From The Raleigh News & Observer:
Dan Kane - Staff Writer
Internal investigative files released Friday say that Greene County patronage boss Eddie Carroll Thomas had "long-standing and widespread" influence over personnel decisions in one of the state Division of Motor Vehicles' largest sections -- Driver and Vehicle Services.
Need a job? Send an application to Thomas. Want a troublesome colleague transferred? Talk to Thomas. Need someone to get you a new DMV job assignment? Thomas is "the man," employees told investigators.
All this is considerable influence for a 73-year-old man who is no longer a state employee. Thomas was once a Transportation Department maintenance supervisor, but he abruptly retired five years ago after state records showed dozens of calls from his work phone being made to top officials across state government. State and federal investigations looked into two state contracts connected to Thomas' business partners and Thomas' role as a conduit for jobs and appointments at other state agencies.
"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."
Gore turned over the investigation to Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby on Nov. 4. A month later, Willoughby wrote that he would not pursue it.
Part of Thomas' influence stems from his role as a political fundraiser. He raised money for both former Gov. Jim Hunt and current Gov. Mike Easley. An internal Easley campaign document from 2000 showed Thomas had been tapped to raise $40,000 from Greene County, among the state's poorest counties.
Employees told investigators that Thomas had the ear of the section's head, Wayne Hurder, who became the DMV's second-in-command in August 2007. In numerous instances, the files say, Hurder backed what Thomas wanted.
Hurder, 61, was fired Oct. 31 for using his position "to exert improper influence in personnel matters," Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett said in a letter that authorized release of the investigative files. Hurder has denied any wrongdoing and is suing to get his job back.
Hurder said that Thomas, who he acknowledges is a friend, held no influence over him. Hurder joined the DMV in 1993 and made $101,867 a year. Hurder told investigators he met Thomas five years ago.
"Nobody speaks for me," Hurder said. "The district supervisors and others on my staff know that nobody can speak directly for me."
Thomas could not be reached for comment.
Costs to taxpayers
The personnel moves cost taxpayers, Gore said. Employees who shifted to other offices -- without their direct supervisors' approval, or in some cases without their knowledge -- cost the state at least $80,000 unnecessarily. Hurder said the moves were made to combat manpower shortages.
When it came time to interview job candidates for positions in the eastern part of the state, Hurder called upon Thomas' nephew, Danny Thomas, to drive from Morganton, 200 miles west of Raleigh, where he was a district supervisor. Records show those trips cost the state thousands in travel expenses.
Thomas and another DMV supervisor, Mike Salisbury, handled much of the examiner interviews for jobs in the eastern part of the state. Salisbury, Danny Thomas, Hurder and other DMV employees would regularly join Eddie Carroll Thomas for dinner. Danny Thomas told investigators that his uncle and Hurder would discuss personnel matters.
The files show an instance in which interviews for two examiner jobs in eastern North Carolina were supposed to be handled by Danny Thomas, but inadvertently got assigned to another supervisor, Nadine Barnes. She did not pick a person recommended by Eddie Carroll Thomas. Hurder ordered the paperwork redone to show the person Thomas recommended was one of the top two choices for two positions.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
DOT playing favorites? Some think so
From WRAL.com :
Raleigh, N.C. — Are state leaders playing favorites when it comes to allocating funding for highway projects in some cities?
A Charlotte transportation official and a Wake County commissioner seem to think so.
In a Dec. 5 letter to President-elect Obama, R. Lee Myers, chairman of the Mecklenburg-Union Metropolitan Planning Organization, asks the incoming administration to freeze all federal funding to North Carolina for highway projects, saying an investigation into the state's Board of Transportation and transportation officials is needed.
Myers accuses Department of Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett and Democratic majority leader Sen. Tony Rand, D-Cumberland, of showing favoritism in a recent decision to allocate $275 million in funding over the next six years for the future Interstate 295 outer loop in Fayetteville.
Both Tippett and Rand are from the Fayetteville area.
In comparison, Charlotte received $104 million over the next six years for the Interstate 485 loop, and Raleigh received $5 million for the Interstate 540/N.C. Highway 540 loop.
