NC DOT Letters Inquiry Heading To Ethics Panel

Posted on June 29, 2012 by admin

NC DOT letters inquiry heading to ethics panel

The Associated Press

Thursday, June 28, 2012

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Senate Republicans agreed Thursday to send the contents of its two-week investigation over edited letters to lawmakers attributed to a high-ranking state Department of Transportation official to the State Ethics Commission for further scrutiny.

Member of the Senate Rules Committee voted along party-lines to send its findings to the ethics panel about correspondence that had been changed by aides within Gov. Beverly Perdue’s office and affixed with the digital signature of DOT Chief Operating Officer Jim Trogdon.

The committee is asking the bipartisan commission to review the case and determine whether further investigation is needed to determine whether state ethics laws may have been violated by anyone involved in the production of the letters. Committee chairman Sen. Tom Apodaca said the case could have been referred to the Wake County District Attorney’s Office, but he declined to offer that recommendation.

“I don’t see the criminal intent but I certainly see ethical issues at play here,” Apodaca, R-Henderson, told the committee. “I think our best course of action is the ethics commission and not law enforcement.”

Trogdon was out of town when the final editing was completed on the June 14 letters that appeared to reverse his earlier appraisal to budget-writers that $63 million for two politically divisive toll projects wouldn’t be needed for another years. Republicans haven’t been critical of Trogdon, who quickly recalled the letters later that day.

“At the heart of this matter is whether the North Carolina General Assembly can safely rely on the information presented to it as it considers the people’s business,” Apodaca said.

The Perdue aides — Pryor Gibson and Kevin McLaughlin — told the panel in separate appearances that the edits were merely designed to reiterate the governor’s long-term support for the Mid-Currituck Bridge and Garden Parkway and to leave the door open for funding next year.

Apodaca said the committee’s referral isn’t signaling out any one in particular for scrutiny, but he and other GOP senators spoke primarily about Gibson, a former state House member and Perdue’s chief liaison to the General Assembly.

Apodaca said questions remain whether Gibson acted within “ethical norms” when what he called “altered” letters were sent to legislators and whether he pressured other DOT workers to place Trodgon’s signature on them. Gibson told the committee last week he regretted how the letters were handled but that he was only trying to get the letters to lawmakers before a deadline.

Some Republicans didn’t buy Gibson’s contention, pointing to his long period of service within state government as proof he understood how to make the wheels of government run.

“In my belief, he knew exactly what he was doing, and I believe that is highly deserving of a referral to the ethics commission,” said Sen. Buck Newton, R-Wilson.

Gibson declined comment when reached by phone, pointing to the statement of Perdue press secretary Chris Mackey. “The individuals involved have apologized, and it is time to get back to resolving the transportation issues that are important to the working families of North Carolina,” Mackey said.

Democrats on the committee said Republicans were making too much out of the letters flap and voted against the ethics commission referral. They dismissed GOP allegations that the letters were a “forgery” and said the edits were merely the result of sloppy or fast editing. Trogdon, a National Guard soldier, was on military maneuvers the morning that the letters to a pair of lawmakers were finalized.

“The only thing that happened is the unfortunate circumstance (that) Mr. Trogdon was unavailable,” said Sen. Josh Stein, D-Wake. “Had he been available, everyone would have called him and said, ‘do you think this change is OK?’ … Why we want to continue this process is beyond me.”

The work of the eight-member State Ethics Commission and its staff is largely confidential when looking into complaints or referrals of potential ethical wrongdoing. Only certain elected officials and high-ranking administrators of state agencies are subject to the commission’s authority — in this case Gibson, McLaughlin, Trogdon and DOT Deputy Secretary Susan Coward. Coward worked with Gibson on the final letters.

The commission can dismiss a complaint and hold a public hearing if there’s probable cause wrongdoing occurred. The commission can refer cases to a prosecutor for potential criminal charges or someone like the governor for other appropriate action.

Senators Trade Barbs As Altered DOT Letter Probed

Posted on June 28, 2012 by admin

Carolina Journal News Reports

Officials claim letter reversing department funding position was a mistake

By Barry Smith

Jun. 28th, 2012

RALEIGH – Sparks flew during a Wednesday Senate committee meeting after a top aide to Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue said that he never intended to alter the opinion of a top Department of Transportation official when he changed a letter about the timing for money on two toll projects.Democratic Sens. Dan Blue of Wake County and Martin Nesbitt of Buncombe County objected to what they called “one-sided cross-examination” of two DOT employees who spoke before the Senate Rules Committee.“That’s outrageous,” Nesbitt said. “I don’t think anything justifies what I had to sit here and watch this morning.”“OK, you had your say, and I’ll have mine,” Sen. Tom Apodaca, R-Henderson, responded. Apodaca is the Senate Rules Committee chairman.

