Boys and Girls Club of Edenton/Chowan

On Thursday, November 13, 2008, the Boys & Girls Club of Edenton/Chowan County (B&G Club/Edenton) hosted an event to officially acknowledge receipt of the organization’s Charter from the Boys & Girls Club of America. The event was held at the Old Courthouse in Edenton, NC, with more than 100 people in attendance.

The master of ceremonies was the Chief Professional Officer for the Boys & Girls Club of Edenton, Jerome Levisy.

On behalf of the Boys & Girls Club of America, Mr. Ralph Capps, Chief Professional Officer for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Wake County, presented the Charter documents to Mr. Scotty Harrell, President of the Board of Directors of the Boys & Girls Club of Edenton.

With reference to the below story "Lobbying Firm Paid $260,000 by Chowan" today's (11/12/2008) Chowan Herald reported Mr. Copeland, the mayor, and town manager all denying that Edenton representatives authorized any payment to lobbyists. Minutes of the ECDC meetings show no such authorization. Minutes of the County Commissioner meetings show no such authorization either. If neither the county nor the town authorized payment, but Cliff signed the check, it would appear that this is one instance where it can be documented that he exceeded his authority as county manager....and possibly commited a crime.

News reports indicate more people voted for President in the November 2008 election than ever before. In his speech acknowledging winning the election, Barack Obama indicated he wanted to earn the support of all those who did not vote for him. Mr. Obama was elected by the vote of only 29% of Americans age 18 and over. Using http://quickfacts.census.gov and http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/president/ ……(figures are rounded)

Population, age 18 and over (as of 2006):
US(millions)........................NC(millions)...........................CHOWAN
225.7.................................... 6.7........................................... 11,271

Votes for Obama
US(millions)...........................NC(millions) .........................CHOWAN
65.4......... .............................. 2.1........... .................................3652

Percent of age 18+ population who voted for Obama
US--29% ......................... NC--31% ................... Chowan--32%

Percent of age 18+population who voted for President (major parties)
US--54% ........................... NC--63% ...................... Chowan--66%


This is not an attack on Obama--the percentages would be similar had McCain won. The issue is that 103 million folks did NOT vote for anybody for President (124.4 million voted FOR a presidential candidate.) Why the low turnout? Some are illegal aliens, some are felons, some don’t care. But probably most don’t think it makes any difference to their lives who is President. 71% of the population (160,314,501) did not vote for Obama. With percentages like this I think one has to be careful about claiming a "mandate" of the people.

The November 11th Norfolk Virginian Pilot carried an article by Connie Sage titled: "Investigators Question Payments to Lobbyist" which can be linked to from: http://hamptonroads.com/2008/11/investigators-question-edentonchowan-payments-lobbyist

The article describes how over a four year period $260,000 was paid to a Raleigh lobbying firm without the authorization of the Edenton-Chowan Development Corporation, whose Board is composed of town and county officials. Checks were signed by Cliff Copeland, but Richard Bunch who is executive director of ECDC and the Edenton Chowan Chamber of Commerce said he was unaware of the specific arrangements and checks written. The lobbying firm, CAPSTRAT, supposedly arranged for a $10 million federal loan for the Law Enforcement Center (but this was only a two year loan, which the Commissioners refinanced in September for a total cost of $22.5 million over a 40 year period--see "Extra Costs of Refinancing" below dated September 11th.)

Read the article for full details; however the overall formula is familiar....the governing Board is clueless while Cliff is pulling strings and spending public money. This instance was uncovered by the NC State Auditor which has spent 3 months so far going over the county's books. It is likely that everything Copeland did was within the letter of the law; the Boards he worked for were aware of the basic arrangements but failed to pay attention to the details, which Cliff exploited at will.

It is likely that there are many other similar schemes that exist, but will they be uncovered?

Here is a rhetorical question: why does our local government have to hire lobbyists to request assistance from state and national governments?

For a state wide breakdown of the recent elections visit the North Carolina Baord of Elections.

County by county results, Click here Select Chowan county form the litst or click on the map.

http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/NC/7937/13221/en/summary.html

Below is a link to a John Locke Foundation study titled: "Does Chowan County need a Sales Tax Increase?"
The data included is technical but the following sentences caught my eye:

"Between FY2002 and FY2007 Chowan County's per capita revenues have increased by 30% after adjusting for inflation. This means that new county residents are contributing more than their fair share of county revenues."

and

"Conclusion--This report shows that Chowan County is not in financial difficulty."

The John Locke Foundation is a conservative think tank in Raleigh and in fiscal matters its analysis is usually good. This report appears to use a template that can be customized for any county proposing a sales tax increase...still there are some interesting facts contained in it that are unique to Chowan. Hopefully the soon-to-be-elected Board of Commissioners will study it and put some time into examining the numbers, and review our Budget line item by line item

http://www.johnlocke.org/policy_reports/display_story.html?id=182

What gives with a parole office in the heart of the downtown business district? Is the rumour true its rent is paid for by the county? Isn't there a better, less expensive place, maybe in a town building or the new public safety building? How much rent is being paid, to whom and for how long? If the county is paying the rent, what a great place to move out and save money.

This year's General Election Ballot contains the names of candidates for Federal, State and local County offices as well as a local Sales Tax referendum. We hold both the right and responsibility to exercise our vote. We are the ones who select our leaders and determine the course of government. This year the choices are especially vital to our shared future. PLEASE VOTE!!!

This link will take you to the North Carolina Board of Elections Website. There you will be able to find out if you are registered, what voting precinct you are registered in and down load your sample ballot.

Unsure of some of the candidates? The State Board of Elections also offers a quick Bio on most candidates running for state office.

Chowan County has information on the voting machines you will be using along with a wealth of other voting information. A little familiarity can go a long way to making sure your ballot is not spoiled and to make sure that you are doing everything possible to make sure your vote gets counted.

One Stop Voter Registration and Early Voting is being conducted at the old D.F. Walker School on Oakum Street during normal business hours. Early voting will be allowed until November 1 at 1 P.M..

Hospital Fund Disposition

At the 10/6/08 County Commissioner meeting a handout was provided (see http://www.johnsams.org/hospitalfund.htm) that indicated where money from the Hospital Fund was expended. At first glance it is apparent that over half the money (about $11.5 million) went into routine day-to-day expenses, NOT into building construction. The other $8 million went into various other projects that were not further described in detail at the meeting, other than a $437,456 cost overrun of the Adult Day Care Center and $2,000,000 which WAS approved by the commissioners to spend on the Agricultural Extension Building. Some of the money went to Funds which are established to operate a county function, such as providing water services, and previous county manager Copeland said would be paid back over a number of years.

The Hospital Fund never existed as a separate fund, but was commingled with the General Fund. This allowed the money to be easily diverted to uses not intended when the Hospital Fund was originally established.

If the newspapers do not go into detail on what each expenditure purchased, our group will need to get involved, as the people deserve to know exactly what was purchased with the Hospital Fund.

Although there is no official "gag order" as per Rascoe, it is rather strange that some county employees who attended the meeting at Swain and spoke up or reacted by applause in support of citizen outrage, have received UNFAVORABLE evaluations of late. Coincidence? I think not!