I-295 is projected to have about 30,000 vehicles per day traveling on it by 2020, Myers said.
Traffic on the completed portion of I-485, is "unbelievably congested" at 120,000 vehicles a day, Myers said. The uncompleted portion, he said, is projected to have approximately 130,000 vehicles a day by 2030.
Myers said the decision is political and, although legal, is far from being a "systematic distribution of funding."
"The failure to require a more just and fair system is the fault of the North Carolina Legislature," Myers writes. "However, insofar as federal funding is concerned, this is your opportunity to bring about a significant change in the way the federal government does business."
Wake County Commissioner Joe Bryan agrees.
"We've got to start prioritizing in this type of economic situation we're in now," Bryan said. "I have no idea of their personal involvement in this. That's a decision by the Board of Transportation. Whatever the case is, I think the public can figure it out for themselves."
Rand denies any favoritism, saying funding has been distributed fairly.
Through 2008, I-485 received $1.05 billion, and I-540 received $757 million. I-295 received $66 million.
"When you look where the money's spent, it's obvious we haven't taken advantage of the situation in any improper way," Rand said. "It's obvious we waited in line."
To complete Raleigh's loop, the DOT says toll roads are necessary.
DOT says that because of Fort Bragg's growth, Fayetteville needs and deserves the funding.
"It's going to challenge our schools, challenge every bit of infrastructure we have, and highways are a huge part of that," Rand said.
It's unclear how Obama will respond.
As for the state's new administration, Governor-elect Beverly Perdue says one of her top priorities is to transform the Board of Transportation.
"I do not want them approving individual roads," Perdue said. "I want to depoliticize how roads and bridges and maintenance is done in the state."
Raleigh, N.C. — Are state leaders playing favorites when it comes to allocating funding for highway projects in some cities?
A Charlotte transportation official and a Wake County commissioner seem to think so.
In a Dec. 5 letter to President-elect Obama, R. Lee Myers, chairman of the Mecklenburg-Union Metropolitan Planning Organization, asks the incoming administration to freeze all federal funding to North Carolina for highway projects, saying an investigation into the state's Board of Transportation and transportation officials is needed.
Myers accuses Department of Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett and Democratic majority leader Sen. Tony Rand, D-Cumberland, of showing favoritism in a recent decision to allocate $275 million in funding over the next six years for the future Interstate 295 outer loop in Fayetteville.
Both Tippett and Rand are from the Fayetteville area.
In comparison, Charlotte received $104 million over the next six years for the Interstate 485 loop, and Raleigh received $5 million for the Interstate 540/N.C. Highway 540 loop.
I-295 is projected to have about 30,000 vehicles per day traveling on it by 2020, Myers said.
Traffic on the completed portion of I-485, is "unbelievably congested" at 120,000 vehicles a day, Myers said. The uncompleted portion, he said, is projected to have approximately 130,000 vehicles a day by 2030.
Myers said the decision is political and, although legal, is far from being a "systematic distribution of funding."
"The failure to require a more just and fair system is the fault of the North Carolina Legislature," Myers writes. "However, insofar as federal funding is concerned, this is your opportunity to bring about a significant change in the way the federal government does business."
Wake County Commissioner Joe Bryan agrees.
"We've got to start prioritizing in this type of economic situation we're in now," Bryan said. "I have no idea of their personal involvement in this. That's a decision by the Board of Transportation. Whatever the case is, I think the public can figure it out for themselves."
Rand denies any favoritism, saying funding has been distributed fairly.
Through 2008, I-485 received $1.05 billion, and I-540 received $757 million. I-295 received $66 million.
"When you look where the money's spent, it's obvious we haven't taken advantage of the situation in any improper way," Rand said. "It's obvious we waited in line."
To complete Raleigh's loop, the DOT says toll roads are necessary.
DOT says that because of Fort Bragg's growth, Fayetteville needs and deserves the funding.
"It's going to challenge our schools, challenge every bit of infrastructure we have, and highways are a huge part of that," Rand said.
