N.C. Senate committee will hear from Perdue aide and DOT 

By Bruce Siceloff – bsiceloff@newsobserver.com
By Bruce Siceloff  The News and Observer
Tags: Jim Trogdon | Sen. Tom Apodaca | Susan Coward | Kevin McLaughlin | Vicki Stanley | NCDOT | Garden Parkway | Mid-Currituck Bridge
RALEIGH — A Senate committee will hear from three more witnesses Wednesday before deciding Thursday whether to request a formal investigation into letters that distorted the state Department of Transportation’s stance on $63 million in state money for two toll road projects.

“We must hear directly from three people who can tell us who signed the letters, who asked them to sign the letters, and whether they were forced or coerced into doing so,” Sen. Tom Apodaca, chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, said at a committee meeting Tuesday.

At issue are June 14 letters to two legislators stating, falsely, that DOT wanted the money included in the 2013 budget. Scheduled to appear Wednesday before the committee are:

• Vicki Stanley, executive assistant to Jim Trogdon, the DOT chief operating officer, who was out of town when his electronic signatures were applied to the letters.
• Kevin McLaughlin, deputy chief of staff to Gov. Bev Perdue, who worked with another Perdue aide, Pryor Gibson, to add language to the letters that Trogdon later said was false.
• Susan Coward, a DOT deputy secretary who authorized the letters and later apologized for doing so.

Trogdon had told legislative leaders in a June 8 letter that DOT would not need money in the 2013 budget for two planned toll projects, the Garden Parkway near Charlotte and the Mid-Currituck Bridge on the northern Outer Banks. Later, at Gibson’s request, he drafted letters seeking to allay the concerns of two legislators who sought to keep the toll-road money in the budget.

Gibson told the Senate Rules Committee last week that he persuaded Coward to approve his revisions to the letters, inserting a sentence drafted by McLaughlin to say that DOT would need the money in 2013 after all. Trogdon told the committee that the letters were wrong and that he had not approved them.

Apodaca said he launched the rules committee hearings because the false letters had been cited in budget debate on the Senate floor.

“We will conclude this inquiry on Thursday,” Apodaca said Tuesday. “All options remain on the table.”

Speaking to reporters later, Apodaca said the committee’s options included doing nothing or “referring it to authorities, whether it’s ethics or law enforcement or a combination of both.”

Siceloff: 919-829-4527 or blogs.newsobserver.com/crosstown or twitter.com/Road_Worrier/

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/06/26/2161360/nc-senate-committee-will-hear.html#storylink=cpy

Money for Currituck bridge shelved for another year

Posted to: News Traffic – Transportation North Carolina

By Jeff Hampton
The Virginian-Pilot
© June 23, 2012

The funding for North Carolina’s Currituck mid-county bridge has been once again bumped back a year by the General Assembly, raising concerns the project could be in trouble.

The North Carolina $20.2 billion budget moves $15 million for the bridge into another transportation account for the fourth straight year.

“This delay is not OK, as far as I am concerned,” said Owen Etheridge, a Currituck County commissioner. “I’m worried… they take it out of the budget now and it might not get back in next time.”

The $600 million toll bridge would span the Currituck Sound seven miles, from Aydlett to Corolla, connecting the mainland to the Currituck Outer Banks for the first time. The commute to Corolla from Norfolk would be cut by more than an hour and traffic through the Dare community of Southern Shores greatly reduced.

Opponents see the bridge as unnecessary, a blight to the beauty of the Aydlett community and the Currituck Sound and an avenue that would bring even more congestion to Corolla.

Since first slated for construction more than 20 years ago, environmental concerns, community opposition and costs continued to delay the project through the 1990s. As late as 2004, construction cost was estimated at $100 million.

In 2008, the General Assembly agreed to set aside $15 million annually in funding to augment the private investment. Later, annual gap funding was supposed to grow to $28 million. The project appeared on track, but since 2009, funding has been delayed year after year.

“This is going to require constant vigilance,” said Peter Rascoe, town manager for Southern Shores.

The project has been through numerous studies, and the state is close to stating its intent to start construction – known as the “record of decision.” Once that comes out, the state expects a legal challenge from environmental agencies and other opponents, said Greer Beaty, spokeswoman for the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

The Currituck mid-county bridge faces local opposition, is too costly, lacks a clear purpose and raises “significant environmental permitting issues,” David Farren, senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, wrote in a letter to state Transportation Secretary Eugene Conti.

