…and when did she know it?
Look, this N.C. Legislative Black Caucus Foundation thing is pretty simple. First, the foundation was and is — for all intents and purposes — a political organization. It is directed and run by sitting members of the General Assembly with a direct say on state policy. PACs giving the organization money is another strong indication of its tilt. Second, the Foundation was fairly light on the actual charity stuff. As Mark Johnson reported, the group spent exactly twice as much on its own conferences — $111,000 — as it did on scholarships — $54,000 — in 2005.
More details on the highly political nature of some the contributions here. Mark Binker has reverse engineered info on donations from PACs and politicians from their required disclosures with the state board of elections.
Plus, reading between the lines due to our absurd “Ethics Commission” rules, it sounds like the foundation was strongly encouraged to give itself an audit. Incoming chair state Rep. Alma Adams says it was all her idea to have an audit when she recently took over for state Rep. Beverly Earle of Charlotte. But then again, Adams is not releasing exactly what the “Ethics Commission” advised her to do. Nothing like a more secrecy to restore your faith in a corrupt state government.
Bottomline, just like the Jim Black Legal defense fund, the group should disclose its donors. And legislators connected to the foundation should not solicit for donations.
