More stink coming from Golden LEAF | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

    Board member and wife feeding at the money trough

    If we were cynical we would say, when it comes to the Golden LEAF it's who you know that counts. The Golden LEAF can even take a good idea and screw it up with crony capitalism among the Good Ole Boys.

    The good idea was that Golden LEAF would designate $2 million for each of the state's Tier 1 counties. They would get local "leaders" to sit around and talk about how to best spend the money. Then they would award contracts to pull off the idea.

    Only problem is, sometimes, that money goes to those in inside connections to either Golden LEAF and/or the Democrat Perdue/Easley machine.

    So we now have yet another example. The Winston Salem Journal is reporting that a board member of Golden LEAF pushed for a project to renovate an old mill in Pilot Mountain where his father and grandfather worked that is next door to his boyhood home. Not conflict of interest he says. Everything is on the up and up.

    Then we learn that his wife is going to be the recipient of much of the money to get this project accomplished. Oh, and he will be paid a couple of grand a month as a....well, we're not exactly sure what he will be doing to earn the money.

    You can read all the gory details by clicking here.

    By the way, Beaufort County is in this money chase also. They just haven't decided yet exactly what they will spend the $2 million Beaufort will get...or who will get the contract to do the Beaufort project(s). We'll bet they have good connections also.

    Commentary

    If you are not too disgusted to read the Journal article you discover that all of this is reported to be perfectly legal, and by the Golden LEAF's and State of North Carolina's ethics standards, it is said to be perfectly ethical. And that is the real sordid part of this story. The cronies have written the rules so mess like this not only goes on, but it is perfectly acceptable.

    The next worst thing about this story is the response it will get. Most people have become so jaded these days about these oligarchs' shenanigans that we will bet most will just shrug it off as "that's the way they do business in this state." And that is the real shame of it all.