Ventures of this size typically face lawsuits, Beaty said. But legal action delays construction and the need for state money for this year, she said. A fund of $2 million remains with the bridge for ongoing costs, she said.

“We will have the money when we need it,” Beaty said.

Tolls are expected to augment state and private investment. Those tolls, based on a 2011 study, could be as much as $28 for cars – largely tourists – on a Saturday afternoon and as low as $3 for residents during the week. Despite the high cost on the weekend, the study found that 99 percent of motorists would pay it if it meant saving more than an hour driving through heavy summer traffic on N.C. 12.

Jeff Hampton, 252-338-0159, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com

Published Wed, Jun 20, 2012 07:49 PM
Modified Thu, Jun 21, 2012 05:19 AM

From the Raliegh News & Observer

Budget deal cuts funding for two toll projectsArticle
  
Republican Senator Tom Apodaca, left, chair of the Senate Rules Committee asks Jim Trogdon, chief operating officer of the state Department of Transportation to explain what happened with altered letters, in Apodaca’s hands, involving funding of some proposed DOT projects during a Rules committee meeting held at the N.C. Legislative Building on June 20, 2012. 

By Bruce Siceloff and J. Andrew Curliss – bsiceloff@newsobserver.com
By Bruce Siceloff and J. Andrew Curliss The News and Observer

 
RALEIGH — The House and Senate agreed Wednesday not to spend $63 million next year on two toll road projects that are running behind schedule, and a Senate committee continued investigating a pair of false letters drafted last week in a failed effort to push legislators toward a different decision.

House members had included some of the funds for the Mid-Currituck Bridge on the northern Outer Banks and the Garden Parkway near Charlotte when they adopted their proposed budget in late May. But Jim Trogdon, a senior state Department of Transportation official, told legislators June 8 that DOT would not be ready to spend the money during the coming year.

When leaders from both chambers released their joint budget agreement, they said the toll road money would be deposited instead in the state’s Mobility Fund for use on other road and bridge improvements. Some Senate leaders want to kill the two toll projects permanently, but they acceded to House members and agreed that the funding cut would apply only for one year.

 Meanwhile Wednesday, the Senate Rules Committee opened two days of hearings into a pair of letters sent to legislators June 14 over Trogdon’s signature, arguing that DOT needed full funding for both projects in the 2013 budget. Trogdon disavowed the letters later that day, saying he had not been consulted and had not approved them.

Trogdon said that the altered letters were not correct and were the result of pressure from Gov. Bev Perdue’s office. The changes made to the letters – described by Perdue’s office as “edits” – reversed Trogdon’s written position on road funding to say money for two major toll road projects in the state was needed in the next budget.

Trogdon told the Senate panel that he had been out of town when Pryor Gibson, an adviser to the Democratic governor, went to Trogdon’s office to meet with a deputy DOT secretary last Thursday morning. It was 90 minutes before the state Senate was to discuss the budget.

“What occurred in my office was about between 9:30 and 10:30 – the draft edits arrived that were presented to the staff,” Trogdon said. “And they were presented as a factual statement reviewed by the governor’s staff and attorneys, and must be completed, and this letter must be sent by 10:45.”

Trogdon said Gibson wanted Trogdon’s signature on the letter instead of the deputy DOT secretary’s, and an assistant added Trogdon’s electronic signature.

When Trogdon learned about the changes by the governor’s staff, he immediately said they were not true and began taking steps to undo what had happened.

Trogdon said the deputy secretary who was involved, Susan Coward, had known Gibson for years and “trusted his statement and judgment” to her about making the changes over Trogdon’s name.

“In this case, that judgment was flat wrong,” Trogdon told reporters later. He said Coward had been put in “a very difficult position” with Gibson pressing her for quick action on the two letters.

Coward did not address the committee. DOT officials have declined to make her available for an interview.

Gibson, the governor’s aide, is expected to appear Thursday morning before the Senate Rules Committee. Governor’s office officials say there was no intent to deceive anyone but that Gibson thought the changes, while made in haste, would keep the money flowing and were in keeping with the DOT position.

The false letters were addressed to two legislators, Sen. Stan White of Dare County and Rep. William Current of Gaston County, who have personal and family business interests near the project paths. Both had asked for Perdue’s help in preserving funding.

