Mort Hurst, chairman of the Martin County Board of Commissioners, says he will spearhead an effort among the 16 counties represented by the North Carolina’s Northeast Partnership to remove Rick Watson as the nonprofit’s president and chief executive officer.
Hurst said in an interview with Carolina Journal that Watson should resign because of “the conflicts of interest he’s got.” The obvious conflict that Watson has, Hurst said, is his involvement in a Roanoke Rapids theater project fronted by Randy Parton, head of Moonlight Bandit productions and brother of country music singer Dolly Parton. Watson plans to work both for Parton and on contract with the Partnership until sometime in 2007, when the proposed music theater is expected to open.
Watson has also made or sought personal investments in other businesses that he has tried to recruit as the Northeast Partnership’s director.
“He doesn’t need to work for two people at one time,” Hurst said. “There are a lot more people who want him out of here besides me.”
County managers from the territory represented by the Northeast Partnership have banded together to call for Watson’s resignation. Now Hurst says “it’s time for the county commissioners to step up to the plate.”
Asked why he didn’t seek Watson’s removal through the powerful influence of Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, Hurst said he was good friends with the senator and that he didn’t want to affect that relationship.
“If I can get things done without calling Senator Basnight, I’ll do it,” Hurst said.
But he added that if Watson continued to refuse to resign, he might resort to that approach. Hurst said before he did, though, that he wanted to gather more support from commissioners in other counties. He said he was also awaiting information from Attorney General Roy Cooper’s office. Cooper has not confirmed or denied any investigation into Watson, but he is preparing a legal opinion about Watson’s status with the theater project.
At least one county commissioner reached by Carolina Journal was unprepared to address the Watson issue.
“We’ve got so much going on right now that I haven’t even thought about it,” said Beatrice Emmert, chairwoman of the Hyde County Commission.
She said she’d only read a little bit about Watson’s situation, and wasn’t familiar with the Northeast county managers’ position related to Watson.
“The few dealings I’ve had with (Watson),” Emmert said, “I’ve been O.K. with what he’s done.”
Hurst, however, said he is frustrated with the slow development of an ethanol plant project in Martin County, which he believes is getting insufficient help from the Northeast Partnership. Another plant, in Beaufort County, has received more aggressive assistance from Watson. Hurst believes Watson is obstructing the Martin County project, and says he will get fellow county commissioners to join his effort to get him to resign, or get him removed.
Hurst suggested that the tenacity that has helped him become the world’s collard greens speed-eating champion will help him achieve his goal.
“Rick Watson is going to go,” he said.
Paul Chesser ([email protected]) is associate editor of Carolina Journal.