Apodaca said that in the 10 years he’s been in the Senate, he’d never seen the type of events as those that occurred this year. He was referring to instances in which electronic signatures of the DOT’s chief operating officer, Jim Trogdon, was placed on two altered letters. The alterations said the opposite of what Trogdon had written earlier.

“That doesn’t work in my world,” Apodaca said. “And I certainly hope it doesn’t work in y’all’s world.”

Before the senators’ remarks, Kevin McLaughlin, Perdue’s deputy chief of staff, and two DOT employees, Susan Coward, a deputy secretary, and Vicki Stanley, Trogdon’s executive assistant, gave their account of what happened June 14, when Trogdon’s letters were altered and the digital signature was applied. Trogdon was in Charlotte that morning and was participating at an event that made him unavailable to discuss revisions to his letters.

Trogdon had said that money for the two toll projects — the Mid-Currituck Bridge on the Outer Banks and the Garden Parkway in Gaston and Mecklenburg counties – would not be needed in the 2012-13 budget because anticipated litigation over the projects would prevent construction from beginning until the following fiscal year.

McLaughlin told committee members that he felt that Trogdon’s letter needed to be altered so that money would be available for the projects in case the litigation did not occur or in case the disputes were settled early.

Sen. Buck Newton, R-Wilson, questioned McLaughlin about the changes.

“Is it customary for you guys in the governor’s office to send someone over to an agency to alter positions when you don’t agree with what they’ve already written?” Newton asked.

“I would hope you are not saying that this process was altering someone’s position,” McLaughlin said. He said he was seeking a clarification.

“It seems quite clear to me that’s exactly what happened,” Newton said.

McLaughlin said he did not discuss the changes in the letters with Perdue until after news reports brought the controversy to light.

Coward and Stanley detailed their roles in making the changes in Trogdon’s letters. They said they were made after Pryor Gibson, a former Anson County Democratic representative and currently Perdue’s top legislative aide, requested the change.

Both said the changes were a mistake and apologized for them. Neither said that they were pressured to make changes, but did say that they felt an urgency to get the letter out.

“In haste, a mistake was made,” Coward said.

Apodaca said he expects the committee to take up the issue again Thursday, as it decides its next course of action. He said he expected a “spirited debate” at that meeting.

Barry Smith is an associate editor of Carolina Journal.

Democrats Protest Republican Grilling of DOT Employees Over False Letters

Posted on June 28, 2012 by admin

Democrats protest Republican grilling of DOT employees over false letters

Published Wed, Jun 27, 2012 01:46 PM

Modified Wed, Jun 27, 2012 02:34 PM

Bruce Siceloff – bsiceloff@newsobserver.com

By Bruce Siceloff The News and Observer

RALEIGH — After Republican senators grilled two Department of Transportation employees and a member of Gov. Bev Perdue’s staff at a committee hearing this morning, Democrats protested that the DOT workers were being hounded unfairly for their involvement in a mistake.

Vicki Stanley, a DOT office manager, and Susan Coward, a DOT deputy secretary, were questioned for a combined 40 minutes about their actions on June 14, when they agreed to issue letters to two legislators over the signature of their boss, Jim Trogdon, DOT’s chief operating officer.

“We have a one-sided cross examination of civil servants, these two ladies who showed up here this morning, … who were just doing their job in this entire process,” Sen. Dan Blue, a Wake County Democrat, said after the hearing.

The letters misrepresented Trogdon’s position by asking legislators to include money for two toll-road projects in the 2013 budget. Trogdon had told legislative leaders a week earlier that the money was not needed. He quickly disavowed the June 14 letters and said they should not have been sent without his consent.

Stanley tearfully apologized today for her role in putting Trogdon’s electronic signature on the letters while Trogdon was out of town. She and Coward testified that they had not realized that changes in the letters, requested by Perdue aides, amounted to a reversal of Trogdon’s previous recommendation to the legislature.