Current told House members Wednesday that his advocacy for the Garden Parkway had not been influenced by a real estate investment he made in 2003 involving land near the path of the toll road.

“I want you to know your representative did not have any idea at any time of promoting his personal wealth on this project,” Current said.

Siceloff: 919-829-4527 or blogs.newsobserver.com/crosstown or twitter.com/Road_Worrier/
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Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/06/20/2149796/budget-deal-cuts-funding-for-two.html#storylink=cpy

Published Tue, Jun 19, 2012 05:33 AM

Modified Tue, Jun 19, 2012 10:47 AM Article

By J. Andrew Curliss and Bruce Siceloff – acurliss@newsobserver.com

By J. Andrew Curliss and Bruce Siceloff The News and Observer 

Tags: Garden Parkway | toll roads | Mid-Currituck Bridge | transportation money | Gov. Bev Perdue | Pryor Gibson | Kevin McLaughlin | Sen. Stan White

 RALEIGH — Gov. Bev Perdue’s staff drafted a pair of false letters last week in an effort to start the flow of money for two major toll road projects that transportation officials say won’t be ready for state funding until 2014, according to documents obtained by The News & Observer. 

The documents indicate that Perdue herself was involved in the issue, which concerns a budget debate over $63 million in start-up money for the Garden Parkway, a highway project near Charlotte, and a planned bridge to the northern Outer Banks known as the Mid-Currituck Bridge. 

The letters were rushed to legislators Thursday morning over the signature of Jim Trogdon, chief operating officer of the state Department of Transportation. Trogdon disavowed the letters and retracted them Thursday afternoon.

  “Funds are needed in this budget cycle” for the bridge and the parkway, according to a key line in both erroneous letters. That sentence had been inserted into letters Trogdon drafted with the intent to send the opposite message – that DOT didn’t need the money.

 Two high-level Perdue staff members had added the new language, according to officials from DOT and Perdue’s office.

 When Trogdon learned about the new language from his secretary Thursday, he sent a message to her from his mobile phone.

 “Major problem with the sentence,” he wrote. “It is not true.”

 Perdue, a Democrat, was not available for an interview Monday, according to her spokesman, Mark Johnson.

 He said Perdue fully supports the toll projects and that the governor wants funding in place for them.

The false letters were distributed just as the Senate began its budget debate Thursday. The House had proposed to set aside money for both toll projects in 2013, but the Senate budget shifted the money to other road and bridge needs. The two chambers are negotiating over differences in their budgets, and the toll-road money is still part of their talks.

By pushing for funds in 2013, the false letters appeared to reverse a position Trogdon had spelled out in a memo June 8 to House and Senate budget writers. He said DOT expects to face lawsuits that will delay construction on the Garden Parkway and Mid-Currituck Bridge, so the state money won’t be needed until 2014. 

‘Without my review or consent’ 

In an interview Monday, Trogdon said his position was unchanged. He endorsed a Senate budget proposal to spend that $63 million on projects that will be ready to move forward next year.

“Based on all the foreseeable things we believe will occur, I do not see any way we will be able to expend any (start-up) funds on those two projects before” fiscal year 2014, which starts in July 2013, Trogdon said.

 Trogdon had been out of town when the false letters were drafted Thursday morning on DOT stationery, with his signature. He serves as a major general in the N.C. National Guard and was in Charlotte for security meetings related to the upcoming Democratic National Convention.

 When he returned to Raleigh that afternoon, he took steps to cancel the letters. He said in a follow-up letter to tell lawmakers that he had not authorized his signature on the twin letters. He said they had been sent to legislators “without my review or consent.”

 “I respectfully request that the letters be disregarded,” Trogdon wrote Thursday afternoon. 

Lawmakers’ interests

It all started when the Senate budget was released early last week without start-up money for the toll projects. That concerned some lawmakers – including one who has owned land near where the Garden Parkway will go, and another who rents homes to vacationers on the Outer Banks.

 Rep. William Current Sr., a Republican from Gastonia, sent an email to Perdue aide Pryor Gibson on June 12 saying that the lack of funding “would probably kill the project.” 

Gibson, a former lawmaker, is the senior adviser on legislative matters to the governor, who is not seeking re-election.

