Posted on 09/06/2007 7:57:02 AM PDT by freespirited
Raleigh | The N.C. State Board of Elections suspended the campaign of state Rep. Thomas Wright on Tuesday because he has failed to file a financial disclosure report due since July 27.
It was the latest episode in what has been a nine-month confrontation between Wright and elections administrators and legislative leaders.
Tuesday's move means that the eight-term lawmaker and Democrat from Wilmington cannot accept campaign contributions or spend campaign money until the report is filed and any fines are paid.
Kim Strach, the state deputy elections director who heads the board's campaign finance compliance staff, said she waited until 5 p.m. to make the decision.
"But we have not received the report," she said.
Wright did not immediately return a message left on his mobile phone.
According to Strach, Wright will soon receive a letter from her that is a notice of "termination of active status" for his campaign. She said she intended to mail it Tuesday evening.
The suspension is the latest episode in a year of administrative and legal troubles for Wright.
In May, the board accused Wright of filing false campaign disclosures and asked Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby to investigate. The board's investigators found that from 2000 to 2006, Wright put campaign money into at least three bank accounts that he controlled and that he failed to report more than $200,000 in contributions. Investigators also accused Wright of spending campaign money on what appeared to be personal expenses such as clothing and travel and not reporting those expenses as required.
After the May election board hearing, Gov. Mike Easley, legislative leaders and New Hanover County's two other House members called on Wright to resign.
Wright had already given up the chairmanship of two committees. He was further isolated when Speaker Joe Hackney appointed every House Democrat but Wright to a committee charged with hammering out a final version of the state budget.
Willoughby and the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation have been looking into Wright's case and may wrap up their probe by the end of the month. A search warrant filed with the court last month showed that investigators were looking into a 2002 real estate deal. Witnesses told election board investigators that Wright obtained a mortgage with a letter awarding a bogus state grant to a foundation he controlled.
The elections board referred Wright again to the Wake County DA last month over the missing report. Willfully failing to file a report is a misdemeanor.
Wright has not been charged with any crime.
Campaign finance reports detail donations and expenses of a political committee. In odd-numbered years, committees for candidates as well as political committees that give money to candidates are required to file one report - an accounting of the financial activity during the first six months of the year. Most lawmakers and General Assembly candidates have little to report during that period. It is typically slow, politically, because it follows an election and because the legislature is in session for most of it. A state law prohibits lawmakers and legislative candidates from taking campaign contributions during the legislative session from organizations that hire lobbyists.
The report for activity in the second half of this year, during which fund-raising picks up in anticipation of the next year's elections, is due in January.
Tuesday's suspension is not the first for Wright. The board took away his campaign's active status in 2002 after Wright failed to file more than a year's worth of reports. He filed some of those reports after the board took the further step of holding up the certification of his re-election.
If this guy were a Republican, he would have been tarred, feathered, and run out of town by sunset.
I remember seeing this issue, and him, in the news these past few months.
More North Carolina Democratic Party Corruption. But it doesn’t matter to NC Dem voters. You see it’s THEIR party of compassion and Repubs are evil and selfish.
Corruption? Not an issue to most yellow dog Dems in nc and all the votes the Dems can buy here.
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