Berger Asks Panel to Release Findings of Internal Investigation

Transparency is Critical to Integrity of Flightgate Investigation

Raleigh, N.C. – After months of refusing Republican Leader Phil Berger’s request to appoint an outside investigator into the Flightgate Scandal, yesterday Governor Beverly Perdue finally appointed a three-member panel to conduct an independent investigation to find out why the travel records of former Governor Mike Easley were destroyed under the direction of a Highway Patrol captain.

The three member panel includes: Willis Whichard, a former state Supreme Court justice and former Campbell University law school dean; Robert Morgan, a former U.S. senator, SBI director and state attorney general; and Ralph Walker, a former Superior Court and Court of Appeals judge.

Governor Perdue still refuses to release the results of an internal investigation blaming “lawyers” and relying on an incorrect interpretation of the law as a reason for not doing so.

Today, Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) sent a letter to the members of the panel conducting the Flightgate investigation asking them to make their first priority releasing the findings of the previous internal investigation in order to ensure public confidence in the integrity of the new investigation.

Senator Berger said, “I congratulate Governor Perdue on doing the right thing and appointing independent investigators to get to the bottom of Flightgate. To ensure that this investigation is truly independent and to increase public confidence in the investigation’s integrity, it is critical that the newly appointed panel immediately release the results of the previous internal investigation. Transparency is critical to the integrity of this investigation and there must not even be a hint of favoritism toward former Governor Easley, Governor Perdue or any of those accused of wrongdoing.”

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