Former state Rep. Richard Morgan (R-Moore), long after being defeated for re-election by Rep. Joe Boylan (R-Moore) in 2006, loaned his own still-active campaign fund $533,000, a month after a new state law made retrieving funds remaining in a losing campaign account illegal.
Morgan's loan to his own campaign is not illegal under new state laws passed in the wake of bribery scandals involving former Speaker Jim Black (D-Mecklenburg) and Michael Decker (R-Forsyth), both serving terms in federal prison. Neither was Morgan's subsequent "repayment" to himself of the over half-million dollar loan along with $12,200 in "interest." Whether or not the former "co-speaker," who shared the House gavel with Black during the 2003 General Assembly, can detail advanced disclosure to himself of the anticipated interest charges is a subject of interest to the State Board of Elections.
According to Dan Kane of Raleigh's News & Observer, in "Morgan pocketed campaign funds," Nov. 16, finance reports indicate Morgan charged his own contributors 8 to 9.5 percent interest.
"That's a rate of return on a relatively risk-free investment that's hard to find in the current market, said Bill Dix, president of Fortune Management, a Raleigh investment management firm," Kane wrote in the N&O, this morning.
"If I knew where I could get 8 or 9 percent on a relatively risk-free basis, I'd be all over that," Dix said, "That just ain't out there."
Clearly, "it just ain't out there" for prime lenders or "Joe Sixpac" when buying a car, or a "Van," as in the case of felons former state Rep. Michael Decker and Judge Gerry Ballance.
The prohibition on former lawmakers sweeping contributions out of their campaign accounts was an excellent start, but Morgan's record-breaking loans with interest to effectively inactive campaign accounts demonstrate the legislature in North Carolina isn't finished revamping either lawmaker ethics or campaign finance laws.
Morgan's loan to his own campaign is not illegal under new state laws passed in the wake of bribery scandals involving former Speaker Jim Black (D-Mecklenburg) and Michael Decker (R-Forsyth), both serving terms in federal prison. Neither was Morgan's subsequent "repayment" to himself of the over half-million dollar loan along with $12,200 in "interest." Whether or not the former "co-speaker," who shared the House gavel with Black during the 2003 General Assembly, can detail advanced disclosure to himself of the anticipated interest charges is a subject of interest to the State Board of Elections.
According to Dan Kane of Raleigh's News & Observer, in "Morgan pocketed campaign funds," Nov. 16, finance reports indicate Morgan charged his own contributors 8 to 9.5 percent interest.
"That's a rate of return on a relatively risk-free investment that's hard to find in the current market, said Bill Dix, president of Fortune Management, a Raleigh investment management firm," Kane wrote in the N&O, this morning.
"If I knew where I could get 8 or 9 percent on a relatively risk-free basis, I'd be all over that," Dix said, "That just ain't out there."
Clearly, "it just ain't out there" for prime lenders or "Joe Sixpac" when buying a car, or a "Van," as in the case of felons former state Rep. Michael Decker and Judge Gerry Ballance.
The prohibition on former lawmakers sweeping contributions out of their campaign accounts was an excellent start, but Morgan's record-breaking loans with interest to effectively inactive campaign accounts demonstrate the legislature in North Carolina isn't finished revamping either lawmaker ethics or campaign finance laws.
Read The trail of Morgan's money
while paying close attention to Banker Morgan's
investments after new ethics laws went into effect
while paying close attention to Banker Morgan's
investments after new ethics laws went into effect
1 comments:
Come on, Doc. 'You just don't understand how things are done 'round here.' You're just an opportunist with a hidden agenda for public financed campaigns for the state House and Senate!
Next, you'll be demanding non-partisan legislative races.
Hmmm. Forget I said that.
As someone out of the candidate recruitment business, here's a selling point I hadn't thought of before. Become a Super-Banker!
How stupid of me! Perhaps less than his contributors though... unless, of course, like former Rep. Morgan, they came by their generosity through leveraging OPM (Other People's Money.)
That's generally a Democratic way of defining their generosity... as a measure of their generosity with other people's money.
That seems to be fashionable, again, since Mrs. Clinton brought her husband's Private Army back into the big leagues.
Have you ever seen so many dishwashers maxing out their contribution levels, all from the same neighborhood, union, or same last name?
This may account for the indifference of Shery Leigh Thomas, "senior vice president for the Association for Home & Hospice Care of North Carolina," who, according to DK in the N&O article gave $2,500 to Morgan "in 2006," presumably in his primary race against Joe Boylan.
"That's really up to that person running for office, what they do with the campaign donation," DK quotes her reaction to Morgan's "investments."
Other People's Money... not taxpayer's money to be sure, but OPM, none the less.
Doc, how do you account for that kind of attitude?
Seriously, though, I know (1.) NOT everybody does it.
Some legislators give their remaining funds to a charity other than UNICEF, and not to 'everyone's favorite charity, moi!'
(2.) From a historic perspective, such high-dollar amounts are still a relatively new phenomena in North Carolina state legislative politics. I still remember when that much scratch could pay for a serious campaign for Congress, and it still could under the right circumstances.
And (3.) In most campaigns there's a hard and fast law. You can raise more money, but you can't raise more time. Once the clock runs out, any money you have left over can't change the results.... at least not legally.
Each day that passes becomes more expensive, and money "left-over" is wasted.
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