Progress N.C. Action files ethics complaint against McCrory

UPDATED A liberal political organization asked the State Ethics Board on Monday to investigate what it alleges is a pattern by Gov. Pat McCrory of failing to fully disclose his financial interests.

Progress N.C. Action filed a 50-page complaint with voluminous exhibits attached. The complaint focuses on three issues, two of which have been previously reported by the state’s news media.

The new allegation concerns the Republican governor’s connection to McCrory & Company, a Charlotte-based sales consulting firm founded by the governor’s brother, Phil McCrory. The complaint says the governor has been listed in federal filings as a partner with the company, but his state ethics form doesn’t describe him that way.

McCrory has been described as a consultant for the company. As a consultant, he wouldn’t have to disclose that McCrory & Co. has business dealings with the state, according to the complaint. The firm has clients that have state government contracts, the complaint says.

The complaint includes previous reports that McCrory failed to disclose Duke Energy stock on his ethics forms, which he said was a mistake, and that he failed to disclose the full extent of income from a stock payout when he left the board of online mortgage broker Tree.com. The governor has said he fully complied with the law.

Update: Speaking at a noon news conference announcing the state’s deal to sell the Dorothea Dix property to Raleigh, McCrory dismissed the complaint as politically motivated. He said he hadn’t read the complaint yet and wouldn’t get into its accusations, preferring to stand on his previous comments about Duke Energy and Tree.com stock.

But the governor did respond to one question about the complaint. He said he was a paid staff member at McCrory & Company until taking office. He didn’t address why he was described as a partner in federal reports.

Claude Pope Jr., chairman of the state Republican Party, reacted in a statement, focusing on the source of the complaint:

“This snide group is nothing but a front for the left-wing extremists in North Carolina, like Roy Cooper, to launch unfounded and baseless attacks against Republicans. It’s sad that these extremists spend more time focused on media manufactured political problems instead of working with Governor McCrory to continue his successful record of improving North Carolina’s economy and decreases in unemployment.”

This story was originally published January 12, 2015 at 3:31 PM.