North Carolina's top officials owe some explanations to the public in the Frank Ballance and Margaret Scott Phipps scandals.
A federal grand jury has indicted two former aides to Agricultural Commissioner Meg Scott Phipps, a U.S. attorney said at a press conference Tuesday. The charges against Linda Johnson Saunders, of Louisburg, and Bobby C. McLamb, of Raleigh, include conspiracy, extortion, wire fraud, and mail fraud, said Frank Whitney, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Saunders' attorney says that the government's ultimate goal is to indict Phipps.
North Carolina’s agriculture commission is claiming credit for a much-improved State Fair, but the media spin cannot obscure the underlying reality: Illegal contributions to and from her political campaign, and an unbelievable defense of her behavior.
A former campaign rival who went on to work for Ag Commissioner Meg Scott Phipps says that, contrary to sworn testimony, she knew about illegal loan payoffs. If true, it seems time to indict.