It's unclear how Obama will respond.
As for the state's new administration, Governor-elect Beverly Perdue says one of her top priorities is to transform the Board of Transportation.
"I do not want them approving individual roads," Perdue said. "I want to depoliticize how roads and bridges and maintenance is done in the state."
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Road chief's hometown gets millions
Other N.C. cities protest the $270 million going to Fayetteville for its highway loop. A $270 million allocation to complete the Fayetteville Loop is protested by other N.C. cities
From the Raleigh News and Observer:
RALEIGH - The N.C. Board of Transportation is pumping $270 million in road money into Fayetteville, the hometown of Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett and of a key legislative ally, weeks before Tippett leaves office.
At meetings in October and November, the board approved the money for work on a highway loop around Fayetteville, as road money has been drying up and cash for loops around the state's other cities has been delayed.
The funding comes in the waning weeks of the terms of Gov. Mike Easley, a Democrat, and Tippett, his appointee. Tippett is also a close friend of Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, a Fayetteville Democrat who pushed for the loop money.
The move has officials in other cities up in arms. "I don't know what their personal roles are," Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker said, "but I know what the end result is."
Meeker, also a Democrat, said highway money has flowed to Fayetteville in recent years as most large cities in the state have received little.
Rep. Becky Carney, a Charlotte Democrat and a co-chairwoman of a legislative committee that oversees transportation, said approval of the Fayetteville project leapfrogs the state's larger cities and drains a large portion of the money available for the entire state.
"That would be a travesty," Carney said, "if the bulk of our loop money went for one project."
Tippett shrugged off the criticism, saying whoever doesn't get money is bound to complain. The Fayetteville project has been in the works for years, he said, and it's more important now that the Army's Fort Bragg is expanding.
"Those people who are going to the front lines are entitled to a safe commute," Tippett said, "as much as those going to their banking and industrial jobs."
Nina Szlosberg, a member of the transportation board from Raleigh, said Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue and her administration will have a depleted bank account for transportation projects when they take office in January.
"It's important for the new administration to have the opportunity to determine where best to put our transportation dollars," she said.
Perdue campaigned on a pledge to change the board of transportation into a policy-making group instead of one that approves specific road projects.
"Governor-elect Perdue's goal is to prevent these types of disputes," said Perdue spokesman David Kochman, "by transforming the Department of Transportation, including prohibiting DOT board members from voting on specific projects."
Local officials across the state point out that the general pot of road money follows a set -- though much-criticized -- formula designed to make sure every region gets a fair share. But no such equation determines where loop money is spent. Those decisions are made by transportation officials in Raleigh.
Allocation rules needed
Nancy Dunn, a transportation board member from Winston-Salem, said clear decision-making steps should be established. "There should be some known process on how the money is allocated on loops," she said.
Construction was supposed to start this year on a 12-mile section of Raleigh's Outer Loop, I-540, in western Wake County. In 2005, the transportation department postponed construction by at least four years and said it might take until 2030 to finish the entire loop.
Last year, Charlotte's unfinished I-485 loop was pushed back by two years and now isn't expected to be completed for a decade.
But Fayetteville's loop was kept on schedule. The first leg opened three years ago and is handling about 9,000 cars a day. The southern leg of Charlotte's loop handles 120,000 cars a day.
When the state created a separate pot of money for urban loop projects in 1989, most of the money initially went to Charlotte.
The state has spent nearly $1 billion on Charlotte's Outer Loop, I-485, since 1990. Mecklenburg County's share of the state loop money has diminished in recent years as Raleigh, Greensboro and other cities have built or expanded loops.
"You've got the same amount of money with far more competition for the funding," Tippett said. "Nine communities would like their loops finished now."
Fayetteville was not included in the original list of cities for loops, but was added in 2003. Officials from other cities and some board members complain that it has now jumped to the head of the line.
Rand, the Senate majority leader, said Fayetteville was at the end of the line and the money has finally reached there. "It's our turn now," Rand said.
