Screw Waldo. Where’s Jason Saine?

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Super-sleuth Dan Kane did a good job unveiling former legislator Jason Saine‘s discreet disappearance from mega-lobbying firm The Southern Group.

We think we’ve found some more interesting pieces to this eyebrow-raising story.

Followers of this site know that Jason Saine has been a source / subject  of a lot of good copy for us.  He rose from unemployment to become one of the most powerful politicians in Raleigh. He got to be chairman of appropriations and finance committees — in spite of the fact that he had nightmarish problems with managing his own finances.  From his $19K+ purchase of clothes with campaign funds to apparently funding his entire existence with campaign funds — Saine has inspired a lot of head-shaking moments of sheer disbelief in and around Raleigh.

There were the various and sundry ethics complaints filed against him.  His colleagues apparently talked him out of trying to manage his own campaign finances himself.  Got him a consultant for that. 

Saine resigned from the House to take a nice job with the prestigious and up-and-coming lobbying firm The Southern Group. Things looked like  they were all turning up roses for Saine — until something called Greater Carolina and a Kentucky distillery tour became public knowledge.  It began to appear Saine was tied to the organization of both entities.  It also began to appear that state and federal authorities were wanting a closer look at the group and the tour. 

Word broke today via Mr. Kane that Jason Saine‘s name was suddenly nowhere to be seen on The Southern Group’s website:

Former state Rep. Jason Saine is no longer shown on the website of a prominent lobbying firm that hired him after he took part in a controversial distillery tour in 2024 that is now under investigation.

The Southern Group’s website for the Raleigh office lists four other lobbyists, including Kevin Wilkinson, who opened that office in April 2024, two weeks before the distillery tour in the Louisville, Kentucky, area, attended by lawmakers and lobbyists, became public.

Saine, a Lincolnton Republican who at the time was the House’s chief budget writer, initially wouldn’t comment on the trip, but then confirmed it and said he went on it. He left the House three months later and joined The Southern Group in November of that year.

As of Monday, more than 30 businesses, nonprofits or local governments have registered Saine as their lobbyist, the N.C. Secretary of State’s lobbying division shows.

Saine did not return a phone call or text on Friday, nor did Wilkinson. Southern Group founder Paul Bradshaw, who works out of the Tallahassee, Florida, office, declined to comment on Saine’s status Monday morning. […]

Now, let’s follow up a little on this story.  We browsed to Saine’s LinkedIn profile, which he has updated to include an apparent departure in April from The Southern Group.

The Rogue Squadron Tech, Inc. thing threw us for a loop. we checked it out to learn that it was formed as a NC state corporation in August 2013.  His wife Kathryn Saine was listed as the president and sole registered agent.  Its official address was a Lincolnton residence NOT the Saine family’s current residence.

An interesting footnote — seven months prior to the formation of this technology consulting firm, Saine was named chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Information Technology.

 

There appears to be no actual website for Rogue Squadron.  The phone number for the business appears to be Saine’s personal phone. To make things more interesting:  Rogue Squadron got administratively dissolved as a corporation in North Carolina by the state on September 26, 2025.  (We could find no record of it being reinstated.)

Saine apparently no longer works for The Southern Group.  He’s apparently the vice-president of a firm that got administratively dissolved by the state last year.  But, according to paperwork with the state, Saine is still the lobbyist for about 32 clients. Paperwork on file with the state for those 32 clients still lists him as an agent of The Southern Group. 

Is Rogue Squadron Tech NOW a lobbying firm?   If so, how does that square with state law?