The Pinehurst Hot Mess: A Court Date!
Attention, Pinehurst residents! Grab those wallets and bend over! Your village government has refused three offers of mediation, pushed for a jury trial, and hired an extra expensive attorney to fight a lawsuit brought by former Councilman Kevin Drum and North Carolina Citizens for Transparent Government (NCCTG).
We’re all paying for this hot mess. *So, enjoy!*
The complaint filed by Drum and NCCTG is slated to be heard in Moore County Civil Court on August 25. The first order of business will be to hear “A Motion to Dismiss” from village government’s TWO expensive taxpayer-funded private attorneys. The reasons cited for dismissal include (1) exceeding the statute of limitations for complaining about this stuff, and (2) Drum attending one of the meetings he IDed as illegal. (They fail to mention that the Strickland cabal, which controls things at Village Hall, misrepresented the purpose of that particular meeting.)
If you’ve been following this saga, you might remember that it all went public in October of last year. Someone posting under the name “Bart Boudreaux” had been bragging all over Internet message boards and comment sections about upcoming ethics charges against two incumbent council members. (The real Boudreaux is a former council candidate known to be a devout supporter of mayor John Strickland. According to village ordinances, leaking of info about ethics probes to the public is improper and possibly illegal.)
In October, the village council had a regular meeting where a show trial was publicly held. Council members Kevin Drum and Lydia Boesch were caught by surprise as they were accused of various “ethics” violations. (Drum, seeking reelection, was weeks away from facing the voters at the polls.)
Info soon surfaced suggesting that mayor Strickland, council member Jane Hogeman and then-council member Judy Davis, village manager Jeff Sanborn, and village attorney Mike Newman conspired in private unadvertised meetings to bring “ethics” charges against Drum and Boesch and damage them both politically. ( Drum was up for reelection. Boesch is rumored to be a challenger to Strickland in the next mayoral race.)
Accusations went back and forth. Drum lost his reelection bid. And a complaint got filed. So, here we are.
Don’t vote. Don’t pay attention to the candidates or the issues. And THIS is what you get.
Surely, this will be followed by complaints from residents upset over the short-term rental mess. Pinehurst village government is on its way to returning to its glory days as a cash-cow for attorneys.
Yes Mayor Strickland and cohorts are going to get a big legal sandpaper enema style blast regarding shorty term rentals. Can’t wait to get them on stand to talk about the Friday Group and related non-public meetings along with general hypocrisy, selective zoning, etc. Village of Pinehurst, bring your legal checkbook.