#ncga: Hey, here’s a thought. GIVE IT BACK.
It must have been quite a spectacle on Jones Street yesterday listening to all those honorables lecturing the Democrat administration about ethics. ( *Because we ALL KNOW that pay-to-play, sleazy backroom deals, and shakedowns for cash in exchange for favors never, never, never, never, ever, never, ever ever, ever,ever, ever, never never, never, never, never, ever, never, ever ever, ever,ever, ever, never never, never, never, never, ever, never, ever ever, ever,ever, ever, never never, never, never, never, ever, never, ever ever, ever,ever, ever, never never, never, never, never, ever, never, ever ever, ever,ever, ever, never happen on Jones Street.*)
Apparently, the folks putting in the Atlantic Coast Pipeline forked over $58 million at almost the exact time the Cooper administration gave them a permit to start work. Democrats inside and outside the administration called the forkover of all that cash a “voluntary contribution.” It was just a co-inky-dink that the cash changed hands right when the permit got issued. 
Legislative Republicans got it right by attacking the deal for the sleazy mess that it is. But here’s where they messed up:
[…T]he lawmakers adopted a provision that would remove the fund from Cooper’s control and would direct the $57.8 million to public schools located along the pipeline route. […]
Remember how that lottery got passed with the promise the cash was going to the schools? Remember how the gas tax got instituted and increased to pay for the roads? HOW has THAT worked out for us?
Giving ANY of these politicians ANY more money is like handing a bottle of vodka to a wino or some crack to a junkie. Not much good will come from it.
If the cash was ill-gotten gains improperly (or illegally) taken from the contractor, it needs to go BACK to the contractor. Taking the money from Roy Cooper so you can spend it the way you want to doesn’t make it better.
Remember the Tom James Company. Paying oneself for campaigning for oneself. That towing company.
We have too many GOP legislators in the pockets of Big Wind and Big Solar due to pay to play, and that corruption will end up costing NC electric ratepayers a bundle.
We will end up like the Australian states of Victoria and South Australia who went wild with wind and solar and now suffer frequent brownouts and blackouts and whose electric consumers have seen their electric rates DOUBLE in 12 months due to expensive and unreliable wind and solar:
http://www.beaufortobserver.net/Blog-3931.112112-13862.114136-High-cost-of-wind-and-solar-power-prices-double-in-12-months-in-Australia.html
John Szoka is one fo the biggest prostitutes to Big Solar and Big Green, but others include Nelson Dollar, Bob Steinburg, Jason Saine, Jimmy Dixon, John Bell, Kelly Hastings, David Lewis, and Tim Moore. These guys are all Solyndra Republicans and need to be ousted in primaries by real Republicans.
If you listen to the committee meeting yesterday, Republicans laid the groundwork for Dominion to take back the funds. They repeatedly asked if the permits would be denied should the funds not be given. Director Lilley constantly responded that no, the two were separate and apart. I would think Dominion would be foolish to allow them to keep the 58 million now that it is on the record.
Here’s another thought – isn’t there a courageous Trump-appointed US Attorney in our state who would like the scalp of a very corrupt very liberal NC governor on his belt? Maybe they can get the FBI to get its head out of its ass and investigate this scandal, then prosecute.
Maybe they should also investigate some of the corrupt slush funds he set up as AG while they are at it.
It is a little amazing that no one has uttered the B(ribe) word, this is so obvious.
Given Cooper’s history of setting up similar political slush funds in the AG’s office, there is little doubt that this was more a shakedown than a bribe. The company should be offered immunity and their money back to spill the beans on Crooked Cooper’s mafia.
It takes two to tango. Why should the money go back to whoever was trying to bribe Ole Roy?
Just curious, does Cooper’s level of corruption qualify him for a position in GOP leadership?
Do we have any “leaders” in the legislature with the ‘nads to set up a legislative investigative committee to look into this blatant corruption in the governor’s offices? Any budding Trey Gowdy’s or Devin Nunes’ out there?
Get all the executive branches emails on the subject as starters.