Last November when political watchdog Joe Senshiemer asked Governor Bev Perdue for an investigation into influence peddling in the environmental permitting process--and specifically mentioned Titan Cement--we figured he had some inside knowledge into the sleazy backdoor politics that suddenly made the State Environmental Policy Act vanish from the Titan Project, and that killed Titan-related bills sponsored by local representatives last summer without even any debate.

Now we have an inkling why. Front page stories Friday and Saturday in the Star-News shed a glaring light on the “pay-to-pay” politics that enabled coastal developers to get sweetheart deals and fast-track permits from the Easley Administration. On Thursday Ruffin Poole, a top Easley aide known as “the little governor” was indicted on more than 50 federal charges including extortion, bribery and money-laundering. We also learned that local developer and major Easley fundraiser Lanny Wilson was the “Wilmington financier” mentioned in the indictment who funneled thousands of dollars to the Easley campaign, and provided Poole with free chartered flights to Costa Rica and even his bachelor’s party in New Orleans, among other goodies. In return, according to the report, Wilson got a seat on the N.C. Board of Transportation, where he allegedly helped speed the permitting process for developments that he had financial interests in.

Then on Saturday we learned that the three former owners of S & W concrete—including the current president of the company Harry Shaw—purchased an office building from Lanny Wilson, Wilson’s sister, and another local developer and Easley friend and fundraiser, Nick Garrett, in July 2008. S & W Concrete was purchased by Titan Cement in 2007. The former and current S&W officers paid twice the appraised tax value for the property at the bottom of the commercial real estate market the same exact month emails were flying around Raleigh between Titan’s officers, Titan’s lobbyist and state regulators about how to avoid the State Environmental Policy Act. SEPA, which delays all permits pending a review of the cumulative impacts of projects that have major impacts on the environment and public health, has been a thorn in Titan’s craw since the project was announced. It initially applied to the Titan project, but then the requirement was mysteriously removed from it just months after Easley’s local fundraisers—one of whom sat on the Board of Transportation and apparently had a habit of greasing permitting skids--made a $850,000 profit above the appraised value of an office building thanks to the boys from S & W Concrete, including the current president who still works for Titan Cement.

Oh, and lest we forget, the indicted Ruffin Poole was—until his unfortunate legal troubles—a lobbyist for the firm of McGuire-Woods, where his former boss Mike Easley is also employed, as is Titan’s chief lobbyist, John Merritt, who is Easley’s former chief of staff.

It’s a small world. All the more reason Governor Perdue should delay any permits for Titan Cement until the SBI investigation is over and the Grand Jury has finished handing down indictments in the Easley matter. Because where there’s smoke….there’s likely a big belching cement plant somewhere nearby.

Stay Tuned….

Your friends at,
StopTitan.org 

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Anonymous   |2010-01-27 12:15:37 It is not s&j concrete it is S&W Reply | Quote 0 0

Ian Oeschger  - Thanks     |2010-01-27 13:25:37 Fixed, Anon. Thanks -I/O Reply | Quote 0 0

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