After a day and a half of hearings, we’ve seen the first testy exchanges in the N.C. Board of Elections campaign finance hearing.
The exchange involves the testimony of Four Oaks optometrist Michael Haines. Haines is the 19th optometrist to appear before the board.
Like the others, he has testified that he turned over a series of incomplete checks to the N.C. State Optometric Society. Haines says he doesn’t recall many of the details of the transaction.
His answers drew complaints from board members Lorraine Shinn and Charles Winfree. Haines’ answers prompted Winfree to accuse him of evasiveness. Winfree suggested to Haines that people who gave similarly evasive answers during the 2002 hearing of then-N.C. agriculture commissioner Meg Scott Phipps ended up serving time in prison.
That remark drew an objection from the lawyer representing the Optometric Society and many of the optometrists.
Board chairman Larry Leake responded in the following way:
You know that sometimes witnesses are a little uptight, but I also know that when a witness comes here and tells us that it’s equally probable that he gave these checks separately and it’s equally probable that he gave them at the same time — and he doesn’t know the difference between “possible” and “probable,” I would submit to you that could be evasive.
Winfree apologized for his remark. He credited his remark to frustration about the lack of clarity in the optometrists’ answers.