Tippett argued that the military base closing and realignment process in 2005 shifted a major new command to Fort Bragg and the likelihood of additional jobs. Base commanders asked for various road improvements.
At the same time, the state was paying hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives to companies such as Dell and Google to move to the state and create new jobs. "Spending $200 or $300 million in Fort Bragg infrastructure improvements seemed to be a deal at the time," Tippett said.
From the Raleigh News and Observer:
RALEIGH - The N.C. Board of Transportation is pumping $270 million in road money into Fayetteville, the hometown of Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett and of a key legislative ally, weeks before Tippett leaves office.
At meetings in October and November, the board approved the money for work on a highway loop around Fayetteville, as road money has been drying up and cash for loops around the state's other cities has been delayed.
The funding comes in the waning weeks of the terms of Gov. Mike Easley, a Democrat, and Tippett, his appointee. Tippett is also a close friend of Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, a Fayetteville Democrat who pushed for the loop money.
The move has officials in other cities up in arms. "I don't know what their personal roles are," Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker said, "but I know what the end result is."
Meeker, also a Democrat, said highway money has flowed to Fayetteville in recent years as most large cities in the state have received little.
Rep. Becky Carney, a Charlotte Democrat and a co-chairwoman of a legislative committee that oversees transportation, said approval of the Fayetteville project leapfrogs the state's larger cities and drains a large portion of the money available for the entire state.
"That would be a travesty," Carney said, "if the bulk of our loop money went for one project."
Tippett shrugged off the criticism, saying whoever doesn't get money is bound to complain. The Fayetteville project has been in the works for years, he said, and it's more important now that the Army's Fort Bragg is expanding.
"Those people who are going to the front lines are entitled to a safe commute," Tippett said, "as much as those going to their banking and industrial jobs."
Nina Szlosberg, a member of the transportation board from Raleigh, said Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue and her administration will have a depleted bank account for transportation projects when they take office in January.
"It's important for the new administration to have the opportunity to determine where best to put our transportation dollars," she said.
Perdue campaigned on a pledge to change the board of transportation into a policy-making group instead of one that approves specific road projects.
"Governor-elect Perdue's goal is to prevent these types of disputes," said Perdue spokesman David Kochman, "by transforming the Department of Transportation, including prohibiting DOT board members from voting on specific projects."
Local officials across the state point out that the general pot of road money follows a set -- though much-criticized -- formula designed to make sure every region gets a fair share. But no such equation determines where loop money is spent. Those decisions are made by transportation officials in Raleigh.
Allocation rules needed
Nancy Dunn, a transportation board member from Winston-Salem, said clear decision-making steps should be established. "There should be some known process on how the money is allocated on loops," she said.
Construction was supposed to start this year on a 12-mile section of Raleigh's Outer Loop, I-540, in western Wake County. In 2005, the transportation department postponed construction by at least four years and said it might take until 2030 to finish the entire loop.
Last year, Charlotte's unfinished I-485 loop was pushed back by two years and now isn't expected to be completed for a decade.
But Fayetteville's loop was kept on schedule. The first leg opened three years ago and is handling about 9,000 cars a day. The southern leg of Charlotte's loop handles 120,000 cars a day.
When the state created a separate pot of money for urban loop projects in 1989, most of the money initially went to Charlotte.
The state has spent nearly $1 billion on Charlotte's Outer Loop, I-485, since 1990. Mecklenburg County's share of the state loop money has diminished in recent years as Raleigh, Greensboro and other cities have built or expanded loops.
"You've got the same amount of money with far more competition for the funding," Tippett said. "Nine communities would like their loops finished now."
Fayetteville was not included in the original list of cities for loops, but was added in 2003. Officials from other cities and some board members complain that it has now jumped to the head of the line.
Rand, the Senate majority leader, said Fayetteville was at the end of the line and the money has finally reached there. "It's our turn now," Rand said.
Tippett argued that the military base closing and realignment process in 2005 shifted a major new command to Fort Bragg and the likelihood of additional jobs. Base commanders asked for various road improvements.
