Jun 28, 2007
Scholarship aid raises questions
Mark Johnson, Ryan Teague Beckwith - News & Observer

Money solicited by the Legislative Black Caucus helped some legislators' families 
 
Mark Johnson and Ryan Teague Beckwith, McClatchy Newspapers 
 
RALEIGH - The children of at least two lawmakers in the General Assembly's Legislative Black Caucus received scholarship money from the caucus's nonprofit foundation. 
 
The foundation is funded by donations solicited by caucus members from corporations, lobbyists and political action committees that seek favorable treatment at the General Assembly. 
 
That structure means that corporate and PAC money passed through the foundation and then benefited legislators' families. 
 
House Speaker Joe Hackney, a Chapel Hill Democrat, said he understands caucus leaders will announce as early as today that they are changing the process for awarding scholarships. 
 
Hackney's understanding is that it was neither illegal nor against the rules for the lawmakers' children to receive scholarships, but he's glad the caucus is clearing up the selection process, said his spokesman, Bill Holmes. 
 
"In this era of heightened awareness about ethics," Holmes said, "people are more mindful about not only what is unethical, but what could appear to be unethical." 
 
Rep. Alma Adams, a Greensboro Democrat and chairwoman of the 28-member black caucus, declined to comment Wednesday but is expected to release a statement today regarding the foundation, according to an aide. 
 
Louisa Warren, director of the N.C. Coalition for Lobbying and Government Reform, said the foundation presented "a real appearance of a conflict of interest." 
 
"There needs to be a very transparent process for how those students are selected and where that money comes from," Warren said. "Is it an arbitrary process? Is there an application process?" 
 
Adams has refused to disclose any information about the caucus's fundraising or who received scholarships. In 2005, the caucus awarded $54,000 in scholarships, according to foundation reports. 
 
Adams ordered an audit of the foundation this year and halted fundraising. She said the audit was a normal course of business. She also wanted an opinion from the state ethics commission on whether the caucus could raise money under the state's new ethics laws before any fundraising continued. 
 
The State Board of Elections regulates campaign contributions, and Chairman Larry Leake said the scholarship's process causes him concern. 
 
"But it would be outside our province," Leake said, "unless someone could show it was intended as a political contribution." 
 
The son of Rep. Larry Womble, a Democrat from Winston-Salem, and the daughter of Rep. Jean Farmer-Butterfield, a Wilson Democrat, both received scholarships in the past three years. 
 
Womble referred questions to Adams, but Farmer-Butterfield last week said she followed the foundation's rules. 
 
"The key thing is if the foundation had criteria that families of legislators couldn't apply," Farmer-Butterfield said. "We would've abided by that." 
 
Her daughter, Lenai, graduated from N.C. Central University in December. She received a $2,000 scholarship and, in thanks to the foundation, recently contributed $2,000, Farmer-Butterfield said. 
 
Womble was the foundation's second vice chairman in 2005. The following year, his son, Jamaal, received two scholarship checks to attend Winston-Salem State University. It was unclear how much money he received. 
 
A granddaughter of state Rep. Earline Parmon, a Democrat from Winston-Salem, may have also received a black caucus foundation scholarship.  
Parmon declined to talk to a reporter Wednesday, but an announcement in an April 24, 2006, education column in the Winston-Salem Journal notes that a woman with the same name as her granddaughter, Shalonda Ingram, received a $1,000 scholarship from the black caucus foundation. 
 
Duke Energy's foundation was among the contributors to the black caucus foundation, donating $5,000 in 2004, according to foundation records. Duke Energy spokesman Tim Pettit said the company gives to a variety of scholarship funds and the fact that legislators' children received scholarships likely would not have affected the decision to donate.