RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina’s Department of Transportation is holding a series of outreach meetings to tell
business owners what it would take to land contracts on road and bridge projects involving federal stimulus funds.

One of the meetings targeting businesses owned by women or minorities takes place on Tuesday in Raleigh, followed by Winston-Salem next week. Others will follow in Greenville, Greensboro, Carthage and Castle Hayne.

DOT Deputy Secretary Anthony Roper said the agency is about to start a lot of stimulus-funded projects and wants to get minority- and women-owned businesses involved in bidding for the work. He said the outreach meetings provide information on potential contract opportunities.

RALEIGH, N.C. – The North Carolina Department of Transportation has laid off temporary workers and slashed budgets but still footed a bill of more than $1,000 to send an employee to a conference at a resort.
  
The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Friday that the DOT sent the manager to an executive networking conference at a Pinehurst hotel last week. The conference was organized by the Durham-based N.C. Institute for Minority Economic Development.
  
DOT paid a $1,000 conference fee as well as room charges for Shelton Russell. He is the DOT’s director of work force opportunity and development.

DOT spokeswoman Greer Beaty said Russell’s office provides technical assistance and training to firms owned by minorities, women and the disabled.

GREENSBORO, N.C. – North Carolina Secretary of Transportation Gene Conti says federal stimulus money is paying to keep workers on highway projects that otherwise would have been scrapped because of state budget shortfalls.

The Winston-Salem Journal reports Conti told an audience of transportation officials Wednesday that the state DOT has seen a 4 percent drop in revenue from gas taxes and a 22 percent drop is taxes from new car sales.

Conti says the state expects a $300 million drop in tax revenue, but plans to get more than $700 million in stimulus money for highway projects.

Conti says one project the state wants to get stimulus money for is a roughly $300 million new bridge for Interstate 85 over the Yadkin River south of Greensboro.

RALEIGH, N.C.  – A former North Carolina official has pleaded guilty to extortion for taking nearly $30,000 in kickbacks in exchange for awarding an excavation company state contracts.

U.S. Attorney George Holding said Tuesday that former Department of Transportation district engineer Dalton Alligood Jr. entered his plea Monday. He faces up to 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines when sentenced July 6.

Prosecutors said Alligood was in charge of bridge maintenance in Pitt and Beaufort counties when he was approached by the owners of an excavation company in 2004. He agreed to take 10 percent kickbacks, in cash, on contracts given to the company.

Officials said Alligood awarded dozens of contracts totaling $300,000 through 2006. The scheme was revealed when the company’s owners and other department officials were arrested.

RALEIGH, N.C.  – A Durham real estate lawyer has stepped down from the North Carolina Board of Transportation, saying the position has cost him business.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Friday that Ken Spaulding said he had planned to serve only one four-year term when then-Gov. Mike Easley appointed him in 2005.

Spaulding said he’s had to turn down business or decline representing some clients because of the potential for a conflict of interest with his DOT position.

Spaulding notified Gov. Beverly Perdue in a March 4 letter of his decision. He said his resignation was effective after the board’s March 5 meeting.

Perdue recently removed the state board’s power to vote on specific road projects as one way to curtail its duties.

RALEIGH, N.C. – An editor with the News & Observer of Raleigh will become a deputy secretary at the North Carolina Transportation Department to lead communications efforts.

Transportation Secretary Gene Conti on Monday announced the appointment of Ted Vaden as deputy secretary for communications.

Conti said he obtained permission from Gov. Beverly Perdue to create the position, despite a hiring freeze imposed last fall. The new position was recommended by a consultant to help make the agency more efficient and accountable to the public.

Vaden will supervise a staff of about 20 employees and will earn $117,403 in the new post.

Vaden has been the public editor for the newspaper since 2004.

RALEIGH – The N.C. Board of Transportation is pumping $270 million in road money into Fayetteville, the hometown of Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett and of a key legislative ally, weeks before Tippett leaves office.

Purdue

Negative Campaigning
Negative campaigns that tug at the strings of personal characteristics is something Perdue said she does not believe in.  Perdue admits negative campaign catch the voters attention but they’re want the voter wants to see.

“I think folks in the state want to hear the policy differences of the candidates and as long as the commercials are about that leadership and policy issues I think anything is fair game,” Perdue said. “But when it comes to personal distruction then I’m totally against that.”

Government Bailout

While the country waits to see how the bailout plan will favor in the senate, Perdue said she is happy with the way the vote is going.  While she said she doesn’t know what the right solution is for the financial crunch, but admits the government needs to step in and help.

