Perdue Appoints Campaign Donors to DOT Board

Continues Easley Administration Practice – Campaign Cash Ticket to Appointment

Raleigh, N.C. – Governor Perdue today appointed four new members and one holdover from the Easley administration to the North Carolina Board of Transportation.  All five men appointed to the board – Sam Halsey, David Burns, Gary Ciccone, Ronnie Wall, and Stan White, are campaign donors to Perdue.
 
Governor Perdue’s announcement of the appointments follows a weekend editorial from the Wilmington Star-News calling on her to ask for the resignation of another DOT Board member and Easley holdover, Lanny Wilson, who is currently under investigation.  The editors wrote, “But when Perdue campaigned for office, she promised to reduce political influence over transportation decisions and to tighten ethical requirements for DOT board members. . . .   It’s hard to sell the public on the notion that the new governor is committed to cleaning up state government when she’s still carrying some of her predecessor’s baggage.”  (“The Wilson Roadblock,” Wilmington Star-News, 11/14/09)
 
Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) made the following statement:
 
“The State Board of Transportation should be a place for qualified, competent professionals.  We all thought Governor Perdue planned to call a halt to the Board being a congregation point for political donors.  Sadly, that does not appear to be her intention.  At a time when our economy is suffering and we continue to see growing job losses and high unemployment across North Carolina, our state’s transportation policy should be guided by something more than the ill-advised political back scratching that has become all too prevalent in North Carolina state government.  Rather than the promised break from the politics of the past, Governor Perdue appears to understand all too well how to play the game just like her predecessor.”

Tweet