RALEIGH – While Roy Cooper was delivering his State of the State address on Jones Street, a corruption scandal was still festering on Blount Street. The Cooper administration has benefited from a mostly uninterested and sympathetic press amid mounting evidence that the governor and his advisors held permits for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline hostage to a multi-million personal slush fund and coerced concessions from the pipeline’s backers to enrich solar interests and donors.
Cooper has dipped, dodged, and ducked allegations of pay-to-play wrongdoing, even going so far as to forbid his employees to cooperate with investigators and instructing cabinet secretaries to stand up joint legislative oversight committees.
The Carolina Journal has a comprehensive breakdown of Cooper’s pipeline timeline, from its origins to present day.
A taste:
Aug. 30
Tarr sends memo to Kristi Jones to give her background information on Strata Solar CEO Markus Wilhelm for Wilhelm’s upcoming call to governor. Wilhelm wrote to Cooper for help in negotiating better terms for solar companies wishing to connect with Duke Energy.
Following through the timeline reveals a lot of smoke, and where there’s smoke…
Examine the whole timeline of Cooper’s pipeline scandal here.
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