NC Democratic Party Scandal Takes Sad Turn

Jay Parmley’s former girlfriend believes that he infected her with HIV.  Parmley, former Executive Director of the NC Democratic Party, resigned on April 15 amid allegations of sexual harassment from a young male employee.  According to the Daily Caller article, Rebecca Burgin was 20 when she met Parmley (32) who was her American Government professor. Parmley was teaching at a community college while serving as executive director and chairman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party.

David Parker, chairman of the NC Democratic Party, evidently didn’t talk to Burgin when he vetted Parmley for the NCDP’s Executive Director job, although he was adamant in a recent press conference when he said; “In four different states where he has been on staff, no one — and I mean no one — and I don’t know who in this room has tried to track down people in other states, but if you heard something bad about Jay Parmley, frankly I would be shocked because I vetted him as thoroughly as I could.”

The DC article revealed that “Parmley’s lawyer offered her (Ms. Burgin) health coverage, paid for by the Democratic National Committee, to manage her illness. She ultimately declined that offer, fearing it would constitute insurance fraud. Parmley, she said, abandoned her a few months later.”

In light of this revelation, it is even more important for the State Board of Elections (SBOE) to investigate the source of funds used by the NCDP to arrange for a reported financial settlement with the former staff member.  In a letter dated April 19, 2012, the Civitas Institute asked the SBOE to investigate NCDP.  As of this blog post the State Board has not responded to the Civitas Institute’s formal request.

While Civitas’ interest focuses on the source of funds used by the NCDP for the settlement, we should learn more details  about the expenditures in general, in the NCDP’s campaign finance report due this  Friday (April 27) ‑ that is, if the payments were made to the alleged victim in this reporting.

The North Carolina Campaign Finance Manual states, “There are very few restrictions on how a party committee may spend its money. However, all expenditures must be reported, along with the specific purpose of the expenditure.” It goes on to say, “All expenditures that are over $50 may not be paid with cash and must be disclosed with the name of the payee, the address of the payee, the date of the expenditure, and the specific purpose of the expenditure. Election sum-to-date totals for the payee must also be included.

The sordid details of this sad story leave me with two questions:  (1) Is it commonplace for the Democratic Party (State and National) to pay off injured parties with insurance plans? and (2) Are we now waiting for another shoe to drop?