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ICYMI:
Editorial Calls For Federal
Investigation Into Cooper
Raleigh, NC - In a stunning move, The
News & 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:
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 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.
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http://www.nc.gop/
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