At the same time, the state was paying hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives to companies such as Dell and Google to move to the state and create new jobs. "Spending $200 or $300 million in Fort Bragg infrastructure improvements seemed to be a deal at the time," Tippett said.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Sewell resigns NCDOT Board under a cloud
Per Greensboro News and Record:
With political pressure mounting, Lewis W. Sewell Jr. had no other choice than to resign from the state Department of Transportation board. Funneling $375,000 for improvements to a highway abutting property he and business partners owned in Jacksonville was a clear, self-serving conflict of interest, not the protocol oversight he claimed.
Caught up in the fallout is Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bev Perdue, who early last week hadn't decided whether to attend a fund-raiser Sewell had planned for her. It ended up being canceled.
Even so, Republican opponent Pat McCrory seized on the controversy to again paint Perdue as being part of the state's entrenched political establishment.
The latest DOT flap should be reason enough to elicit pledges from both candidates to rid the board of partisan political shenanigans.
http://www.news-record.com/content/2008/09/26/article/short_stack_food_for_thought_quick_and_over_easy
With political pressure mounting, Lewis W. Sewell Jr. had no other choice than to resign from the state Department of Transportation board. Funneling $375,000 for improvements to a highway abutting property he and business partners owned in Jacksonville was a clear, self-serving conflict of interest, not the protocol oversight he claimed.
Caught up in the fallout is Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bev Perdue, who early last week hadn't decided whether to attend a fund-raiser Sewell had planned for her. It ended up being canceled.
Even so, Republican opponent Pat McCrory seized on the controversy to again paint Perdue as being part of the state's entrenched political establishment.
The latest DOT flap should be reason enough to elicit pledges from both candidates to rid the board of partisan political shenanigans.
http://www.news-record.com/content/2008/09/26/article/short_stack_food_for_thought_quick_and_over_easy
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Perdue ID's DOT fundraisers
From the Raleigh News and Observer:
Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue followed through on her pledge earlier today and identified Board of Transportation members who are fundraisers for her campaign.
They are Lanny Wilson of Wilmington, Louis Sewell of Jacksonville and Marvin Blount of Greenville. Thomas Betts Jr. of Rocky Mount was previously a board member, but he stepped down last month after a fundraising scandal, Dan Kane reports.
Perdue's campaign also challenged state Treasurer Richard Moore to disclose more than the name of his fundraisers on the board. She wants him to disclose his Wall Street fundraisers, and support a ban on fundraising by those who have business with the treasurer's office.
"Richard Moore says we should ban contributions from DOT board members, but not from people who do business with the Treasurer's office—maybe that's because he’s raised more than $1.5 million from them," said Perdue spokesman David Kochman. "Richard Moore's attacks are the height of hypocrisy."
Moore has said that board members should not be fundraising for the governor.
But his campaign said today that doesn't apply to those who have raised money for Moore in the current campaign—including board members Alan Thornburg and D.M. "Mac" Campbell. Moore could reward them and other fundraisers with board seats, said Moore's campaign manager Jay Reiff, but once on the board they would have to stop fundraising.
"He was going to break that cycle," Reiff said.
Kochman found that stand just as hypocritical. "It's another example of do as I say not as I do," he said.
Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue followed through on her pledge earlier today and identified Board of Transportation members who are fundraisers for her campaign.
They are Lanny Wilson of Wilmington, Louis Sewell of Jacksonville and Marvin Blount of Greenville. Thomas Betts Jr. of Rocky Mount was previously a board member, but he stepped down last month after a fundraising scandal, Dan Kane reports.
Perdue's campaign also challenged state Treasurer Richard Moore to disclose more than the name of his fundraisers on the board. She wants him to disclose his Wall Street fundraisers, and support a ban on fundraising by those who have business with the treasurer's office.
"Richard Moore says we should ban contributions from DOT board members, but not from people who do business with the Treasurer's office—maybe that's because he’s raised more than $1.5 million from them," said Perdue spokesman David Kochman. "Richard Moore's attacks are the height of hypocrisy."
Moore has said that board members should not be fundraising for the governor.
