Published Tue, Jun 19, 2012 05:33 AM<\/p>\n
Modified Tue, Jun 19, 2012 10:47 AM Article<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
By J. Andrew Curliss and Bruce Siceloff – acurliss@newsobserver.com<\/p>\n
By J. Andrew Curliss and Bruce Siceloff The News and Observer\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tags: Garden Parkway | toll roads | Mid-Currituck Bridge | transportation money | Gov. Bev Perdue | Pryor Gibson | Kevin McLaughlin | Sen. Stan White<\/p>\n
\u00a0RALEIGH — Gov. Bev Perdue\u2019s 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\u2019t be ready for state funding until 2014, according to documents obtained by The News & Observer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u201cFunds are needed in this budget cycle\u201d 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 \u2013 that DOT didn\u2019t need the money.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Two high-level Perdue staff members had added the new language, according to officials from DOT and Perdue\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
\u00a0When Trogdon learned about the new language from his secretary Thursday, he sent a message to her from his mobile phone.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cMajor problem with the sentence,\u201d he wrote. \u201cIt is not true.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0Perdue, a Democrat, was not available for an interview Monday, according to her spokesman, Mark Johnson.<\/p>\n
\u00a0He said Perdue fully supports the toll projects and that the governor wants funding in place for them.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t be needed until 2014.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Without my review or consent\u2019<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cBased 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\u201d fiscal year 2014, which starts in July 2013, Trogdon said.<\/p>\n \u00a0Trogdon 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.<\/p>\n \u00a0When 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 \u201cwithout my review or consent.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cI respectfully request that the letters be disregarded,\u201d Trogdon wrote Thursday afternoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lawmakers\u2019 interests<\/strong><\/p>\n It all started when the Senate budget was released early last week without start-up money for the toll projects. That concerned some lawmakers \u2013 including one who has owned land near where the Garden Parkway will go, and another who rents homes to vacationers on the Outer Banks.<\/p>\n \u00a0Rep. William Current Sr., a Republican from Gastonia, sent an email to Perdue aide Pryor Gibson on June 12 saying that the lack of funding \u201cwould probably kill the project.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Gibson, a former lawmaker, is the senior adviser on legislative matters to the governor, who is not seeking re-election.<\/p>\n \u00a0Records 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.<\/p>\n 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 \u201cpromises major economic development potential for all of North Carolina.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u00a0White 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.<\/p>\n \u00a0The loss of money for the bridge \u201cwill probably be the demise of this project,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n \u00a0Gibson 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Governor is traveling but on her next stop they want to connect you with her to discuss attached issues,\u201d said Gibson\u2019s phone message to Trogdon, according to a note by Trogdon\u2019s secretary.<\/p>\n \u00a0Trogdon says he spoke to Gibson but not to Perdue, and agreed to draft replies to White and Current.<\/p>\n In his proposed replies to the two legislators, Trogdon referred to his June 8 memo that had explained DOT\u2019s decision not to seek money for the toll projects in 2013. Trogdon\u2019s assistant emailed the replies to Gibson on Wednesday and said, \u201cJim asked that you please review the attached letters and let us know if the language is acceptable to the Governor.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0Making the alterations<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0The governor\u2019s office did not accept Trogdon\u2019s 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\u2019s spokesman. Gibson took the letters to DOT offices for Trogdon\u2019s signature Thursday morning, when Trogdon was in Charlotte, according to an email to Trogdon from his assistant.<\/p>\n Susan Coward, a DOT deputy secretary, approved the changes, and Trogdon\u2019s signature was applied electronically. Gibson personally distributed the letters to legislators that morning, according to the email message and Perdue\u2019s spokesman.<\/p>\n \u00a0Gibson declined Monday to comment on the issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n Johnson said nothing nefarious was meant by the changes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gibson believed that Trogdon was aware of the alterations to his position at the time they were made, Johnson said.<\/p>\n \u00a0He 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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\u2019s existing roads and bridges.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cThe philosophy of the transportation budget is to take care of what you have and finish what you started,\u201d Harrington said. \u201cI have not been a supporter of the Garden Parkway project.\u201d<\/p>\n Senate panel to inquire<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0Trogdon said Monday that the revisions added by the governor\u2019s office amounted to wishful thinking and a desire to reassure legislators.<\/p>\n \u201cI think they were really trying to wordsmith some things to make everyone satisfied,\u201d Trogdon said. \u201cI understand they had a real deadline, to address those two members\u2019 concerns, and they were pushing to have a letter drafted by 11 o\u2019clock,\u201d when the Senate began its budget debate.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cIn the afternoon I called (Gibson) and told him I was going to retract that letter, and they were supportive of me doing so,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trogdon said the governor\u2019s 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\u2019s point of view.<\/p>\n \u00a0After Trogdon disavowed the letters Thursday afternoon, Coward said she had been at fault for accepting the revisions offered by the governor\u2019s staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI take full responsibility in trusting the edit as presented,\u201d she wrote to Trogdon, to his assistant and to DOT\u2019s lobbyist, \u201cand apologize to everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0Late Monday, the Senate Rules Committee scheduled a meeting for Tuesday to begin an inquiry into the matter.\u00a0<\/p>\n Steve Harrison of The Charlotte Observer contributed to this report.<\/p>\n Curliss: 919-829-4840\u00a0<\/p>\n Read more here: http:\/\/www.newsobserver.com\/2012\/06\/19\/2146020\/false-letters-from-perdue-staff.html#storylink=cpy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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\u00a0 Tags: Garden Parkway | … Continue reading