It just goes to show that corruption is widespread throughout the 50 states

 

This report out of North Carolina is an eye-opener.

In revealing, sometimes emotional, testimony Tuesday before the N.C. House Oversight and Reform Committee, State Bureau of Investigation Director Bob Schurmeier described a culture of political strong-arming from Gov. Roy Cooper’s senior staff.

Schurmeier accused Cooper staffers of interfering with his ability to manage direct reports, intimidating him with threats, and calling for his resignation.

Schurmeier pinpointed Cooper’s Chief of Staff Kristi Jones and General Counsel Eric Fletcher as being the couriers of the pressure campaign, threatening him with a “big investigation” and accusing him of racial discrimination if he did not resign. He refused to do so.

. . .

Schurmeier came forward about the political drama to lawmakers. He said the future of the state’s top criminal investigative agency depended on distancing it from the Department of Public Safety and allowing it to operate more independently, but with accountability.

He described an environment in which senior members of his staff were hired and directed by the governor’s office and had divided loyalties, particularly his lead attorney, listed on the SBI website as Angel Gray, who was allegedly “reminded that she works for the governor” by one of Cooper’s senior advisers.

Schurmeier said both SBI lawyers happened to be “out” when Schurmeier was confronted on two occasions by Jones and Fletcher. When he consulted with Gray as the agency’s general counsel, he said she was not responsive. They went long periods without talking at all. He says he requested to Jones that Gray be reassigned, to no avail.

There's more at the link.

(It's worth noting that Mr. Schurmeier is coming to the end of his term as Director, so he has no personal axe to grind in this matter.  He's trying to clean out the Augean stables so that his successor in office won't have to face the same problems.  I think that's admirable, no matter what politics are involved.)

This just goes to show that every state in the Union has more or less the same problems that we're seeing in Washington D.C.  There's corruption to be found everywhere if one looks for it.  The security of our system of government and way of life depends on ferreting it out, exposing it, and getting rid of it.  It doesn't matter whether the politics are left- or right-wing;  corruption is lethal to democracy, whatever form it takes and whatever side it supports.

Let's hope North Carolina manages to get rid of this round of corrupt politicians, and clean house . . . until the next time, anyway.  Let's also hope other states learn from its example.

Peter