NC House candidate asks about rival’s missing campaign contributions

N.C. Rep. Rodney Moore’s said he’s hired a lawyer amid an ongoing state investigation into his failure to report more than $10,000 in campaign contributions.

Jackson Pethtal, one of three Democrats challenging Moore in the May 8 primary, raised the issue at a Thursday night forum sponsored by the Black Political Caucus. Pethtal told the audience that Moore was “under investigation for campaign finance violations.”

Asked to respond, Moore said, “The investigation is ongoing.”

“We’ve complied with the board of elections up to the point where negotiations broke down,” he added. “We’ve hired a legal team.”

Moore declined to answer questions about the investigation from the Observer.

State elections officials have said Moore has failed to respond to repeated requests for bank records about the unreported contributions. A former Democratic House leader, he has refused to turn over records despite at least eight requests from the state, elections officials say.

Officials said last week they found two more political action committee contributions to Moore that the candidate failed to report. That brings to at least 19 the number of unreported contributions, which total $10,200.

The Observer reported in November that Moore had failed to report 17 PAC contributions since 2013. The figures come from a public records request with the N.C. State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement and an Observer analysis that checked dozens of PAC reports against Moore’s.

Last year former Republican state Sen. Fletcher Hartsell of Concord was sentenced to eight months in federal prison after admitting to improperly spending and reporting campaign finances.

The state elections board could subpoena Moore’s bank records. But there currently is no board because of a power struggle between Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and the Republican-controlled General Assembly. Cooper appointed eight members of a new board Friday.

This story was originally published March 16, 2018 at 9:30 AM with the headline "NC House candidate asks about rival’s missing campaign contributions."