Kevin McLaughlin, Perdue’s deputy chief of staff, said he was the author of a sentence inserted into a letter Trogdon had drafted the day before. He said he thought it was “clarifying” the DOT budget position, not reversing it.

Trogdon said DOT would not be ready to spend $63 million in budgeted state funds for the Mid-Currituck Bridge on the Outer Banks and the Garden Parkway near Charlotte in 2013 because he expects both projects will be delayed by lawsuits. Perdue’s staff wanted to add a sentence seeking to make the money available in 2013 in case the expected delays did not materialize after all.

That’s the change that Coward approved on June 14 in letters that Stanley prepared, with a digital copy of Trogdon’s signature. Trogdon asserted later that the money would not be needed.

The rules committee is expected to decide Thursday whether to refer the issue to outside agencies for investigation of possible ethical or criminal violations.

Blue called the committee’s hearings a “witch hunt” and said Republicans had abused Stanley and Coward.

When such a hearing is held again, he said, the witnesses should have lawyers and other legal protections “so that they aren’t led down some kind of little alley to future criminal proceedings or other proceedings that adversely affect them in their jobs.”

Sen. Martin Nesbitt, a Buncombe County Democrat and the Senate minority leader, told Sen. Tom Apodaca, a Henderson County Republican who chairs the Senate Rules Committee, that he would never tolerate such treatment for his own office assistant.

“That’s no different than you making a mistake and us calling Miss (Carolyn) Gooden down here and, putting her up there and grilling her for 45 minutes over a mistake that was made in your office. … It’s just unconscionable to pounce on somebody’s assistant who was just doing her job the best she could.”

Nesbitt said the false DOT letters were an outgrowth of the Republican-led Senate’s quick budget process.

“When you run a budget, you don’t have any subcommittees meet, you don’t have any input and you rush it out here, you’re going to have us, the governor’s staff and everybody else running around like chickens with their heads cut off, trying to catch up with you,” Nesbitt said. “That’s what happened here.”

Apodaca has called Trogdon blameless in the incident, and other Republicans have spoken favorably about DOT employees generally. In questions of witnesses this morning and at previous hearings, the Republicans sought to discover whether aides to the Democratic governor had unfairly pressured DOT employees into putting Trogdon’s signature on the letter.

But in his reply to Blue and Nesbitt, Apodaca suggested that some of the blame lay with Trogdon’s executive assistant, Stanley. Gesturing to his assistant, Gooden, seated at his side, Apodaca said:

“If Miss Gooden had done what that lady (Stanley) did, she wouldn’t be working for me. So let’s get that straight right now.”

When Nesbitt asked what Stanley had done, Apodaca replied:

“It’s pretty plain she signed a letter that wasn’t authorized to be signed by the person’s name she signed. I’m not a lawyer, I’m just a normal person, but that doesn’t work in my world.”

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

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/06/27/2163465/democrats-protest-republican-grilling.html#storylink=cpy

N.C. Senate Committee Will Hear From Perdue Aide and DOT Employees

Posted on June 26, 2012 by admin

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/

White: Politics Driving Probe

Posted on June 25, 2012 by admin

White: Politics driving probe

By Cindy Beamon

The Daily Advance

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

“Fraudulent” letters sent to the state Senate last week about the proposed Currituck Mid-County Bridge project may not be that inaccurate, say two local state lawmakers.

The News & Observer reported Tuesday that several members of Gov. Bev Perdue’s staff had changed letters from a transportation official about how soon the bridge project may need state funding.

In his original letter, Jim Trogdon, chief operating officer of the N.C. Department of Transportation, said $28 million for the proposed mid-county bridge and $35 million for the proposed Garden Parkway west of Charlotte was not needed next year.

The governor’s office later altered Trogdon’s letters to say funding is needed next year, the News & Observer reported.

After seeing the change, Trogdon, who had been out of town, retracted the letters as inaccurate.

Trogdon’s retraction of the letters has sparked a call by the Senate Rules Committee for an investigation to determine how the letter about the bridge project was changed.

But state Sen. Stan White, D-Dare, said a Senate probe on how the change came about is more “political fodder” than anything else.

He said the mistake has already been explained. Apparently, another transportation official had signed off on the change in Trogdon’s absence withoutknowing he would object, he said. The governor’s office followed proper procedure in seeking the change, he said.

White said he did not think the altered letter made any difference in the Senate’s debate of the topic.

