ICYMI:

Editorial Calls For Federal Investigation Into Cooper

Raleigh, NC - In a stunning move, TheNews & Observer/Charlotte Observer joint editorial boards called for an investigation into Governor Cooper's administration over the $58 million slush fund procured by approving the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. From The News & Observer <[link removed]>:

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper set out in late 2017 to create a “mitigation fund” intended to offset environmental damage resulting from construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a natural gas pipeline that is planned to roughly follow I-95 through North Carolina. But what resulted is a misbegotten fund that’s causing ongoing political damage — for him.

The damage grew Wednesday with the release of a report by private investigators <[link removed]> hired by the General Assembly’s Republican leaders. The report, based on research and interviews conducted by the firm Eagle Intel Services LLC, did not find the proverbial smoking gun, but it did find smoke — enough of it that an official investigation is needed to assess the legality of how the fund was established.

The need to investigate further was the report’s main conclusion: “[T]he information suggests that criminal violations may have occurred. An investigative agency with the authority to compel cooperation and the production of documents could potentially obtain additional information to identify violations of criminal statutes.”

...

There are indications that the governor’s staff pressed Duke Energy and other pipeline developers to put $57.8 million into a mitigation fund that the governor could use to his political benefit. There are also indications that the governor’s top policy adviser, Ken Eudy, may not have been forthright when he told a legislative committee that he did not ask Duke Energy to say that its agreement to pay into the fund was voluntary.

...

The report also describes how Cooper may have held up the permit to pressure Duke Energy to settle the so-called Nameplate Dispute — a complaint from solar power generators that Duke Energy wasn’t providing the level of access to its power lines required by state law.

...

In part, the situation reflects at least two missteps by Cooper and his administration. The first was the vague wording of how the mitigation fund would function. That left its purpose open to the Republicans’ darkest interpretation. Second, Cooper’s decision not to cooperate with the Republicans’ private investigators fed the impression that the fund deal could not bear scrutiny.

North Carolinians have a need and right to hear a conclusion from government investigators who, unlike the GOP’s private sleuths, can use subpoena power to compel testimony and access records.



It took almost three years, but we're glad the liberal editorial boards are finally coming around the incompetence, radicalism, and outright corruption of Governor Cooper. The full editorial calling for a federal investigation into the Cooper administration's pay-to-play scandal can be found here <[link removed]>.

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