STATE $$$$ for FED prosecutors ???

I’ve never heard of such a thing.  How can the General Assembly possibly have jurisdiction here?

Super sleuth Dan Kane is on the case:

Since 2023, state lawmakers have been made aware that Wake County and many other North Carolina prosecutorial districts are in need of more assistant district attorneys. Wake alone has 45 prosecutors when a study says it should have 70.

But in the past year, state Republican lawmakers who control the legislature have spent $1.2 million staffing two Republican-led U.S. attorneys offices serving the Eastern and Middle districts.[…]

[…] Each of those federal districts received four special assistant U.S. attorney positions. Neither state legislative leaders nor the U.S. attorneys in those districts have explained why state taxpayers are paying for them and not the federal government.

An updated version of the 2023 study by the state Conference of District Attorneys found that 27 of the state’s 43 prosecutorial districts — well over half — were staffed at less than 80% of the need. Six of those districts had staffing of less than 70%, including Wake and the district covering Harnett and Lee counties.

In this year’s budget, state lawmakers provided positions to four of those six districts. But they left behind Wake, which is operating with less than two-thirds of the prosecutors the DAs group says it needs, and the Harnett-Lee district, which is operating with slightly more than two-thirds of what’s said to be needed — 13 prosecutors instead of 19.

The lack of staffing in Wake means longer waits for criminal cases to be adjudicated, and less time working with crime victims, said Wake District Attorney Lorrin Freeman.

“I feel like we are operating in the narrowest margin that we have operated in since I have been DA,” said Freeman, first elected in 2014. “And you know, inevitably, that is going to result in cases taking longer to be heard and processed, and victims feeling like they are not getting the attention that they need, and the possibility, increased possibility, that we’re going to miss something.”

Wake County also has a responsibility other districts don’t face. Since it is home to the state capital, the Wake district attorney has jurisdiction over public corruption cases involving state officials. Freeman, a Democrat, has three known active cases involving the state legislature, which is controlled by Republicans:

• One involves two bourbon trips held by a nonprofit with deep ties to then-Rep. Jason Saine, a Lincolnton Republican who at the time was a chief budget writer. The lawmakers who have been identified as being on the trips, which have led to criminal charges against four lobbyists of violating a gift ban, are all Republicans.
• A second case involves Caitlyn’s Courage, a domestic-violence prevention nonprofit that initially received $3.5 million in a COVID-19 relief bill in 2020. The owners of the company that ultimately received the money — in legislation that circumvented standard bidding laws — had made campaign donations to then-House Speaker Tim Moore.
• The third involves former Rep. Cecil Brockman, a Guilford County Democrat who had a reputation for aiding Republican lawmakers with how he handled some important votes, and fared well with state budget appropriations. The investigation is looking into how Brockman’s predecessor and former boss, Marcus Brandon, benefited from some of those appropriations.

Some say those cases explain why state lawmakers are starving Freeman’s office of prosecutors. The understaffing could make it harder for her to focus on political corruption when prosecutors are needed to handle violent crime.  […]

 

Wake gained no prosecutors despite having a state representative serving as a co-chairman on the House Appropriations Committee. Rep. Erin Paré, a Holly Springs Republican, is one of seven chairs on the committee (though not one of the four senior chairs), which is typically heavily involved in drawing up a state budget. Paré said in an email message that she sought additional prosecutors, but did not explain why she was unsuccessful.

“As budget negotiations involve both the House and the Senate, no budget chair gets everything they want,” she said. She did not make herself available for an interview.

Neither she nor House Speaker Destin Hall, a Caldwell County Republican, addressed The N&O’s inquiry about the special federal prosecutor funding. Senate leader Phil Berger, a Rockingham County Republican, did not respond to interview requests through a spokeswoman about the prosecutor positions.

Hall said in an emailed statement that Freeman didn’t push for more prosecutors.

“No one from the Wake County DA’s office made a request to the Speaker’s Office for such positions. And the issue didn’t come up during the negotiations between chamber leaders,” Hall said. He did not make himself available for an interview.

He also said Wake County could pay for additional prosecutors, as Mecklenburg County has.

“We are not sure why Wake County has chosen not to fund even one ADA position, especially in light of the huge tax increases it continues to place on its residents,” he said.

Freeman bristled at that response.

“The speaker’s office is well aware that the request for assistant district attorneys comes through the Conference of District Attorneys, of which I am an active member,” she said. “During the study that resulted in the current workload formula, I chaired the committee that established statewide need for prosecutor and legal assistant positions.”

