Two More Years of Political Corruption Cumberland County?

Office of the State Auditor released a grant review of Operation Sickle Cell in Fayetteville, North Carolina, whose Executive Director is NC House Representative Mary McAllister (Dem) of Cumberland County.

March 17, 2008

CUMBERLAND COUNTY NC NEWS -- More political corruption? On February 7, 2008, the Office of the State Auditor released a grant review of Operation Sickle Cell in Fayetteville, North Carolina, whose Executive Director is NC House Representative Mary McAllister (Dem) of Cumberland County. The results of the grant review confirmed that Operation Sickle Cell appropriately used State funds in fulfillment of their grant's requirements, but did engage in campaign-related political activity, and had minor weaknesses in internal controls, documentation and policy procedures.

The grant review of Operation Sickle Cell began on June 5, 2007 as the result of public inquiry and media reports of improper spending of State grant money. The following day, June 6, State audit staff was denied ready access to information contained on hard drives of Operation Sickle Cell's computers. This action forced the Office of the State Auditor to issue subpoenas to enforce its statutory right to access, which is granted by NCGS § 147-64.7C(1).

Operation Sickle Cell still refused to comply with the subpoenas, and continued to deny ready access to State Auditors. On Friday, June 8, 2007, only after a Superior Court Judge ordered Operation Sickle Cell to comply with the subpoenas, did the Fayetteville nonprofit finally provide the auditors access to the operation's computer hard drives. Therefore, Operation Sickle Cell's actions were in violation of State law and the grant contract. In addition, the State Auditor admits these actions resulted in a scope limitation and unreasonable delay of the examination, making it unascertainable as to whether or not the information contained on the hard drives was compromised.

Upon examination of computer hard drives for 12 computers purchased by Operation Sickle Cell uncovered examples of political activity, including but not limited to, letters to voters from Representative Mary McAllister seeking support for reelection, scripts for TV campaign ads advocating for Representative McAllister, various files containing logistical information relating to the political campaigns for Representative McAllister, and more. Additionally, there were files related to her position and work in the legislature that are not directly related to the mission of Operation Sickle Cell as defined in the grant contract. Including correspondence related to several bills and issues taken up by the North Carolina House of Representatives, as well as correspondence related to the awarding of Scholarships from the General Assembly's Black Caucus.

This is not Representative Mary McAllister's first incident of campaign mismanagement. In September 2007, McAllister had been formally ordered to pay $16,924 after the State Board of Elections found she received improper loan repayments and unlawful campaign contributions. Moreover, in June the Election Board members found that her campaign committed "substantial violations" of state reporting requirements.

To Continue, the State Auditor has further called for the IRS to review the grant review findings to determine whether Operation Sickle Cell in Fayetteville violated Federal Tax code, and if so alert proper North Carolina state authorities.

In his final statement, the State Auditor, Leslie Merritt said:

"Operation Sickle Cell is a benefit to their community, but their move to obstruct our review of their grant spending was unlawful. Any organization that accepts taxpayers' money is subject to full transparency on how that money is spent."

"I believe that Operation Sickle Cell can serve its clients best by adopting a posture of openness and transparency. Creating an atmosphere of defensiveness will only hinder their work in the community and create greater friction when we follow-up on our recommendations in the coming months."

Amazingly, even after all these nefarious actions, this North Carolina Democrat, Mary McAllister, a nine-term House Representative for Cumberland County, is still reelected by the people in her district. I guess Cumberland County is not concerned whether their representatives are ethical. Read Grant Review.

Published by:
Rob Cross
mailto:editor@357news.com

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