“I was pleased last night to see the senate move forward with the bailout vote I’ve been troubled today the stock market was down before I came here that even the bailout isn’t enough to secure our shaky markets and so America is at a fundamental crossroads so whatever it takes.”

Perdue goes on to say whatever it takes for our economy to begin thriving again, she will support and said she is the right person to lead North Carolina into prosperity.

“I know how to fix North Carolina that’s why I want to be governor I have the tools set to push up back to the economic scale of prosperity with job creation.”

North Carolina Economy

Perdue said once the nation’s economy gets a jump start onto the right track, North Carolina’s economy will follow.

“I think that some national solution will help our state and we still see projects beginning I think the cool thing about North Carolina is that we live in a state that is really red hot and still progressive still have folks that want to live and do business here.”

North Carolina Department of Transportation

Perdue said Thursday one of the first things, if elected governor, will bring fundamental change to North Carolina’s Department of Transportation board.

“I am going to take DOT board members our of the process of picking and choosing roads they will not be allowed any longer to vote on where roads will go.”

Perdue said she intend to require board members to sign a certified document acknowledging there is no monetary interest in their decision on where roads and bridges will be built. 

McCrory

Negative Ads

“I’m proud to say that with my money we have not run any negative campaigns, no negative ads.  I’ve never done that in my political career and I don’t plan on doing that from now until the election.”

 “My opponent is running very critical and deceptive ads against me and out spending me by a lot of money.  I think people are sick of those ads.”

Economic Bailout

“I’m still reading the bailout plan like everyone else.  If some positive steps aren’t taken I’m concerned for the future of our financial institutions and the ability of institutions like this to get necessary credit to continue.”

“I just wish they would stop the bi-partisan bickering and the attacks I’ve seen the House of Representatives.  They are unacceptable because the number one concern should be our nation and jobs.  I think some people are putting their political careers, on both sides of the isle, ahead of what needs to be done.”

“People need to ask the right questions and not be crucified for doing it.”
N.C. Economic Future

“I’m bullish on N.C. because we have the workforce, beautiful quality of life and we have the natural resources and the vision to move forward.  What we need is to clean up state government.”
VP Debate

“I’m looking forward to a good, honest debate and I hope it is conducted in a professional way by both the media and the candidates.”
Plans for State DOT

“First thing I want to do is take the politics out of DOT. During the past eight years, politics has infiltrated the DOT department.  We have current DOT members under investigations, or should be under investigation.  We’re just having bad management in the DOT and inefficiency in the DOT. There is no vision or customer service and that has to change.”

RALEIGH, N.C. – A former Board of Transportation member who helped raise money for Republican Pat McCrory’s gubernatorial campaign faced conflict-of-interest allegations nearly 20 years ago.

McCrory attended a fundraiser last week where Tommy Pollard, a board member from 1985 to 1990, said he helped raised more than $50,000, The News & Observer reported Thursday, citing an internal campaign document about the Emerald Isle event.

McCrory’s campaign has no plans to return the money. The Charlotte mayor has, however, called on Democratic nominee Beverly Perdue to give back donations linked to a Perdue fundraiser and board member facing similar conflict questions. The board member, Louis Sewell of Jacksonville, resigned from the powerful panel last week.

Jack Hawke, McCrory’s chief campaign consultant, said the Pollard situation is very different from Sewell.
 
“It’s a bogus story to compare someone who is – as a volunteer citizen of the state of North Carolina with no power – out raising money, compared to someone who is sitting on the Board of Transportation and is using that position to raise money,” Hawke said. “What happened … years ago has nothing to do with what’s happening today.”

The Perdue campaign said Thursday that McCrory should back the lieutenant governor’s proposal of a private endowment that would give funds to candidates who agree to fundraising restrictions.

“If Pat McCrory believes his own words he should join Bev Perdue in supporting campaign finance reform that would take the big money out of gubernatorial elections,” Perdue campaign spokesman David Kochman said.

The State Bureau of Investigation examined in 1989 whether Pollard, also a former state senator, violated the law by pushing for 10 traffic lights at an intersection where he owned property that he later sold. The probe also examined whether he steered the course of a road extension in Jacksonville to benefit landowners from whom he raised political contributions, the newspaper reported.

Investigators said no laws were broken, but then-Attorney General Lacy Thornburg said the law needed to be improved to address conflict of interests.

McCrory has pledged not to put fundraisers on the DOT board, including Pollard, Hawke said.
 
Pollard told the newspaper he would have not sought public money for the intersection if he had it to do over again.

“Anything that you do in government, particularly on the Board of Transportation, that slightly resembles favoritism is a no-no,” Pollard said.