Via NCGOP:
Today, hundreds of North Carolina Republicans are filing paperwork to run for public office. This day represents the first step on the path to a majority in 2010. It represents the beginning of the end of corrupt government in Raleigh, including the Governor’s so-called attempts at transparency and reform.
Governor Bev Perdue called herself the “Education Governor” and shortly thereafter slashed the state’s education budget while continuing to fund pork projects. Recently, she dubbed herself the “Jobs Governor” despite unemployment increasing on her watch. For those of us who closely follow her administration and its similarities to her predecessor Mike Easley, we call her “Business as Usual Bev.”
Just a short time ago, we completed a press conference, during which I continued our calls for real reform in state government. I called on Governor Perdue to dismiss two high profile state officials: Alvin Keller, Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Reuben Young, Secretary of the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety.
Alvin Keller took over the Department of Corrections and left little doubt that his #1 priority was filling the large number of parole officer vacancies. A year later, the number of vacancies has actually increased from 109 to 141. Tragically, this lack of supervision has been witnessed this year when suspects are charged but not properly monitored and then strike again. Keller recently refused to turn over records showing the details of the probation system. Keller also made headlines last year with his mishandling of the proposed release of prisoners who were sentenced to life in prison. His attempts to spin the story for the purpose of damage control have brought ridicule and shame to his department and our state.
Reuben Young was Mike Easley’s chief legal council and recently made headlines when it was learned that he was in charge of determining the merits of a state employee’s claim that the Governor’s office ordered emails to be deleted. Young stated that he found no evidence to back up the employees claims, which resulted in that person being ridiculed and eventually losing her job. Young is the same man who approached Mike Easley’s “go to guy” Ruffin Poole after Poole returned from a bachelor party in New Orleans paid for by an Easley supporter and state board appointee. Poole basically told him it was not an issue and Young let the issue drop. In other words, he looked the other way.
Reuben Young now serves as Bev Perdue’s Secretary of the Dept. of Crime Control and Public Safety. Reuben Young is a holdover from the incompetence and corruption of the Easley administration and if she isn’t “Business as Usual Bev”, he should be fired.
These two men were Perdue’s first appointments. She said she chose them because of their “willingness to make changes and tough decisions in their new departments.” She went on to say she “wanted leaders who could get the bottom-line results that I expect from everybody who works for the state of North Carolina.” The “bottom line” is that Bev Perdue needs to show the willingness to make tough decisions and dismiss Young and Keller immediately.
Also during today’s press conference, I noted that the issues surrounding both of these men might never have seen the light of day if it were not for the investigative work of local media. (Their hard work on corruption is even more impressive given the difficult access to public records involving state government officials.) In fact, it has been the media and local “watchdog” groups that have been policing state government, as the internal system of checks and balances that are supposed to be in place within government are just not working.
I challenged Governor Perdue to convene a panel of journalists and citizens to educate her on the roadblocks that exist in the access to public records. From their recommendations, she should take swift action to put into place new directives for state agencies that would provide easy access to public records, for the media and citizens alike.
One of our Founding Fathers, James Madison summed up the dangers of a government that does not provide transparency of its actions in the following statement: “A popular Government, without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or perhaps both.” North Carolina, which used to be known as the “Good Government State” is getting dangerously close to Madison’s definition. We need to stop business as usual, and change starts at the top: with “Business as Usual Bev.”
Tom Fetzer
NCGOP Chairman
Talking about it