Jobs Grant May Have Skirted Law

RALEIGH — Gov. Mike Easley announced March 15 that officials had awarded a $7 million grant to Verizon Wireless and that the company would build a high-tech call center in Wilmington. Had he chosen to make the announcement at the company’s 17-acre building site in South Wilmington, he would have had to wear a hard hat and dodge bulldozers, because the project had already started. An investigation by Carolina Journal revealed that state officials might have violated state laws and guidelines in making the award. According to evidence found by CJ, the company had already committed to the site and had started the project before the state awarded the grant.