Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Democratic Candidates Miss the Mark – Parton Scandal Demonstrates that the System is Fundamentally Flawed 

(Raleigh, NC) Monday, Democratic candidate for Governor Beverly Perdue faulted fellow candidate and State Treasurer Richard Moore and the Local Government Commission for failing to veto the $21.5 million bond for the city of Roanoke Rapids to fund the now infamous Randy Parton Theater. Moore has countered that the role of the Local Government Commission was to “assess a local government’s ability to pay, not to second-guess the decisions made by local elected officials.”

 According to Justice Bob Orr,
both candidates have missed the mark.

“Instead of using the issue for political banter, what we need to do is focus on how this scandal could even take place,” said Orr. “First, there is the escalating dollars game surrounding economic development in this state. It’s become a lucrative business not only for companies, but for developers, site consultants and general “wheelers and dealers--the good and the bad.” With hardly any restrictions on what governments can and can’t do in the name of economic development, there’s ample opportunity for individuals to use the system to advance their own interests.”

 “Second, the public and the press are the safeguards of good government and have been shut out of the process. The issuance of $21 million in TIF bonds for the Randy Parton Theater took place without a vote of the citizens of Roanoke Rapids. That’s thanks to the passage of Amendment One in 2004 when the voting public was mislead into giving up their constitutional guaranteed right to vote on the issuance of TIF bonds after two previous electoral defeats of the amendment. Perhaps the voters would have approved the bonds; however, actively involving the electorate would have at least heightened scrutiny and perhaps provided a disincentive for some of the bad decisions that were made.” 


“Finally, with so many economic development decisions being made behind closed doors for fear that the press and citizens will “ruin the deal” by making any details public, those who would wish to take advantage of the community can do so under the radar. Government officials can be pressured, mislead and even threatened. In the worst cases, it opens the door to potential violations of the law.”

 We need to re-think our approach to economic development, return the voting power of citizens to approve TIF bonds and demand more openness from our government. That’s the only real way we can prevent bad deals like this one in the future. That’s what our Democratic and Republican candidates should have been talking about this week.”

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