Carolina Politics Online

On Wednesday, the legislature’s ethics committee agreed to a bill that would prohibit the state auditor from investigating possible violations of the ethics law. Instead, the State Ethics Commission would have sole authority to enforce ethics laws.

Legislative supporters of the bill, mostly Democrats, say their goal is to have a single, unbiased agency to keep an eye on public officials.

But State Auditor Les Merritt, a Republican, argues that it never hurts to have more watchdogs of government officials.

…

Officials in Merritt’s office argue also that giving the ethics commission sole authority to investigate such matters would mean essentially that only the legislature can keep an eye on legislators. That’s because the commission is required to turn over any findings it has about lawmakers to a legislative committee, which then determines whether any public action should be taken.

The News & Observer

Boy, is Les Merritt right. The State Ethics Commission is an appointed body; the State Auditor is elected. Both of them should have a role in corruption probes because neither of them can be trusted completely.

The fact that the Democrats, who are in charge of the governor’s mansion and state legislature, want to limit Merritt’s authority ought to be very frightening to all North Carolinians. Any ethics panel would have to answer to the party in charge, and for the foreseeable future that appears to be the party of Jim Black, Thomas Wright, Nick Mackey, et al. Les Merritt, meanwhile, is answerable to the voters every four years.

McAllister, a nine-term House member, had come under scrutiny last year when the State Board of Elections ordered her to pay a penalty of nearly $17,000 for improper financial transactions related to her campaign funds.

In unofficial results with all precincts reporting, McAllister had 49 percent of the vote, compared with 51 percent for challenger Elmer Floyd, a local civil rights leader. Floyd faces no opposition in the general election.

The News & Observer

This was a good result. McAllister needed to go. She’s had too many shady dealings and frankly, I don’t think she’s all with it.

Boylan, who a month ago was charged with driving while impaired, won his seat in 2006 after he benefited from animosity surrounding a power-sharing between his predecessor and House Democrats. These days, the widespread enmity between GOP moderates and conservatives has dwindled compared with the 2004 and 2006 House Republican primaries.

Undoubtedly the DWI damned his reelection.

Convicted felon and former Rep. Thomas Wright, a Democrat from Wilmington who was expelled from the legislature earlier this year, lost to the former Wilmington City Council member appointed by Gov. Mike Easley to serve out his term. Sandra Spaulding Hughes had 74 percent of the vote with 81 precincts reporting, to 10 percent for Wright, who is serving time for his April conviction for fraud.

Hopefully now Wright will sit back in jail and leave us all in peace. I would say that he should have not tried to run for his seat again and go out with some dignity, but the man never had any to begin with.

Raleigh | Just last month, Thomas Wright was the eight-term representative of N.C. House District 18. On Monday, he was a convicted felon, sentenced to six to eight years in prison.

Wake County Superior Court Judge Henry Hight handed down Wright’s sentence a couple of hours after jurors found him guilty on three of the four felony fraud charges he faced.

The jury convicted him of obtaining property by false pretenses by defrauding a bank to lend him $150,000.

The Wilmington Star

And so the sorry saga ends.  It would seem that justice has prevailed.  Wright’s lawyer is still making a fool out of himself, but I wouldn’t expect anything less.

Prosecutors brought fraud charges against former Rep. Thomas Wright without any legitimate evidence to prove their case, his attorney said today, comparing his client’s case to the biblical fight between David and Goliath. “Sometimes, David wins,” attorney Douglas Harris said during his closing arguments at Wright’s criminal trial.

The Wilmington Democrat is charged with pocketing $8,900 in donations to his Community’s Health Foundation and fraudulently obtaining a $150,000 loan to buy a building for a museum to commemorate Wilmington’s 1898 race riots. He could be sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison if convicted on four felony counts of fraud.

Winston-Salem Journal

No, no evidence whatsoever. That is exactly why the State House voted almost unanimously, with only four dissenters, for the first time in over 120 years to expel a state legislator from the General Assembly. Harris is attempting to try Wright in the media, but he is only succeeding in making himself out to be a fool.  What the man ought to be doing is making arrangements for additional accommodations in Jim Black’s jail cell.

Burgaw | Sandra Spaulding Hughes is going to the General Assembly.

The former Wilmington councilwoman was named Thursday night as the new representative of District 18, filling the void created by Thomas Wright’s historic expulsion last month. Wright was kicked out of the House for allegedly bilking businesses and donors out of nearly $350,000.

“I am elated,” Hughes said. “The community is now going to say we have someone in the position.”

Wilmington Star

Former Rep. Thomas Wright denied Thursday he committed fraud by persuading a state official to write a letter about a nonexistent state grant and insisted he didn’t use the letter to take out a $150,000 loan.

Taking the stand in his own defense, Wright also said he had little to do with setting up the financing that led to the 2002 purchase of a building that he hoped would be used to house health care offices and a museum commemorating the 1898 Wilmington race riots.

The financing “had already been arranged by someone else working on this thing,” said Wright, making his first extended comments on the events that have caused him legal problems for more than a year.

