Get ready for a whitewash on the EDC/Committee of 100 | Eastern North Carolina Now

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

    For over a year we have been publishing articles on the dysfunctional Beaufort County Economic Development Commission and its cohort non-profit the Committee of 100. In fact we have published more articles and video on this topic than any other local issue since May of 2011. As most know, Tommy Thompson resigned and has left the county's employ. A new EDC Director has been hired and he is scheduled to begin work on November 1.

    The topic of what to do about the EDC/Cof100 has been on nearly every County Commissioner agenda for the last year. The first six months was mostly the Commissioners hearing complaints about the EDC/Cof100. Chief among these were presentations done by Warren Smith, a private citizen who took it upon himself to research the EDC's performance. We think Beaufort County owes Warren a tremendous debt of gratitude for the work he has done on economic development. Unfortunately, the standard response for over eight months from the Chairman of the County Commission was to "call the next item on the agenda." It would appear that for nearly nine months the strategy was to hope the problem would go away. Eventually that became so obviously absurd that the board had to do something. So they appointed a committee to study the EDC and Committee of 100.

    That committee was headed by Al Klemm, one of the board's appointed representatives on the EDC and a leader in the Committee of 100. It's now been more than six months and Klemm's committee has yet to make a "final" recommendation on the restructuring of the EDC and C of 100. What should have taken no more than 60 days has taken three times that. Of course, there is an election coming in 41 days and that may have something to do with it.

    But here's the story at this point: There are a number of ominous signs that as soon as the election is over the Board will attempt to settle the issue by simply moving a few deck chairs around on the Titanic's deck as the ship goes down. Indications abound that not much will change, except the fact that the City of Washington has pulled its funding of the operating budget of the EDC. But even they are still primed to pour more taxpayer money in to subsidizing business that can't make it without taxpayer subsidies.

    The most disturbing indicators of the "stuck in the rut" syndrome we appear headed for is the new director of the EDC. Research by the Beaufort Observer indicates he comes to Beaufort County leaving virtually an identical mess in Lee County. We'll have more on that when we have been afforded an opportunity to have a serious conversation with the new director about what happened in Lee County and what differences he intends to make in how Beaufort County operates.

    So, in a nutshell, what we are predicting is that Al Klemm, Jay McRoy, Bob Cayton, Ed Booth and Jerry Langley will do a kabookie dance that is intended to look like reform and we'll be stuck with the same dysfunctional mess that Tom Thompson created. We hope not, but there is no obvious evidence pointing to anything different. There have been no actual moves that indicate the mess will be cleaned up going forward.

    That mess is monumental. The county has spent over six million dollars on "economic development" and has no valid or reliable data to show that the six million dollars resulted in any economic development, except for a few select cronies of Al Klemm, Jay McRoy and the rest of the Gang of Five.

    Yes, that's correct. The EDC/Cof100 has no valid evidence that it has produced one single job that would not have been created without them. They claim much, but have nothing to back it up except assertions. The jobs data they have offered as justification for their crony capitalism is bogus, as we have shown here. And the EDC/Cof100 have never even attempted to defend the numbers.

    Now it appears that they are about to have to sell the infamous Quick Start II for less than was paid for it. The Washington Industrial Park sits virtually empty with more buildings becoming vacant than being built or filled. The Chocowinity Industrial Park has sat empty since its beginning. And we learned during the primary campaign that the Committee of 100 bought a building from a sitting legislator (Arthur Williams) using money that the state supplied to the C of 100 when Williams sold his property to the C of 100. Neither Williams nor the members of the Committee of 100 ever defended this use of public money to benefit a committee crony. And we have indications also that other members of the EDC and/or Committee of 100, and their businesses, have benefitted from the "incentives" doled out by the EDC and C of 100.

    Despite these apparent conflicts of interest, the Board of Commissioners has not so much as publicly ever questioned to operation of the EDC or C of 100 and thus has never explained such shenanigans.

    Klemm and McRoy are the Commissioners' representatives on the EDC. Yet neither of them has ever given an accounting for what was received from the six million dollars of taxpayer money that has been poured into economic development. Moreover, neither has yet (at least not in public) informed the County about potential liability of the non-performing EDC projects. Most of the money that was given to subsidize "selected" businesses had job creation performance requirements attached. Failure to achieve those performance requirements can result in significant "clawback" liabilities for the County. Yet neither Klemm nor McRoy has disclosed those liabilities that may be coming home to haunt the county taxpayers.

    You're going to finish reading this article with a feeling that it leaves things dangling. And that is precisely what we are reporting. After nearly two years of questions there are not answers except that we have a replacement for Mr. Thompson who looks very much like a clone. We still have no solid data to show any benefit from the EDC or C of 100 that would not have come had either of them not existed. Six million down a rat hole. And no accountability, as of yet, for that money. But worst of all, no real indication that anything is going to change except the names of a few of the players who orchestrated this debacle.

    But get ready. That's about to change. It's not long until November 6. And once they get past the election expect to see the whitewash come out. Stay tuned. We'll have more very soon.