KEEPING SECRETS

North Carolina Sunshine Day starts at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 16 at the brand new Civil Rights Museum in downtown Greensboro.

The afternoon will feature the importance of open government in the work of investigative journalism. The City of Greensboro will also showcase its revamped and aggressive response to public records requests. We will also hear a summary of recent legislative and legal issues involving the state’s open government laws. The day ends with a keynote by NPR’s Nina Totenberg.

The Raleigh News & Observer's Dan Kane has produced a three-part series that will run March 14-16 in the N&O. But the North Carolina Open Government Coalition is pleased to provide a preview of the stories. Thanks to the Raleigh News & Observer for providing the stories. Snippets from the pieces are below with links to the full copy.

Part One

Former state Trooper Michael Steele is serving at least six years in prison for a crime that abused the public’s trust.

In August 2008, Steele cruised Orange County in his patrol car, looking for Latina women who he suspected were here illegally and therefore unlikely to report his attempts to coerce them into having sex with him. Steele forced three women from their vehicles and into his patrol car before he was caught.

The public will probably never know whether there were warning signs about Steele’s character during his training and time on the job, because state officials won’t make that information public. They cite the same reason that has time and again barred the public from learning little more than the most basic details about the employees whose salaries they pay:

“The information contained in the file is protected by state personnel laws,” said state Highway Patrol spokesman Everett Clendenin. Continue reading Part I ...

Part Two

In 2006, the state Division of Motor Vehicles hired Sherry Creech as a nurse consultant at the top of her pay grade, making her among the best paid in the division. Shortly after she arrived, she persuaded the division to send her to examiner school, learning skills that DMV officials later said weren’t necessary for her job.

The state spent $8,900 in salary and expenses for Creech to attend the school near Fayetteville, including giving her a $768 examiner’s uniform she would never need to wear for her job. She stayed in a hotel for a month because the school’s dormitory was full.

Today, state officials say it was a waste of money. They no longer send nursing consultants, who determine whether people are physically fit to drive, to the school. Creech, who continues to work at DMV, declined comment.

None of this spending makes sense, unless you know that Creech was one of many DMV hires recommended by a long-standing political patronage boss, Eddie Carroll Thomas of Greene County. Continue reading Part II ...

Part Three

A year ago, Altavis Pratt was the grant writer and crime statistician for the State Capitol Police when her position fell victim to budget cuts and questions regarding her duties.

But Pratt, who was being paid $38,000 annually, did not leave the agency. Chief Scott Hunter moved her into a lesser position as a dispatcher and continued to pay her the same salary. She now makes $8,000 to $10,000 more than all but the chief dispatcher, in a position the agency had left unfilled for more than a year.

Such personnel moves often escape public scrutiny because the state’s personnel law does not allow the public to see an employee’s work history, other than when they were first hired. Position changes, rapid salary growth, overtime payments and demotions from prior years can be hidden because the personnel law allows only “current” information to be released.

It’s a 35-year-old hurdle that no other state appears to have, according to a review of personnel laws in the other 49 states. Continue reading Part III ...