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An N.C. Highway Patrol rocked by numerous cases of sexual misbehavior can be led by a commander who was moved from his post early in his career after being caught in an extramarital affair, Gov. Bev Perdue said Thursday.
This week, patrol Cmdr. Randy Glover admitted to The (Raleigh) News & Observer that 22 years ago, as a trooper based in Harnett County, he had been transferred after his supervisor learned he was having an affair with a sheriff's dispatcher. Glover, 49, was moved to New Bern, where he spent much of his 29-year career with the patrol.
Perdue, Glover and his direct boss, N.C. Crime Control Secretary Reuben Young, declined to explain the transfer four months ago when Perdue appointed Glover to lead the patrol.
In a telephone news conference from China, Perdue said the affair was not news.
She noted that the affair happened "nearly 25 years ago" and that Glover was serving as a lieutenant colonel at the time she appointed him.
"That's pretty close to the top, and so regardless of the articles you continue to write, this is a man who is lieutenant (colonel) of the Highway Patrol, he had an affair nearly 25 years ago, he's married with two beautiful little daughters, and I really, really am disappointed in this kind of journalism," Perdue said. "And did I disclose it? I will have to be very honest with you, I never once in any interview for any position ask anyone about their sexual preference, their sexual orientation, or their past marital history.
"I didn't figure it had a thing to do with the job they could do for the people of North Carolina."
In the past three years, the patrol has been shaken by a series of cases in which troopers have been accused of sexual misbehavior on and off the job. Glover's affair has raised questions whether he can impartially discipline troopers who have been involved in similar conduct. He has said the affair happened off-duty.
Perdue, in her remarks, suggested that she might not have known about the affair, but Glover said this week that he had advised the governor that it was in his background.
"It's one of those things that she needed to know," Glover said.
