Despite the removal of its president and CEO, as well as its legal counsel, the Northeastern North Carolina Economic Development Commission and North Carolina’s Northeast Partnership are withholding documents requested by Carolina Journal pursuant to the state’s Public Records Act.

Rick Watson, who was forced to leave his leadership position over both organizations two weeks ago, and former lawyer Ernest Pearson had claimed that the Partnership was a private nonprofit not subject to the law. They had acknowledged the Commission was public. The boards for both agencies terminated their contract with Pearson two weeks ago also.

On Monday, March 27, Carolina Journal requested copies of contracts between the Commission, and/or the Partnership, and Watson, Pearson, and Meredith Norris, who is a former aide to House Speaker Jim Black. The request was followed by two phone calls to the organizations’ shared office on March 28, and a staff member confirmed to CJ reporter Paul Chesser that the faxed request had been received. Several messages left during the remainder of the week for interim president Vann Rogerson, requesting copies of the contracts, were unreturned by him.

However, Jack Runion, chairman of the boards for both the Commission and the Partnership, faxed a response on the morning of Monday, April 3, acknowledging receipt of CJ‘s document request, and saying the Partnership and Commission were “conferring” on the matter with the UNC School of Government’s David Lawrence, an expert in local government law. Runion, an appointee of Gov. Mike Easley, said, “We will follow up with you in the near future regarding your request.”

Lawrence told CJ on Wednesday that he had spoken with Cathy Scott, a longtime contract consultant for the Commission and Partnership, who informed him that the Partnership had an opinion issued by Attorney General Roy Cooper’s office that affirmed the organization’s status as a non-public organization, and therefore it was not subject to North Carolina’s Public Records Act. Lawrence said he accepted her at her word, and agreed with that assessment, while stating that the Commission was obligated to abide by the Public Records law.

But it was not an official Department of Justice legal opinion that Scott possessed, but rather an advisory letter, signed by Deputy Attorney General Grayson Kelley, dated Oct. 11, 2004.

“An advisory letter is a response written by an individual attorney, as opposed to a legal opinion which goes through a more extensive review process with multiple attorneys,” explained Noelle Talley, a spokeswoman for Cooper.

Pearson had told Kelley, who determined the Partnership was private but said the opinion was “based solely on the information provided and could change should other evidence be presented,” that the Northeast Partnership’s primary purpose was fundraising for economic development in the northeastern part of the state.

In reality, the Partnership serves a much larger role. According to the Web site for both organizations, the Partnership “implements the mission of the Northeastern North Carolina Regional Economic Development Commission.” In addition, the Commission receives almost all of its funding from the state, and in turn gives that money to the Partnership.

A 1999 opinion issued by then-Attorney General Easley, which was requested by the Northeast Partnership, determined that “every item received or generated in the course of [the partnership’s] ordinary business is a public record, and must be disclosed upon request…”

North Carolina’s Public Records Statute provides a near exhaustive definition of public records, which includes any material “made or received…in connection with the transaction of public business by any agency of North Carolina government or its subdivisions.” The statute also broadly defines “agencies and subdivisions,” which includes “commissions.”

The Northeast Partnership was established by the General Assembly in 1993 as a commission, to be “located administratively in the Department of Commerce” but to exercise its “powers and duties” independent of the department. Its board members consist of six appointees each by the governor, by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

In a July 1994 special meeting, the Northeastern NC Regional Economic Development Commission declared “it would no longer be affiliated with the Department of Commerce…but would begin operating on it’s [sic] own.” The attorney general’s 1999 opinion determined that the renamed Northeast Partnership, formerly the Commission, “was not authorized to remove itself from the Department in 1994” and that the organization was subject to the public records law.

The current attorney for the Commission and Partnership, Meader Harriss of Edenton, told CJ that the Commission would comply with the public records law. However, he said Runion would not provide records from the Partnership.

Two board members of the Commission said CJ‘s request should be filled regardless of the Partnership’s status.

“My take on the deal is, this agency needs to become more transparent,” said Mack Nixon, a Perquimans County commissioner. “That’s what I’m going to push for as a board member.”

“I personally have no problem with providing anything that has to do with public money,” said Luther “Cliff” Copeland, the Chowan County manager and a board member for both the Commission and the Partnership.

Randy Keaton, the manager for Pasquotank County who helped develop recommendations for organizational changes to the Commission and the Partnership, also called for the Partnership to open its records.

“They should provide the records regardless,” Keaton said, “whether they think they’re a public agency or not.”