How many fiscal disasters and disgraceful abuses of government power can North Carolina absorb? One person to whom this question should be posed is Marc Basnight, president pro tem of the state Senate. For whatever reason, many of the state’s misuses of tax dollars and public authority seem to involve personalities, communities, or projects within Basnight’s sphere of influence.

Take for instance the most recent scandal in the often-troubled North Carolina Ferry Division. In a recent series of stories Carolina Journal’s Don Carrington detailed how Basnight — in his relentless campaign to help the relatively disadvantaged northeastern part of the state — appeared to have wielded such power within the Ferry Division that its operations and decisions have been compromised.

Rewind a few years to other controversies involving Basnight, his family members, or his political allies:

• The actions of Golden LEAF, which receives hundreds of millions of dollars from the landmark settlement with tobacco companies and is controlled by appointees of Basnight and other state leaders. The organization doles out truckloads of money—misdirected from its original intention of allaying health-care costs associated with smoking—to questionable “economic development” projects.

• The attempted takeover of DFI Group, a start-up ethanol company owned by Raleigh businessman Bill Horton. The takeover attempt was linked to the Northeast Partnership, an economic development agency with strong links to Basnight and a nephew, R.V. Owens. The agency also sought equity in other companies it recruited with state “incentives.”

• The construction of a natural-gas pipeline to 22 counties in northeastern North Carolina, funded by $200 million in bonds approved by state voters. The pipeline failed to attract enough customers, and the state Utilities Commission—stacked with Basnight allies—granted the operator, Eastern North Carolina Natural Gas, a merger with Piedmont Natural Gas Corp. Now Piedmont’s customers likely will have to suffer a rate increase to bail out the faltering project.

• Basnight being called to testify in a grand jury investigation of the John A. Hyman Memorial Youth Foundation, a corrupt organization that was organized and led by former U.S. Sen. Frank Ballance. Ballance pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy for diverting more than $100,000 of state funds to his personal or family’s use. Basnight had said he didn’t know about the state-funded foundation until news stories of its problems were reported in 2003. But Basnight in 1996 arranged for the Hyman Foundation to receive $140,000 from a fund that he controlled.

• Slush funds of about $35 million sneaked into the state budget. House Speaker Jim Black and former Co-Speaker Richard Morgan also received the money. Basnight admitted that he was wrong to have spent the money. But in 1997 Carolina Journal also revealed that Basnight shared $21 million in slush funds. The state Attorney General’s Office, instigated by a State Auditor’s report, is investigating the honorables’ most recent use, or dare we say misuse, of discretionary funds.

Perhaps Basnight’s next coup will be to have the state capital moved from Raleigh to Elizabeth City or back to Edenton. After all, with legislative sessions lasting long into the summer or even early fall, the wining and dining of all those politicians, lobbyists, and hangers-on could serve to invigorate the economy of northeastern North Carolina—where, it just so happens, relatives and friends of the senator are heavily involved in “economic development.”

Richard Wagner is the editor of Carolina Journal.