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All Muck Is Local: North Carolina
What is a politician to do when the other politicians won’t play with him?
Rep. Thomas Wright is an eight-term Democrat in the North Carolina House legislature. This past May 15th, the State Board of Elections looked into Wright’s finances, and were disturbed by what they found: like evidence suggesting that Wright had used over $200,000 of campaign funds for personal use, fraudulently obtained a mortgage, solicited money from a charity with a fake federal tax number, failed to report hundreds of thousands in campaign contributions and forged his campaign treasurer’s signature on checks. The Election Board was so worried that it sent reports to both the House leadership and the local District Attorney.
Now Wright is stuck between two probes: one from state prosecutors and one from the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee. But Wright, as he has been quick to remind his detractors, is innocent until proven guilty, and has remained steadfast in his commitment to serve his constituents, despite the fact that the governor, lieutenant governor and Speaker of the House have all called for his resignation (all three are fellow Democrats). Wright says of his situation, “I was elected by the people of my district and I'm here to serve them.... I'm voting and doing what I'm supposed to do.”
Which is true, to an extent. Last week it came to light that Wright has been absent 17 times this congress, meaning he has missed nearly one fifth of the sessions. Six of those days have come since the Election Board investigation. In addition, Wright has missed more votes than any other representative (excluding the Speaker, who traditionally abstains from voting). Of course, that hasn’t stopped Wright from collecting his paycheck; Wright has still been paid his $104 daily remuneration from the House.
Now to be fair, it is getting harder and harder for Wright to be in government. After all, his own party is trying to keep him at a distance. This year, he is the only Democrat not invited to join the conference committee for budget negotiations with the Senate. Still, while the investigations march on, Thomas Wright is working hard –or at least, working- for his constituents.
Comments (8)
Richard L. Adlof wrote on July 1, 2007 10:38 AM:Ooooo.... Where does one sign up for the Republican wing of the Democratic party.
Richard L. Adlof wrote on July 1, 2007 10:45 AM:OOOooo... Just how does one join the Republican wing of the Democratic Party? And does it truly pay as well as it seems? Do you get to keep the offshore checking account after your time in rehab and your stay in lock-up?
1st City Citizen wrote on July 1, 2007 11:05 AM:Click on my name for a link to Representative Thomas E. Wright's N.C. Government page.
Look under the Vote tab and see that all his absences were excused!
GloriaB wrote on July 1, 2007 12:58 PM:Uh, no, citizen. What's 'N/V' mean? The legend clearly points out that means 'dude wasn't there that day'.
Damn shame that one of my favorite places in the whole world has to be represented by a dumb crook.
1st City Citizen wrote on July 1, 2007 1:11 PM:GloriaB
I did not notice the N/V at first glance, however the Vote codes are as follows:
NV = Not voting
Y = Yes
N = No
ABS = Excused Absence
EXV = Excused Vote
DATE = Date of the vote
TIME = Time of the vote
I don't see any idincation that a N/V means he was absent, but it probably didn't matter to Wright how they recorded his action or non-action, as long as he got his per diem!
barrelhse wrote on July 1, 2007 9:37 PM:It's essential for the Dems to keep after this guy. ALL the rascals must pay the piper, regardless of party affiliation. That means both Democrats along w/ the scores of Repulsives.
J DAlessandro wrote on July 2, 2007 6:33 AM:Fair's fair, after all!
Wound: ouch
it should be emphasized that this sleeze ball is a state representative- he is not a US Representative, and this is not comparable to Abramoff or his friends, or the guy with the cash in the freezer. If we're going to keep score between the dems and the repubs on a state wide basis, we should be clear about what we're counting. This twerp is not as significant as Alaska's Senator, or the dozen or so GOP House members - Although the Repubs would like to blur the picture.
NCDem wrote on July 2, 2007 1:07 PM:Rep. Wright was an ally of the late and unlamented Speaker Black. Apparently, the attitude at the top just sort of slithered on down to the underlings. Incidentally, a similar investigation was just concluded against another NC Representative, Mary McAlister, who was a bit more successful in using the "I Don't Remember" defense invented by the Repugs. She was found in violation of state campaign regulations, but no criminal referral was made.
http://www.newsobserver.com/print/thursday/city_state/story/619577.html
J DAllesandro, I think the point of putting up stories from the state level is to illustrate how the "pay for play" culture similiarly slithered down from the likes of DeLay and Rove to the lesser lights at the state level. We'll be a while getting all the muck hosed out of the Legislative Pagoda, 'cause it got pretty deep (and Lord help us if we ever get to work on the State Senate).