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Charlotte Observer: Real People Don't Want Auditor to Moonlight
The Charlotte Observer Published the Following Letter to the Editor, sent by NCDP Chair Jerry Meek:
State Auditor Les Merritt says taking a side job as director for a local bank will help him stay "connected to real people."
What is Mr. Merritt thinking? It's wrong to serve as a bank director when your office audits the state agency that regulates banks.
In 2005 it was wrong for him to run ads soliciting clients for his side business as a certified financial planner -- even offering coupons for a "1 Hour Free Consultation." And earlier this year it was wrong for him to announce he was starting yet another side business, providing retirement planning advice.
"Real people" think public officials shouldn't use their position for personal gain. And they think someone paid for a full-time job should work full-time.
Jerry Meek
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Comments
As just one of the many
As just one of the many "Real People" that Jerry Meek refers to, I would like to add my endorsement to his recent comments about Mr. Merritt appearing in the Charlotte Observer just recently. Were I to approach Mr. Merritt's claims about remaining "connected to real people" through a bank directorship as an innocently progressive prerogative, I guess I could simply say that I have no problem with his wearing two hats. I don't, however, feel that is the case.
There is no doubt in my mind that Mr. Merritt subscribes to the blanket notion that All Forms of Government are Bad, and the only way they can be improved is through total elimination! Yes, that is a pretty profound and in-your-face assertion, but I will happily stand by it. I have watched the Republican anti-Government machine chip away at our most necessary Public Institutions, and I am sick of any and all further attempts to supplant historically vibrant institutions with the "Private Sector" based simply on the erroneous premise that "Anything Government Can Do, The Private Sector Can Do Better, and Cheaper!"
This blatant LIE is nothing more than another attempt to create a negatively distorted image in the minds of Tax Payers. Prime movers of this mentality are the likes of Grover Norquist, the Guru for No Government who heads up the "American Taxpayer's Union." He is a Liar as well as everyone else subscribing to his movement. It is an open Ruse created by some of the most un-Democratic operatives in America. The local interests would find a home, for instance, at "The John Locke Foundation" and other like interests in North Carolina.
Yes, this is wordy, but efforts like Mr. Merritt's should not be allowed to slip past quietly in the night. Les Merritt should have been required to divest ANY and ALL private interests and attachments before even campaigning for the office.
I will say, without reservation, that Merritt's "sidelines" are blatantly disqualifying to his position, and would strongly support any kind of investigation to end his influence on state governance. His conditions of "employment" will be remembered as the last steps of a failed process that Big Business attempted to use to infiltrate North Carolina's governing structure, a process that is currently being overwhelmingly rejected nationwide.
"Privatization" will soon be viewed as the Failure it was destined to be. North Carolina, as well as the entire United States of America, would be NOTHING without our Government!
Barry Willis
A Real Person