A state audit finds that Gov. Mike Whatshisname and friends violated state rules when they purchased a 36-acre parcel of waterfront property in Beaufort. Don Carrington reports:
Taxpayers had already paid $3.5 million to acquire the land in 1997, even though it was being held in the name of the Friends of the Museum, a nonprofit organization that supports the work of the three N.C. Maritime Museums. The main museum is situated in Beaufort. The Friends of the Museum is also the parent organization of Pepsi Americas’ Sail 2006, the organization that sponsored the tall-ships festival conducted in Morehead City and Beaufort in early July.
The audit report said the state will pay almost $9 million for the property when the mortgages and liens are paid off. “My biggest concerns are whether the State has failed to take title on other properties purchased with taxpayers’ money and who might be using those properties as collateral for new loans,” State Auditor Leslie Merritt said in a press release. “I think the State Property Office needs to go back and research all property acquisitions to resolve any unknown ownership issues.”
He said the state missed the opportunity to acquire the property for the $3.5 million paid in 1997 and that it is an “open question as to whether the taxpayers will actually reap the full benefit from the added $4.4 million in improvements to the property that were made without State input or control.”
In other words, millions down the drain. Again.
This concludes your latest Down East kleptocracy update.