But his campaign said today that doesn't apply to those who have raised money for Moore in the current campaign—including board members Alan Thornburg and D.M. "Mac" Campbell. Moore could reward them and other fundraisers with board seats, said Moore's campaign manager Jay Reiff, but once on the board they would have to stop fundraising.
"He was going to break that cycle," Reiff said.
Kochman found that stand just as hypocritical. "It's another example of do as I say not as I do," he said.
Friday, January 25, 2008
NC DOT board member resigns over Perdue fundraising
From the Charlotte Observer:
By GARY D. ROBERTSON, Associated Press Writer
RALEIGH, N.C. - A state Board of Transportation member resigned Friday after his boss questioned his effort to raise campaign money for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beverly Perdue from people connected to a high-profile commercial project in Roanoke Rapids.
Thomas Betts Jr. of Rocky Mount, who represented six northeast Piedmont counties on the board, submitted his resignation to Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett. "I have enjoyed my tenure and take much pride in the DOT crew in my division and the good things we have accomplished," Betts wrote in the three-sentence e-mail to Tippett.
Tippett said he talked to Betts about whether Betts had been raising money for Perdue in Roanoke Rapids from people connected to Carolina Crossroads, a new entertainment and retail complex along Interstate 95. The cornerstone of the complex is a theater previously managed by Randy Parton, the brother of Dolly Parton.
Tippett said he was concerned that Carolina Crossroads officials would feel obliged to give to Perdue because the board had approved economic development money for the project. "I told him that it would probably be in the best interest of the state" to step down, Tippett said. "Board members are held to the highest ethical standards. ... we weren't going to accept anything less." Betts didn't return messages left Friday on his cell phone or at his home. Perdue's campaign acknowledged that Betts was helping with a Nov. 13 fundraiser in Rocky Mount but wasn't aware of the efforts to attract Roanoke Rapids donors at this event until Friday.
Betts' resignation embarrasses Perdue, who has made the troubles at the former Randy Parton Theatre a campaign issue in her primary race against State Treasurer Richard Moore, her leading opponent. Last week, Moore said if elected he would seek legislation banning Transportation Board members from donating to any candidates or collecting donations on behalf of a candidate to reduce political influence on the board. Betts' resignation confirms that Perdue doesn't want to change the system, Moore's campaign said.
By GARY D. ROBERTSON, Associated Press Writer
RALEIGH, N.C. - A state Board of Transportation member resigned Friday after his boss questioned his effort to raise campaign money for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beverly Perdue from people connected to a high-profile commercial project in Roanoke Rapids.
Thomas Betts Jr. of Rocky Mount, who represented six northeast Piedmont counties on the board, submitted his resignation to Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett. "I have enjoyed my tenure and take much pride in the DOT crew in my division and the good things we have accomplished," Betts wrote in the three-sentence e-mail to Tippett.
Tippett said he talked to Betts about whether Betts had been raising money for Perdue in Roanoke Rapids from people connected to Carolina Crossroads, a new entertainment and retail complex along Interstate 95. The cornerstone of the complex is a theater previously managed by Randy Parton, the brother of Dolly Parton.
Tippett said he was concerned that Carolina Crossroads officials would feel obliged to give to Perdue because the board had approved economic development money for the project. "I told him that it would probably be in the best interest of the state" to step down, Tippett said. "Board members are held to the highest ethical standards. ... we weren't going to accept anything less." Betts didn't return messages left Friday on his cell phone or at his home. Perdue's campaign acknowledged that Betts was helping with a Nov. 13 fundraiser in Rocky Mount but wasn't aware of the efforts to attract Roanoke Rapids donors at this event until Friday.
Betts' resignation embarrasses Perdue, who has made the troubles at the former Randy Parton Theatre a campaign issue in her primary race against State Treasurer Richard Moore, her leading opponent. Last week, Moore said if elected he would seek legislation banning Transportation Board members from donating to any candidates or collecting donations on behalf of a candidate to reduce political influence on the board. Betts' resignation confirms that Perdue doesn't want to change the system, Moore's campaign said.
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