 Records show that Current has had a financial interest in the road, too. He was an investor in land owned by former legislator Robert Pittenger, who is now in a Republican primary runoff for the 9th Congressional District. Pittenger has a stake in roughly 2,000 acres near four proposed parkway exits.

Current, who has lobbied to keep the parkway moving forward for years, said in 2008 that he had sold his interest in the Pittenger/Parkway land to his son. Current was at a funeral Monday and could not be reached for comment. He issued a statement saying the Garden Parkway “promises major economic development potential for all of North Carolina.” 

Sen. Stan White, a Dare County Democrat, wrote to Perdue on June 12 about the bridge. White, a former transportation board member, is a real estate and construction businessman who replaced former Senate leader Marc Basnight after his retirement in early 2011.

 White owns a business that rents dozens of vacation homes on the Outer Banks. In the past two decades, his business has expanded to the northern sections of the Outer Banks, which would benefit from the new bridge.

 The loss of money for the bridge “will probably be the demise of this project,” White wrote. Two days later, in Senate floor debate, White cited one of the false letters to bolster his proposed budget amendment to restore the Currituck bridge funds. The amendment was defeated.

 Gibson asked Trogdon to help the governor draft responses to White and Current. He left a message saying Perdue wanted to discuss the issue with Trogdon. 

“The Governor is traveling but on her next stop they want to connect you with her to discuss attached issues,” said Gibson’s phone message to Trogdon, according to a note by Trogdon’s secretary.

 Trogdon says he spoke to Gibson but not to Perdue, and agreed to draft replies to White and Current.

In his proposed replies to the two legislators, Trogdon referred to his June 8 memo that had explained DOT’s decision not to seek money for the toll projects in 2013. Trogdon’s assistant emailed the replies to Gibson on Wednesday and said, “Jim asked that you please review the attached letters and let us know if the language is acceptable to the Governor.”

 Making the alterations

 The governor’s office did not accept Trogdon’s letters. Kevin McLaughlin, a deputy chief of staff to Perdue, drafted a sentence to add to each letter after discussing the issue with Gibson, according to Johnson, the governor’s spokesman. Gibson took the letters to DOT offices for Trogdon’s signature Thursday morning, when Trogdon was in Charlotte, according to an email to Trogdon from his assistant.

Susan Coward, a DOT deputy secretary, approved the changes, and Trogdon’s signature was applied electronically. Gibson personally distributed the letters to legislators that morning, according to the email message and Perdue’s spokesman.

 Gibson declined Monday to comment on the issue. 

Johnson said nothing nefarious was meant by the changes. 

Gibson believed that Trogdon was aware of the alterations to his position at the time they were made, Johnson said.

 He said Gibson, a former seatmate with Current when the two were in the legislature, was not aware of any financial interests in the toll projects by either concerned lawmaker. 

Sen. Kathy Harrington, a Gaston County Republican who helped write the Senate transportation budget, said the toll project money would be better spent on improving North Carolina’s existing roads and bridges.

 “The philosophy of the transportation budget is to take care of what you have and finish what you started,” Harrington said. “I have not been a supporter of the Garden Parkway project.”

Senate panel to inquire

 Trogdon said Monday that the revisions added by the governor’s office amounted to wishful thinking and a desire to reassure legislators.

“I think they were really trying to wordsmith some things to make everyone satisfied,” Trogdon said. “I understand they had a real deadline, to address those two members’ concerns, and they were pushing to have a letter drafted by 11 o’clock,” when the Senate began its budget debate.

 “In the afternoon I called (Gibson) and told him I was going to retract that letter, and they were supportive of me doing so,” he said. 

Trogdon said the governor’s staff had based its logic on the hope that one or both of the toll projects could avoid lawsuit-related delays. He said neither Coward nor anyone else in his office had realized that the edited letters misrepresented Trogdon’s point of view.

 After Trogdon disavowed the letters Thursday afternoon, Coward said she had been at fault for accepting the revisions offered by the governor’s staff. 

“I take full responsibility in trusting the edit as presented,” she wrote to Trogdon, to his assistant and to DOT’s lobbyist, “and apologize to everyone.”

 Late Monday, the Senate Rules Committee scheduled a meeting for Tuesday to begin an inquiry into the matter. 

Steve Harrison of The Charlotte Observer contributed to this report.

Curliss: 919-829-4840 

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/06/19/2146020/false-letters-from-perdue-staff.html#storylink=cpy