The Wilmington Star

Thomas Wright is wasting no time to trying to get back his seat in the General Assembly.

The former New Hanover County legislator was booted Thursday from the N.C. House. Today, his attorney was at Wake County Superior Court, filing paperwork seeking to overturn the overwhelming vote.

Wilmington Star

You must admire the man’s spirit, but only for a few seconds at which point you remind yourself as to what a lousy sack of monkey crap he is.  Even if Wright truly believes he has done nothing wrong, which he knows damn well he’s guilty, but even if he legitimately believed he has been wrongly accused, why on Earth would he want to go back to Raleigh.  He is finished, washed up, kaput.  Nobody is going to give him the time of day.  He’d be ostracized from the time he’d return.  He wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything in the House because nobody would ally themselves with him.  Wright can no longer adequately represent his district.  He is tainted.  For once in your life, Mr. Wright, do the right thing.  Move on.

It’s official! He’s outta there!

Thomas Wright has been expelled from the N.C. General Assembly for what legislators called a pattern of improper and unethical conduct.

By a vote of 109 to 5, House members today resolved to remove Wright amid allegations that he defrauded political donors and businesses of nearly $340,000. The General Assembly last expelled a sitting legislator in 1880.

Immediately after the vote, Wright was ordered escorted from the floor.

Even after the expulsion, Wright remained defiant, telling reporters he remains the elected representative of District 18, even though the resolution approved today declared that seat vacant. Wright said that he would let voters decide his fate in May.

The Wilmington Star

Wright is still on the ballot for the May Primary so technically he could still be voted back in office if his constituents are truly that stupid and I’ve learned never to underestimate the stupidity of the voting populace.

The House clearly made the correct decision on this and it’s another step forward for weeding out the corruption in Raleigh, but apparently four members of the House aside from Wright himself felt that embezzling a few hundred thousand in tax dollars was no big deal. The four “No” votes on expulsion were:

• Earl Jones (D-Guilford)
• Mary McAllister (D-Cumberland)
• Earline Parmon (D-Forsyth)
• Larry Womble (D-Forsyth)

Why am I not surprised to see McAllister on that list?

Gov. Mike Easley on Tuesday called a special session to consider removing Wright from office for ethical misconduct. The session will be held at 10 a.m. March 20, as House Speaker Joe Hackney requested earlier.

Last week a six-member committee of Wright’s fellow legislators unanimously recommended his expulsion after finding “clear and convincing” evidence that the Wilmington Democrat had acted fraudulently and unethically.

If expelled, Wright would become the first sitting lawmaker thrown out of the General Assembly since 1880.

The Wilmington Star

I can’t think of anyone better than Thomas Wright to be the first expelled legislator in 128 years.

Push him out!  Shove him out! Waaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy out!

Push him out!  Shove him out! Waaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy out!

State Rep. Thomas Wright acted unethically in pocketing money meant for charity and mishandling campaign contributions and should be kicked out of the legislature, six of his fellow lawmakers concluded Thursday.

The disciplinary recommendation by the special House ethics committee will now be considered by the whole chamber. But it was unclear when – or if – House Speaker Joe Hackney would ask Gov. Mike Easley to call the General Assembly back to Raleigh for a special session.

The Wilmington Star

It looks like Wright’s future in the General Assembly is short lived.  Jim Black had better start making some room in his jail cell.  He’s going to have a new roommate shortly.

Raleigh - The deputy director of the state Board of Elections testified Wednesday that state Rep. Thomas Wright failed to disclose the existence of hundreds of campaign contributions, adding up to nearly $185,000, and four bank accounts where the funds were deposited.

Kim Westbrook Strach told members of the special House ethics committee that the Wilmington Democrat also filed numerous incomplete or incorrect campaign-finance forms, disclosed some contributions months late, and didn’t disclose $8,900 in charitable contributions to a foundation he set up.

“Never in my time at the Board of Elections have I audited a committee that had this amount of nondisclosure,” she said.

The Wilmington Star

That’s because Wright is one corrupt SOB.  Not that the man has any honor or integrity to begin with, but he illustrated precisely how slimy he is when he had his lawyer play the race card earlier this week.

An attorney for Rep. Thomas Wright says a state House ethics panel that could recommend the chamber kick the lawmaker out of office is racially biased.

Attorney Douglas Harris told the panel today that Wright is being treated differently than a white House member who was the subject of a joint House-Senate ethics allegation last year. Wright is black.

Wilmington Star

False allegations of racial prejudice such as this are exactly the reason why most people roll their eyes and don’t even care anymore when they hear them made.  The result of this is that when an actual incident of racism occurs that victim suffers because people are less inclined to believe it.

Just minutes after the Wilmington Democrat filed for re-election 130 miles away, a Wake County judge Thursday afternoon rejected state Rep. Thomas Wright’s request to delay a House ethics case because it could ruin his chance for a fair criminal trial.

The ruling clears the way for the House ethics committee to begin its evidentiary hearing Monday, although Wright’s legal team didn’t rule out appealing the decision today.

Wilmington Star

Let the games begin!

