Nov 11 2007
Like Father, Like Son
A company owned by the son of former House Speaker Jim Black won contracts to provide pest control at the state’s newest three prisons, although competing bidders offered to do the work at less than half of Black’s price.
Black Pest Control was paid $124,000 for prison construction projects in Bertie and Greene counties, although a business in Stafford, Va., bid $42,000 on the same work. At the state’s latest prison project in Columbus County, Black Pest Control won the job in 2005 with a price of $73,600, even though a Brunswick County company was willing to do it for $20,600.
Centex Construction, the company that oversaw construction of the three prisons, which cost a combined $245 million, said it wanted Jon Black’s company, Black Pest Control, because it did good work on smaller Centex projects. But a former project manager at two of the prison construction sites said he was pressured to hire Black.
Of course it was intentional. It’s called a political favor. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. The corruption of Jim Black knows no bounds, even when he’s in prison.