As for Hall expecting Wake County taxpayers to shoulder the bill, Freeman said they are already shelling out for law enforcement needs that state lawmakers should be paying for.

“The state has consistently shifted the burden of what is clearly state responsibilities under our law to local governments,” Freeman said. “This is easily demonstrated in the fact that Wake County appropriates several million dollars a year in order for our district to have its own crime lab because the state legislature has consistently failed to adequately fund the crime lab, resulting in significant delays in the ability of prosecutors statewide to be able to investigate and prosecute cases.”

Hall’s response also didn’t fly with Don Carrington, the retired executive editor of the conservative Carolina Journal, whose investigative reporting helped lead to criminal convictions, including one for former Gov. Mike Easley, a Democrat. District attorney offices are the state’s responsibility, Carrington said, and Wake needs adequate state funding to fulfill its role as a check against corruption in state government.

“That’s not how the system is designed,” Carrington said of Hall’s call for Wake to chip in. “The schools work that way and that’s fine, but not the DA’s office.”

History of state support

State lawmakers began paying for six special assistant U.S. attorneys in 2016, taking over that expense from the Governor’s Crime Commission, which is largely funded through federal grants. The positions were equally distributed to the three federal U.S. attorneys offices in the state.

 

These positions typically handle joint state and federal prosecutions arising from task force investigations into areas such as drugs and guns. That’s important work, Freeman said, but it makes up a small percentage of the cases in her district.

Last October, state lawmakers added the four positions to the Eastern District of North Carolina. They were tucked into a stopgap spending bill intended to help state government function while the House and Senate were locked in a stalemate over a state budget. The bill contained several provisions to provide help to communities damaged by the storm Helene in 2024, and drew wide support from both parties.

In late June, Republican legislative leaders finally agreed on a state budget, rolling it out in a 634-page bill and a 714-page spending report. Page 354 of the spending report lists the four new positions for the Middle District.

The 2025 legislation said the Conference of District Attorneys had discretion to assign the four Eastern District positions, but Executive Director Kimberly Spahos said her agency never asked for those or the four for the Middle District.

“I cannot speak to the General Assembly’s reasons for funding four additional SAUSA positions for the Eastern or Middle Districts,” she said in an email response. “Questions regarding the rationale for those appropriations, or documentation supporting the requests, would be more appropriately directed to the General Assembly or the respective U.S. Attorney’s Offices.”

She added: “The Conference continues to advocate for the resources District Attorneys need to carry out their responsibilities and seek justice in their communities. That includes advocating for funding to address the prosecutorial staffing needs identified through the statewide workload formula.”

In both cases, the positions emerged in what are known as conference reports, which are intended to resolve differences between the House and Senate on legislation, and cannot be amended. These conference reports were heavily rewritten from the original versions of the bills. Neither U.S. attorney’s office responded to The N&O’s request for information about the positions.

[…]

The Eastern District is led by U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle, whose clients when he was in private practice included the Republican National Committee and the North Carolina Republican Party. The Middle District is led by U.S. Attorney Dan Bishop, a former Republican state lawmaker and U.S. congressman who lost a bid to be state attorney general.

The investigation into Caitlyn’s Courage began in the Eastern District, with a federal grand jury issuing subpoenas into the program’s funding in 2024 and then looking into other legislative appropriations connected to a former legislative aide, Jordan Hennessy, a national GOP convention delegate.

But little activity has surfaced out of the federal investigation since Donald Trump returned to the presidency in 2025. Last month, Freeman disclosed to The N&O that in November she requested the SBI investigate. The SBI has confirmed an active investigation.

[…]

Freeman decided not to seek reelection and will step down in January. Wiley Nickel, a former state senator and U.S. congressman, won the Democratic primary and is almost certain to take her place.

Nickel made tackling public corruption a major part of his election campaign, and cited his experience in the state legislature as a primer for knowing where to find the bad actors. He said he is seeking help from county commissioners now that state lawmakers have gone home until after the November election.

Because the county chose not to fund the district attorney’s office in its budget passed on June 1, it would take a budget amendment to do so now.

But Wake County Board of Commissioners Chair Don Mial maintained that “it’s just not financially possible right now,” in an email with The N&O last month.

“As a Board, we appreciate the vital role the Wake County District Attorney’s Office plays in the justice system, and we support their efforts to ensure our community is safe,” Mial wrote. “However, it is not our responsibility to adequately staff the DA’s Office. It is the state’s responsibility.” […]