No complaints here on prison contract story
Published November 7, 2015
by Patrick Gannon, The Insider, published in USA Today, November 5, 2015.
What Gov. Pat McCrory and his staff didn’t complain about says a lot.
In case you missed it, The News & Observer of Raleigh and The Charlotte Observer published a lengthy investigation over the weekend about a meeting last fall between the governor, a prison contractor and top Department of Public Safety officials to talk about the possible extension of prison maintenance contracts, worth about $3 million a year to the contractor.
Top prison officials in the McCrory administration didn’t want to renew the contracts, which would expire soon. They cited, according to the articles, “apparent political interference in a contract involving one of McCrory’s key backers and friend,” as well as potential security risks posed by private workers in the prisons.
The contractor, Graeme Keith Sr., is a Charlotte developer and friend of McCrory who also has donated $12,000 to his campaigns. Ultimately, the contracts were extended after the meeting and a subsequent evaluation by McCrory’s budget director, Lee Roberts, of the cost of using the private contractor versus using prison employees.
Not long after the news reports came out, the governor’s office released a statement taking aim mainly at headlines accompanying the articles and a “cropped” photograph showing McCrory with his arm around Keith during a holiday lunch in 2007. In the statement, the governor’s office said the newspapers, “through their distorted headline and cropped photographs, clearly attempted to give the impression that something improper or even illegal was done. Clearly, just the opposite occurred.”
The statement from McCrory’s office said the administration, before extending the contracts, “thoroughly reviewed the data through an ethical process and made a sound, business-like decision that was in the best interest of public safety as well as the taxpayers of North Carolina.”
That might be true, although just how thorough that review was isn’t clear. The written analysis by Roberts – which is linked to from the articles – amounts to one page comparing the costs of public versus private maintenance of the prisons.
The governor’s office disputed almost none of what was written in the story.
No complaints about the newspapers reporting that McCrory “convened” and attended the meeting. Does he call meetings for all state contractors who are about to lose contracts?
No complaints about Keith being a friend to the governor and a donor to his campaigns.
No complaints about Keith telling prison officials that he had given money to campaigns and now it was time for him to get something in return. McCrory said he didn’t hear Keith make those comments, but he also said he believed the prison officials were telling the truth about Keith’s words.
No complaints that McCrory’s secretary of public safety, Frank Perry, a former FBI supervisor, confirmed that Keith talked about pay to play and wrote in a text message that this would “soil our Gov.”
And no complaints about the newspapers reporting that the FBI interviewed several people involved. McCrory said he hadn’t been interviewed, by the way.
So what we know with little doubt is this: That McCrory convened a meeting between a friend and contractor and the prison officials who oversee his contracts. That prison officials objected to the extension of the contracts. That a McCrory appointee made the final decision to extend the contracts after some review. And that the FBI has looked into it in some fashion.
John Drescher, executive editor of The News & Observer, said in a follow-up story that the reporting was “accurate, fair and complete” and “based on public records, including emails and text messages, and on-the-record interviews.
“We will continue reporting,” he added.
And I, for one, will continue reading. So should you.
