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Wed. late: Probable Cause
posted at 2008-01-10 00:29 | Last modified 2008-01-10 00:38
It's official
After a State Elections Board hearing, multiple investigative reports, months of investigation and rumor, and - oh, yeah - six criminal indictments, Wilmington Dem Thomas Wright's fellow lawmakers have formally decided there's probable cause to believe he might have done something wrong.
Okay, to be fair, not just "something." They unanimously agreed to eight official charges covering a slate of allegations:
Wright's accused of using political influence to get a false letter of intent for state funding that he then used to secure a loan for his non-profit. (On the low-rent end of Jones St., that's called bank fraud.)
He's also accused of securing a $10K credit line against his non-profit (the Community's Health Foundation), but then apparently using it for personal reasons.
And then there's the solicitation of charitable contributions for his non-profit. It appears Wright may have targeted those solicitations toward corporations with legislative interests over which Wright would have had some influence.
And who could forget the $185,000 in campaign contributions that went missing? AG investigators say Wright failed to report 38% of his campaign contributions from 2000-2006. Some quarters' averages were a lot worse - like the second quarter of 2004, where he actually received $26,200, but reported receiving nothing. That's some bookkeeping error.
Note: These are allegations, not convictions. The criminal case hasn't gone to trial yet. And Wright himself has refused to respond to any of them, saying last spring that he'd only speak in a court of law, so we haven't heard his side of any of this, other than his attorney's contention that he's guilty only of sloppy bookkeeping. (See above.)
Neither Wright nor either of his legal representatives were at today's hearing. In fairness, they weren't required to be - there was no opportunity in the proceedings for the accused to cross-examine or offer a defense. That comes at the next stage. February 11th, the panel will hear motions from the defense (if there are any, and I'm guessing there will be). After that comes the full evidentiary hearing on whether Wright is actually guilty of any of the accusations against him.
Harris: "If they’re gonna lynch him, they oughta get a rope."
Wright attorney Doug Harris returned my call tonight. He says...well, he had a lot of arguments, and I won't go into them all here tonight, but in a nutshell:
The legislature has no business deciding guilt or innocence. That's up to the courts.
This legislative hearing process has no precedence and no constitutional backing.
It's polluting the potential jury pool.
It's without remedy. "Suppose the House votes that he's guilty and removes him from the house. And then suppose the jury votes that he's not guilty. What are they gonna do then - apologize and put him back in?"
Harris also contends that the House procedure is more about politics than ethics. If not, he says, why wouldn't lawmakers wait for the jury to determine guilt, and then take action accordingly? But the criminal trial won't happen till summer - so Harris says lawmakers are mounting their own show trial:
“It has the feeling of American justice, but it is not American justice. I mean, if they’re gonna lynch him, they oughta get a rope. They ought not to just – they ought not to pretend like they’re going through some kind of procedure here. This is not a proper procedure.”
(Which is perhaps not the best choice of metaphor in talking about an African-American lawmaker from Wilmington.)
Harris also reiterated that no, Wright has no plans to resign; yes, he's planning to file for re-election; and yes, he's planning to file amended campaign reports so state elections officials will re-open his campaign account. (Stop me if you've heard this one before.)
Harris had a lot of other things to say, too, especially about the convolutions of responding to two Ethics Committees (a distinction he says is artificial and invalid). Some of his claims are pretty interesting. More here after I do some fact-checking.
Coming up:
The five major declared gubernatorial candidates will face off on the economy Thursday night in a debate sponsored by UNC-TV. Wonder if they're saving a space for Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory? After filing papers today, he refused to comment on his gubernatorial run. But there are signs that the longest-running political gut-check in recent state history may be nearing an end.
Whatever happens, it's bound to be a late night, so leave the light on.
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