White said he received the altered letter on June 14 just as he was headed upstairs to the Senate floor. He said he didn’t open the letter until after presenting a budget amendment on the Senate floor last week to restore funding for the bridge.

During his presentation, White referred to Trogdon’s original letter — initially agreeing to a possible delay in funding next year. White said he was more concerned at the time that funding not be cut in future years.

White said a year’s delay in funding could send the wrong message to bond companies needed to finance the project.

Companies may not want to support the project if the state keeps changing its funding plan for the $660 million project, he said. The state of Georgia has had that problem after lawmakers withdrew funding for projects, he noted.

White’s proposal failed, and the Senate’s version of the budget still includes cuts to bridge funding. In the House budget, funds for the bridge remain intact. A committee comprised of House and Senate members are expected to negotiate their differences before a final state budget is adopted.

Another area lawmaker believes the Senate is making more of Trogdon’s retracted letters than is warranted.

State Rep. Bill Owens, D-Pasquotank, said the DOT official should have consulted with other state officials before saying funds for the bridge were not needed next year.

“He talked to nobody above him and nobody below him,” said Owens.

Trogdon’s timetable for the project is based on the assumption that the project will face a lawsuit before construction begins, Owens said. But a lawsuit is more likely to be filed after construction begins, he said. Waiting for a lawsuit to be filed beforehand will only delay the project another year, he said.

Owens also questioned the motives of lawmakers seeking to delay funding for a year. Some lawmakers want to divert bridge funds to projects they want funded, he said.

The delay in funding is just one cut being proposed by the Senate. Another would slice annual installments of gap funds — needed to subsidize construction costs for the toll bridge — from $28 million to $15 million. Both Owens and White say a cut that big would be a death knell for the project.

Despite the talk about big cuts to funding, Owens said he’s not too concerned. House Speaker Thom Tillis has assured him proposed cuts will not hold as the General Assembly hammers out its final budget, Owens said.

Money for Currituck Bridge Shelved for Another Year

Posted on June 24, 2012 by admin

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

Pryor Gibson Apologizes For Changes To DOT Letter on Toll Projects

Posted on June 22, 2012 by admin

Pryor Gibson apologizes for changes to DOT letter on toll projects

From the Raleigh News & Observer

Published Thu, Jun 21, 2012 09:49 PM

Modified Fri, Jun 22, 2012 06:13 AM

By J. Andrew Curliss – acurliss@newsobserver.com

By J. Andrew Curliss The News and Observer

Tags: Jim Trogdon | Pryor Gibson | Bev Perdue

An adviser to Gov. Bev Perdue apologized Thursday for causing the state transportation department to send false letters to lawmakers last week. He called it a mistake and said he wished he had been more careful.

Pryor Gibson, Perdue’s senior adviser and her chief lobbyist in the legislature, also provided a glimpse into the sometimes messy budget writing and deal-making process while addressing a Senate committee conducting an inquiry. His testimony, along with other interviews Thursday, added a more complete picture of what transpired over the past week on a relatively small, but intensely fought, part of the state budget dealing with toll road projects near Charlotte and at the Outer Banks.

Gibson, a former lawmaker, was animated while discussing the letters, which were sent under the name of a top DOT official, chief operating officer Jim Trogdon, without his consent while he was out of town and unreachable. When Trogdon learned of the letters, he retracted them and expressed concern.

The letters were rushed to lawmakers June 14 as the budget was under discussion. They said as much as $63 million in state money would be needed in the next 12 months for two toll projects: the Garden Parkway near Gastonia and a bridge to the northern Outer Banks known as the Mid-Currituck Bridge.

It wasn’t true, according to Trogdon. He has said he would never have taken that position.

According to documents and interviews, Gibson and a Perdue deputy chief of staff had come up with the changed wording, adding the language to a letter Trogdon had already drafted for lawmakers.

In several exchanges with senators Thursday, Gibson was contrite in discussing what took place.

Asked if he regretted what he had done, Gibson responded: “I think regret would be a soft word.”

Gibson has said through a spokesman, and repeated on Thursday, that he incorrectly thought that Trogdon would agree with the changes. He said he thought he was adding language to Trogdon’s position so that if threatened lawsuits weren’t filed, money could be available for the toll projects. Perdue, a Democrat, supports the projects.

The Senate committee is scheduled to meet again Tuesday and decide on any other possible action.

