Perdue Administration Fails on Accountability & Transparency.

Either in an attempt to hide the truth from the public or in a display of dysfunctional government, an article in today’s News & Observer clearly indicates the failure of the Perdue Administration to be accountable to the public.  John Drescher, the executive editor of the N&O, wrote an article outlining the timeline of the paper’s attempts to obtain information regarding the Department of Revenue and its implementation of a policy making it more difficult for taxpayers who mistakenly overpaid to receive refunds.   Read the article here.

It took the paper 3 full months, from May 12 to August 10, to receive formal documentation of the policy and backlog of overpayments.  Only after months of wrangling with government officials did the Perdue Administration forward along the public information.  This delay can either be attributed to attempts to hide the truth or dysfunctional government.

The policy implemented to make it more difficult for taxpayers to receive overpayment refunds, which is no longer in effect, forced the resignation of Revenue Secretary Ken Lay.  Perdue claims that her administration was unaware of the policy which has proven to be highly toxic.  Lay says that Perdue’s attorneys signed off on the policy.  Meanwhile, North Carolinians are left wondering what the truth is and are stuck with a government that is not fulfilling Perdue’s promise of transparency.