Recently, I read an article in the Charlotte Observer called Power and Secrecy: Baltimore developer used stealth to sell a big-dollar casino to rural North Carolina, by Dan Kane.
I found this article alarming because it chronicles back-room dealing by some Anson County Commissioners, in the form of an undisclosed overnight stay at a Baltimore casino owned by a company with interests in legalizing gambling in North Carolina with the goal of opening a casino in one of three cash-strapped counties; Nash, Rockingham, or Anson.
According to Kane’s reporting, when Anson County Manager Leonard Sossoman had questions about how to write language favorable to a future casino into the county’s new zoning ordinance plan, he reached out to Zack Almond, a partner of Almond Miner, who suggested he reach out to The Differentiators. Kane writes North Carolina State Representative Mark Brody was also aware of the efforts underway.
In his article, Kane writes the trip to the Baltimore casino involved Sossamon, Commissioners Caudle and Mims, [then] Anson Register of Deeds Greg Eudy; Lynn Clodfelter, who is the district attorney for Montgomery and Stanly counties; David Griffin, owner of D.A. Griffin Construction; and Uhwarrie Bank CEO Roger Dick. Kane states the caravan traveled in two cars from Wadesboro to Cordish’s Baltimore-area casino with Zack Almond.
Almond Miner Government Relations is the lobbying firm hired by commissioners Feb. 4 to represent Anson County interests in Raleigh.
Additionally, Kane writes that Almond and Miner is a client of The Differentiators, a company whose co-founder Kane states was involved in closed door discussions about bringing a casino to Anson with Sossamon, Caudle, and others at a local sports shooting range.
The relationship between The Differentiators and Almond Miner is an interesting one in light of reports uncovered by Kane and available at the Anson County Board of Election office showing Caudle has ties to The Differentiators through his campaign paying them $14,500 for consulting.
Boiling down Kane’s reporting in how it relates to Anson, he states ties exist between the Cordish Companies of Baltimore, who hired Almond and Miner to lobby hard for casino legislation in Raleigh, and the Differentiators, a company whose co-founder, Jim Blaine, Kane writes in his article held secret meetings with Sossamon, Caudle, and Mims.
During the Feb. 4 board meeting, commissioners discussed and voted on hiring Almond Miner as the county’s first- ever lobbying firm to the tune of $5,000 a month. Instead of Caudle recusing himself in accordance with the Board’s own ethic statement from the Almond Miner discussion and subsequent vote, he championed the firm to the exclusion of all others. The Board’s ethic’s statement, which Caudle as commissioner chair reads before every board meeting, states in part; “It is the duty of every board member to avoid both conflict of interests and appearances of conflict.”
Following this statement, Caudle requests commissioners to “Please identify the conflict and refrain from any undue participation in the particular matter.”
If Kane’s reporting is accurate, would an undisclosed overnight casino stay facilitated by an Almond Miner partner, and owned by a company [Cordish Companies of Baltimore, a client of the Differentiators] with alleged hidden interests in manipulating the language of Anson’s zoning ordinance plan to introduce a casino into the county, be grounds for both Commissioners’ Caudle and Mims to have recused themselves on the basis of “appearance of conflict”? If so, why didn’t they?
The motion passed with a 4-3 margin during the Feb 4 vote. Commissioners Priscilla Little Reid, Kyle Leary and Lawrence Gatewood voted no, and Commissioners’ Robert Mims, Jamie Caudle, Jarvis Woodburn, and Joshua Ellerbe all voted in favor of entering a one – year contract with Almond Miner.
At the time, Commissioner Gatewood questioned such an expensive hire being made without commissioners investigating other firms. When he asked why no other firms were considered, Chairman Caudle answered, “I’ve seen the impact that those guys already make in other areas of economic development, and that’s what this county has to have.”
Highlighting his and Sossamon’s cooperation in working together to research Almond Miner, Caudle said during the Feb. 4 meeting, “Obviously, this is something the county manager and I have worked on to present to you. The efforts this contract [Almond Miner] is going to provide for us in Raleigh are both legislative goals and economic development. We all know that the commissioners can’t be in Raleigh petitioning our legislatures for needs the citizens in this County need all the time.”
Also having read Kane’s article, Commissioners Lawrence Gatewood and Joshua Ellerbe reached out to me asking about Kane’s reporting and if the Anson Record would be covering the story.
During our conversation, Gatewood shared he declined to attend the casino trip due to his personal distaste in allowing others to pay for a trip, and reiterated his feelings from the night the board voted Almond Miner in as its chosen lobbying firm, saying, “I don’t feel that procedure was done correctly.”
After reading Kane’s article and hearing from many of our readers, I sought an explanation and reached out to Commissioner Caudle followed by Commissioner Mims for a statement. Despite Caudle claiming he would be issuing a statement, both he and Mims chose not to do so.
Is there harm in sitting down with the hometown reporter to address constituents’ questions and their requests for an explanation directly?
In a county where trust in its leadership is lacking, it is particularly concerning that some elected officials are unwilling to discuss what, at the very least, whether true or untrue, is a “conflict of interest and appearance of conflict.”