The majority leader, The Harding Group, and “professional fees”

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Brenden Jones is a powerful member of the North Carolina House of Representatives.  He is the elected leader of the majority party in the House.  So, it can be easily assumed that he has a lot of say about what happens to various and sundry requests and legislative items that come through his chamber.  

We’ve told you about some controversy involving Jones and the state Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) board ‘s efforts to obtain a new warehouse.  We also learned about Jones’s formation of a business called “The Harding Group.”

We couldn’t find much detail on the website about the Group’s past projects, specifics on what it actually DOES, its staff and / or employees and their credentials, or past customers. But the home page does tell us THIS:

The home page identifies the company’s offices as being located in Tabor City in Columbus County.  The phone number on the company’s home page appears to be a Raleigh-area number.  As House majority leader, Jones spends a significant amount of time in the Raleigh Area.  Could this business possibly tie into his work at The General Assembly? 

All legislators seeking reelection in 2026 have to file documents called “Statements of Economic Interest” with the state ethics commission.  Those documents are meant to provide transparency – so officials and members of the public can evaluate a legislator’s personal business activities in relation to their legislative work. 

Here’s what we found on Jones’s SEI:

According to this filing, Jones received more than $5,000 in “professional fees” from The Harding Group in 2025.  (It’s only been around since May 2024.)  How much did Jones get?  Who paid those fees?  Were any of those payers folks with interests or needs before the House of Representatives?

You reread the details around the ABC warehouse affair and then come back to this.  And you hope that you are only overreacting and reading too much into it.