Thursday, September 29, 2016

Orange may be the new black for Fletcher Hartsell

Justice delayed is, well, sadly all too typical of the North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBOE), which also punches above its weight in the justice-denied part.

Nevertheless, the news about State Sen. Fletcher Hartsell, Jr. now facing federal as well as state charges for using his campaign funds as a personal piggy bank is a relief. WRAL reports
State Sen.Fletcher Hartsell, R-Cabarrus, faces charges of mail fraud and money laundering in connection with his campaign spending under a federal indictment handed down Tuesday.

Although Sen. Hartsell's self-dealing was pointed out in news articles (and other places) in January 2012, it took the SBOE until July 2015 to issue findings that this was actually a bad thing. A state indictment FINALLY followed in June of this year, and a federal indictment was issued on Tuesday.

In the meantime, guess who has continued to be a sitting state senator? Good 'ol Fletcher Hartsell, Jr. Not only that, his ethically challenged Republican peers kept him on as a chair, vice-chair, or co-chair of numerous committees, including the Finance Committee (presumably because he was so good with keeping track of finances).

Well, at least they got the "vice" part right.