There is a throw-away line in the Source, the Charlotte Observer’s political blog, in which author David says:
[T]hree former DOT employees were sentenced to federal prison just a week ago — for corruption. Prosecutors say the employees extorted kickbacks from contractors, and that the investigation of DOT corruption is ongoing.
Moreover, a member of the Board of Transportation, Tom Betts, resigned a week ago amid a scandal involving campaign money.
Does anyone know any more details about this corruption, the charges, and the people involved? Inquiring minds want to know (maxb@nccivitas.org).
-Max Borders
The 3 DOT people in question were a Maintenance Engineer and 2 of his flunkeys located down east that forgot the old rule of extortion: never extort more than the extortee is willing to pay. It seems that the flunkies decided to get in on the money game by shaking down some contractors who were performing debris removal from a hurricane. That’s when the trouble really began. You see, what the flunkies didn’t know was that their boss, the Maintenance Engineer, was already shaking down these same people. And since this was Federal money reimbursing the state for disaster cleanup, they became guests of the Feds at a facility of the US Bureau of Prisons. Sometimes I think North Carolina’s leading export is corrupt government officials.
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nce/press/2008-Jan-15_2.html
http://factcheckperdue.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/01/perdues-parton.html