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Wright: Wrong?
posted at 2007-12-10 23:32 | Last modified 2007-12-11 08:33
Wake County prosecutor Colon Willoughby announced today that State House Rep. Thomas Wright (D-New Hanover) has been indicted on six counts.
Wright’s facing five fraud charges for obtaining property by false pretense, including a $150K loan that apparently never found its way into the coffers of the non-profit for which he allegedly secured it. There’s also an obstruction of justice charge for failing to report $185K in campaign donations that, according to prosecutors, Wright subsequently converted to his own use. The AP’s Gary Robertson has a great rundown here.
Finally...
This all started in earnest back in May, when Wright refused to testify at a State Elections Board investigation into his campaign bookkeeping. The recap’s here. Since then, one allegation after another’s been dribbling out, largely due to hard work by the Wilmington Star’s Mark Schreiner. Unfortunately, Schreiner recently left for a job in corporate communications. Too bad: I’d love to read his account of this.
Anyway, after months of allegations, it hasn’t been a question of whether Wright would be indicted so much as when and what for. There’s so much to work with. Some of the highlights:
- failing to report 185K in campaign contributions
- spending campaign money at Victoria’s Secret and Home Depot
- persuading another state official to write a patently false letter to help him get a loan
- bilking constituents in a shady real estate deal
- double-billing for travel and per-diems during his time at the legislature
- falsifying a federal tax ID number for “non-profit” donations that disappeared
I’m sure I’m missing a few, but it’s hard to keep up. Even if only some of it’s true, it sure would help explain how he made it through eight terms in the House with little income except his legislative salary. …
Reax
Speaker Joe Hackney sent out this statement:
"It's disappointing anytime an elected official is accused of wrongdoing, but the allegations in this case date back several years and don't reflect on the many good things we did this past legislative session. I look forward to continuing to move ahead and doing the people's business in a way that will make them proud."
If you think that sounds a bit shy of proactive, you’re not alone. Dem watchdog Joe Sinsheimer has been calling for Hackney and other House leaders to take action to remove Wright. Sinsheimer had this response:
“It is a sad day when we see one of the state’s most powerful and promising African American legislators facing 6 felony counts. Like his political godfather, Jim Black, Rep. Wright is an embarrassment to the state and no longer deserves to be in the General Assembly. For months, Speaker Hackney has been saying that the House has taken no action against Rep. Wright because it did not want to impede the state investigation. Now that the investigation is complete and Rep. Wright has been indicted, we will see if Speaker Hackney can summon the political courage and moral will to being immediate expulsion hearings against Rep. Wright. North Carolina taxpayers should not be required to continue to pay the salary and pension benefits of such a corrupt lawmaker.”
Sinsheimer has a point. Wright’s been asked to step down, but so far he’s refused – and he’s also refused to offer any explanation or defense against the growing pile of accusations he’s facing. Meantime, he’s still collecting his legislative salary and benefits, even though he’s got too much on his own plate to pay much attention to the people’s business.
The same argument could be made here as it was in Jim Black’s case: an indictment is not a conviction, and even lawmakers are entitled to be assumed innocent till proven guilty. On the other hand, serving in the legislature is a privilege, not a right. And if you can’t be bothered to respond to allegations you’re defrauding the state and your constituents, then how are you “serving” either?
Postscript
I asked Hackney spokesman Bill Holmes this evening if the Speaker had any response to Sinsheimer’s call for expulsion. Holmes said, “We don't have anything to add to the Speaker's statement.”
Comments? Drop me a line.
