A month shy of a year ago, we noted a gigantic corruption scandal that shook the North Carolina Republican Party and ended the political careers of crackpot multimillionaire and former Congressman-- more recently state party chair-- Robin Hayes, North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey and, in all likelihood far right Congressman Mark Walker, who took a $150,000 bribe and is not running for reelection. Presumably he plans to go back to being a crooked pastor.It was actually wealthy entrepreneur and Republican Party mega-donor Greg Lindberg who was being investigated when the FBI stumbled upon Hayes. Lindberg would write $40 checks to the DCCC on the same day that he wrote $500,000 checks to the Republican Party of North Carolina. He's contributed millions of dollars to the GOP in recent years and was the state party's biggest single donor and is the money-bags behind the state's crooked Lt. Govenor, Dan Forest won the Republican gubernatorial primary last week and will face Governor Roy Cooper (D) in November. Last year Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski referred to the group of bribers' actions as "a brazen bribery scheme in which Greg Lindberg and his coconspirators allegedly offered hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions in exchange for official action that would benefit Lindberg’s business interests." So why bring this old news up again now?The Charlotte Observer reported yesterday-- now that Lindberg has been convicted (March 5)-- that the government has released the secret tapes in the Republican corruption scandal.
Causey cooperated in the federal sting and wore a clandestine recording device to capture his conversations with Lindberg and two associates. Over the course of the eight-day trial, jurors heard hours of those conversations, and the video clips below capture some of them. Lindberg and his associates repeatedly asked Causey to replace a regulator named Jackie Obusek, who was responsible for overseeing one of Lindberg’s companies-- and who Lindberg contended was unfairly tarnishing the company’s reputation. In a March 2018 meeting at the Statesville airport, Causey asked Lindberg “what’s in it for me” if he replaced Obusek with John Palermo, who at the time was working for Lindberg. The insurance magnate replied that his people could set up an independent expenditure committee to support Causey’s reelection campaign and “put in a million or two or whatever.” This video shows parts of that conversation:.mcclatchy-embed{position:relative;padding:40px 0 56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;max-width:100%}.mcclatchy-embed iframe{position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%}At a May 29, 2018 meeting at Lindberg’s house in Durham, Causey met with Lindberg and his associate, John Gray, who was also convicted of two public corruption charges. There, the three men agreed to a new plan-- assigning a regulator named Debbie Walker to take over the job of regulating Lindberg’s company-- and funneling $2 million to Causey’s reelection campaign through the North Carolina Republican Party.Watch the video below to hear excerpts of that conversation. .mcclatchy-embed{position:relative;padding:40px 0 56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;max-width:100%}.mcclatchy-embed iframe{position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%}Causey met again with Lindberg and Gray on July 25, 2018. At that meeting, Gray told Causey he would get “ten-thousand plus two-hundred fifty-thousand, quickly, if we have your assurance and a date certain by which the Debbie Walker staff realignment can occur.”The three men also get on the phone with Robin Hayes, former chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, to ask that he transfer $250,000 of the money Lindberg donated to Causey’s reelection campaign. Hayes promises to “get ‘er done.”Hayes, a former congressman, pleaded guilty in October to lying to the FBI agents who investigated the case. He faces up to six months in prison and is expected to be sentenced soon.Watch this video to hear excerpts of these conversations: .mcclatchy-embed{position:relative;padding:40px 0 56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;max-width:100%}.mcclatchy-embed iframe{position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%}