Gov. Beverly Perdue would have us believe that simple errors were the reason her campaign had not reported 17 private flights during her campaign for Governor. And, she probably wants us to trust her when she asserts that her campaign discovered the omissions as they were doing a review “prompted by software problems.”
Right, Sure, Okay. Maybe the News and Observer will fall for that, they are already calling these infractions “oversights.” But, one can’t help but wonder as to whether this sudden revelation has something to do with the investigation into the private plane practices of former Governor Mike Easley.
From the News and Observer, here is a list of some of those individuals who supplied air transportation for candidate Perdue that wasn’t reported until now:
Jimmy Clark, president of a Greensboro engineering firm
Dell Murphy, an agribusinessman from DM Farms of Rose Hill;
Cress Horne, who heads a helicopter firm in Wingate
Greenville law firm headed by former state Sen. Tom Taft.
According to the News and Observer, some of these individuals were big contributors to Perdue’s gubernatorial campaign; Cress Horne gave Perdue’s campaign the maximum $4,000 just four days after he delivered the “free ride”.
Perdue’s campaign also admits to “instances where they did not pay enough for flights or paid the wrong vendor.” A law firm in New Bern was arranging and paying for flights for Perdue. Perdue’s campaign has now reimbursed them more than $25,000.
The flights in question only cover 2007 and 2008 with a couple in 2006. Is there more to discover? Probably, I hope we don’t have to wait until another investigation into something that proves a little too close for comfort.
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