His own party has called for him to quit. He’s facing six felony charges. And his peers in the General Assembly are speeding through an ethics hearing that could make him the first member of the state House to be expelled since 1880.

But Rep. Thomas Wright is running again. The beleaguered Democrat filed Thursday for a ninth term, ignoring the fallout from allegations he bilked business and campaign donors out of $350,000.

Accompanied by his wife, Wright entered the New Hanover County Board of Elections shortly after 3 p.m. paying the $207 filing fee with a money order. He refused comment.

Wilmington Star

Oh, I’m sure he doesn’t have much to say.  Does this guy have some gall or what?  Fortunately, he’s not unopposed.  In addition to a Republican challenger in November, Wright has to fight the Democratic nomination out with two others in the May primary.

To face Goolsby, Wright would first have to win the Democratic primary in May where he is facing Sandra Spaulding Hughes, a former Wilmington City councilwoman, and Hollis Briggs, a community activist. He’s unlikely to receive much support from party officials, who have urged him to step down.

Raleigh – A judge today delayed the start of state Rep. Thomas Wright’s trial on fraud charges, saying his defense team need more time to review evidence in the case.

At a hearing this morning in Wake County Superior Court, attorney Douglas Harris told Judge Henry Hight that he had received more than 8,000 pages of documents that could be used to prosecute Wright on six felony charges related to accusations of swindling political donors, corporations and banks out of $350,000.

Harris said he would not be able to review all of the evidence before the start of the trial, originally scheduled for next Monday.

Wilmington Star

The state’s lawyers handed in their list of witnesses last week along with summaries of their expected testimony.

But Wright isn’t following suit. On Friday, his attorney filed a brief, saying that providing witness names and their likely testimony to the House committee would force Wright to divulge his defense to Wake County prosecutors who are pursuing related criminal charges.

“As long as criminal charges are pending against Respondent, he is not in a position to provide free and unwarranted discovery directly to the Wake County District Attorney or indirectly though the House Select Committee,” Wright’s attorney Irving Joyner said in the filing.

In his criminal trial, Wright has to give prosecutors a list of witness names once jury selection begins. But he does not have to divulge their expected testimony. And he cannot be forced to become a witness against himself by having to do so in the ethics hearing, Joyner claims.

The Wilmington Star

This guy is as guilty as sin already.  How much of the state’s resources are going to be wasted on his charades?

Embattled state Rep. Thomas Wright, D-New Hanover, is likely to get paid for appearing at a hearing in Raleigh last Monday that looked into his alleged unethical conduct.

As a member of the General Assembly, the Wilmington Democrat is eligible for $104 in per diem costs and 29 cents per mile in mileage reimbursement when on official House business, such as when the legislature is in session.

But some could be left scratching their heads on whether the taxpayers should foot the bill for someone who is facing criminal and unethical charges for allegedly swindling political donors and businesses out of $350,000.

The Wilmington Star

It appears we’ve stumbled upon another loophole in the law.  Wright’s been getting a pretty sweet deal so far for someone charged with skimming a few hundred thousand off the top.

RALEIGH - Rep. Thomas E. Wright admitted to the State Bureau of Investigation that he pocketed $8,900 in corporate checks intended for a nonprofit health foundation, calling the money “sweat equity” for unspecified work, according to papers filed Tuesday at the General Assembly.

The News & Observer

And out on the street it’s commonly referred to as stealing.

Raleigh – Embattled state Rep. Thomas Wright today filed a challenge to ethic charges leveled against him by his fellow legislators.

The Wilmington Democrat also has asked the House select committee looking into his conduct to suspend its investigation until a Wake County criminal case looking into the same charges wraps up.

Both investigations stem from allegations that Wright swindled campaign donors and businesses out of nearly $350,000 over several years, money he used for his own financial gain.

The Wilmington Star

And Wright will continue to swindle taxpayers through drawn out, monotonous legal proceedings that will cost the state hundreds of thousands more I am sure.

State. Rep. Thomas Wright is facing six criminal counts of fraud and eight charges of unethical conduct leveled by his fellow legislators.

But while a conviction might cost Wright his General Assembly salary, it won’t take the Wilmington Democrat off the public payroll permanently.

Whatever happens, even if he’s thrown in jail for one or more of the felony charges he’s facing in Wake County, the 52-year-old Wright would remain eligible to tap his taxpayer-financed state pension when he turns 65 - or even 60 if he wants reduced benefits.

The General Assembly tightened pension rules last summer, forcing legislators with fewer than five years of service as of July 1, 2007, to forfeit their pensions if convicted of a political corruption or election felony charge.

But the change didn’t affect any representatives who were already vested. That includes Wright and former House Speaker Jim Black, who was sentenced last year to five years at a federal work camp after pleading guilty to a federal felony charge.

The Wilmington Star

That’s a bunch of crap.  This guy has defrauded the taxpayers of this state out of tens of thousands of dollars and he still gets a free handout from that government after being convicted of multiple felonies?  Why does the state legislature have a pension anyway?  It’s not a full time job and even if it was that still wouldn’t justify it.  How many private sector companies give pensions today?