrong," Assistant U.S. Attorney Banu Rangarajan told a jury Monday during her opening statement.
Gaskill, who denies wrongdoing, also is charged with lying to federal investigators and violating environmental laws. His trial might end as soon as Wednesday. He is expected to testify.
Prosecutors say that on May 6 and 7, 2004, seven ferry service employees used two boats to do "prop washing" or "kicking" -- using the boats' propellers to cut a channel in, in this case, Currituck Sound. The channel that was 6-feet-deep and 30 feet wide by 730 feet violated the Clean Water Act and another federal environmental law, prosecutors say.
The ferry was to carry passengers and schoolchildren to and from mainland Currituck to the remote town of Corolla on the northern Outer Banks. After the dredging was discovered, the state Department of Transportation agreed to fill in the channel. The ferry is not running at this time.
Gaskill's defense lawyer, Tommy Manning of Raleigh, told jurors that Gaskill had nothing to do with the dredging.
Manning disputed the idea that Gaskill was under any deadline pressure since on May 5, 2004 -- the day before the channel was illegally created -- Gaskill told the state transportation board that problems had delayed the ferry's start until August 2004.
Manning laid the blame for the dredging on one of Gaskill's underlings, Billy R. Moore, one of four state Department of Transportation employees who have pleaded guilty to federal charges. He is expected to testify. It was not Gaskill but Moore, the ferry service's dredging superintendent, who instructed his employees to create the channel, Manning said.
"You will not hear any evidence that Jerry Gaskill directed any of these men to do what happened," Manning said.
As state and federal officials questioned the illegal dredging, Manning says, Moore denied "prop washing" and kept telling Gaskill and others that his employees had only measured the depth of the water. Not until two months later did Moore admit to Gaskill what he had done and then implicated Gaskill when talking to investigators, Manning said.
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