Keeping Owens happy

Documents and interviews show that the letters were just a piece of a behind-the-scenes fight that had erupted over funding for the toll projects.

That’s because money to start both toll projects was in the House version of the budget.

But early last week, Senate budget writers did not go along, crafting a spending plan to limit the toll project funding in such a way that supporters of the projects viewed it as effectively killing them.

This was a huge concern in the House, where Speaker Thom Tillis, a Republican, has been gathering bipartisan and veto-proof support for the budget by working with a handful of Democrats.

One of them is Rep. Bill Owens, a Democrat from Elizabeth City who has provided crucial support to Tillis. Owens said in an interview the Senate budget was “alarming” in that it would clearly halt the bridge project he and others have worked on “for half a lifetime.”

‘Like a chess game’

Gibson told the Senate committee that he first heard from someone early last week, likely Monday evening, about the threat to the toll projects, though he couldn’t recall exactly who it was. He mentioned both Owens and Tillis’ chief of staff, Chris Hayes, as possibilities.

Gibson said what the Senate was doing had caused some lawmakers “heartburn.”

Owens said in an interview he made a series of phone calls and had discussions with others who could affect the outcome. He mentioned Perdue and state DOT Secretary Gene Conti at least twice, but declined to say who he spoke with.

“It was like a chess game,” Owens said. “They were making moves with their pieces. And you have to make another move to block. Everyone was doing what they thought was right, of course.”

Hayes, who was working closely with Tillis on the budget, said Owens had been vocal about what was taking place.

Complaints from legislators

The next day, Gibson heard from at least two lawmakers who could benefit from the toll projects: Rep. William Current Sr., a Republican from Gastonia who has had an interest in land near the parkway, and Sen. Stan White, a Democrat from Dare County who owns a business that builds homes and rents vacation homes on the northern Outer Banks.

Both say they are representing their constituents, not their personal interests, in advocating for the toll projects.

Gibson said the legislators were “complaining” to him and were seeking help from Perdue to ensure money flowed for both projects.

Gibson then spoke with Trogdon. Trogdon drafted a letter that essentially repeated his position from an earlier letter to lawmakers that said money wasn’t needed for the projects in the next 12 months. Gibson didn’t think it would answer lawmakers’ concerns, and that is why he caused the changes to be made, he said.

“I was trying to solve one problem, or one issue, for a couple of legislators and I created another one…,” he said.

White, a first-term lawmaker who represents a large swath of northeastern North Carolina, said in an interview he had tried to reach Owens to join forces on the issue but they never connected. White said the letter changed at Gibson’s direction played no role in his position on the issue.

In the end, with Trogdon retracting the altered letters and reiterating that no money is needed in the next 12 months, the House and Senate left out substantial funding for the projects in the next year.

Owens said he has been assured that funding for the projects is in place for future budgets. “The speaker has been good to his word to me and he fought to keep the bridge alive,” Owens said.

Curliss: 919-829-4840

Budget Deal Cuts Funding For Two Toll Projects

Posted on June 21, 2012 by admin

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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Top State Transportation Official Calls Altered Letters “Flat Wrong”

Posted on June 20, 2012 by admin

Top state transportation official calls altered letters ‘flat wrong’

Submitted by John_Frank on 2012-06-20 08:33

Tags: Under the Dome | Gov. Bev Perdue | Jim Trogdon | N.C. Department of Transportation | Senate Rules Committee

UPDATED: N.C. Department of Transportation’s Chief Operating Officer Jim Trogdon told an investigative Senate panel Wednesday that altered letters sent under his name were not correct and were the result of pressure from Gov. Bev Perdue’s office.

The alterations made to the letters — described by Perdue’s office as “edits” — changed 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 Perdue, went to his office to meet with a deputy DOT secretary last Thursday morning, 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 told the panel. “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, after receiving an email from his assistant, he immediately said they were not true and began taking steps to undo what happened.

Trogdon told senators he worked quickly to correct the problem.

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 said.

Coward did not address the committee. DOT will not make her available for an interview.

The Senate Rules Committee’s inquiry into the letters said it will hear from the governor’s office Thursday.

http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/top_state_transportation_official_calls_altered_letters_flat_wrong#storylink=cpy

Altered Letters From Perdue Staff Push Money For Toll Projects That DOT Says Aren’t Ready

Posted on June 19, 2012 by admin

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

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.