June, 21 2021, 11:52am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Bob Phillips, Common Cause NC, at 919-605-3835 or bphillips@commoncause.org
Bryan Warner, Common Cause NC, at 919-599-7541 or bwarner@commoncause.org
David Vance (202) 736-5712 or dvance@commoncause.org Â
New Findings Warrant Criminal Investigation Into U.S. Postmaster DeJoy's Alleged 'Straw Donor' Scheme in North Carolina
Common Cause today presented the NC State Board of Elections with new research revealing suspicious donations totaling $300,000 from U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, his family and 60 of his then-employees to Pat McCrory's campaigns, mostly large donations made by individuals who have made no other contribution in North Carolina over 30 years.
RALEIGH
Common Cause today presented the NC State Board of Elections with new research revealing suspicious donations totaling $300,000 from U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, his family and 60 of his then-employees to Pat McCrory's campaigns, mostly large donations made by individuals who have made no other contribution in North Carolina over 30 years.
The 20-page report supplements a complaint Common Cause filed last September calling for a criminal investigation into possible unlawful campaign donations tied to DeJoy while he was chief executive of High Point, NC-based New Breed Logistics. The complaint came after a lengthy Washington Post article quoted executives alleging that DeJoy pressured them to make political contributions which he later reimbursed through company bonuses.
It is against North Carolina law to funnel money into a campaign through "straw donors" or to use company funds to make political donations. It's a felony if either violation involves contributions exceeding $10,000.
The new analysis of hundreds of contributions by company executives raises renewed concerns and provides deeper insight into allegations that DeJoy may have orchestrated illegal campaign activities in the state. The report was prepared for Common Cause by longtime North Carolina campaign finance expert Bob Hall, former executive director of the nonprofit Democracy NC.
In addition to filing the report as an addendum to its complaint with the State Board of Elections, Common Cause is also asking Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman to open a criminal investigation into the allegations against DeJoy. While the FBI is currently investigating whether DeJoy violated federal campaign finance laws, District Attorney Freeman has jurisdiction to investigate contributions made by DeJoy to state candidates.
Earlier this year, Freeman said she would not pursue an investigation into DeJoy's alleged donation scheme. At the time, Freeman said her office's review of state campaign finance reports did not disclose sufficient information to warrant a criminal investigation. However, Common Cause said Hall's in-depth research demonstrates that a thorough investigation should be immediately launched.
"These new, detailed findings reveal an alarming and highly suspicious pattern of campaign donations by Louis DeJoy's employees while he led New Breed Logistics," said Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause NC. "We respectfully urge District Attorney Freeman to review these new findings and begin a full investigation into Mr. DeJoy's alleged political donation scheme."
Among the findings in Hall's report:
- Dozens of New Breed employees who had given little or nothing to NC politics suddenly began making $1,000 and larger donations to Pat McCrory's 2012 gubernatorial campaign; 54 executives and three of their wives donated a total of $143,130. For 46 of the 54 employees, it was their first reportable contribution to a North Carolina candidate.
- Most of those contributions were delivered around two days during the 2012 primary and general election when three members of Louis DeJoy's family each gave $4,000 (then the limit per election) to McCrory. DeJoy, his family and New Breed employees gave a total of $181,000 to McCrory's successful 2012 campaign; the new governor appointed DeJoy's wife, campaign co-chair Aldona Wos, as secretary of the NC Department of Health and Human Services.
- David W. Young, who told the Washington Post that DeJoy reimbursed contributions, donated $2,000 on each of those key days during McCrory's 2012 campaign. Hall said Young was in a good position to know how "the scheme" worked because he was a donor himself and was also New Breed's director of human resources with access to employee records.
- In late 2015, 19 employees gave Gov. McCrory $25,600 shortly before DeJoy left his position as chief executive of New Breed, then a division of XPO Logistics. At the same time, DeJoy and three family members each gave McCrory the maximum donation of $5,100.
- Hall said reimbursements of donations may have begun during McCrory's 2008 campaign when seven employees donated $3,000 after DeJoy gave the maximum contribution; and the practice may have continued into October 2016, when DeJoy was an XPO board member and 19 employees gave another $32,100 to McCrory in a cluster of large donations.
- The report also describes two groups of large federal campaign donations totaling $236,400 to the Thom Tillis Victory Committee in 2014 from Louis DeJoy, his family and 41 New Breed employees. Those donations may be part of the investigation now underway by the FBI.
- Hall said reimbursements of state donations apparently stopped after 2016. DeJoy continued to make large donations to North Carolina politicians but only five of the 60 employees who gave to McCrory have made any contribution in state politics since 2016, and those five only donated a total of $1,850. "This absence of political activity by these New Breed/XPO employees is another indication that their large donations to Pat McCrory were tied to the power of their boss, Louis DeJoy," Hall wrote in his report to Common Cause.
"These allegations should be thoroughly investigated and, if true, Mr. DeJoy must be held accountable," Phillips said.
Read the letter and report sent by Common Cause NC to the State Board of Elections
Read the letter and report sent by Common Cause NC to Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman
Common Cause is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to upholding the core values of American democracy. We work to create open, honest, and accountable government that serves the public interest; promote equal rights, opportunity, and representation for all; and empower all people to make their voices heard in the political process.
(202) 833-1200LATEST NEWS
South Korean Court Hears First Asian Youth Climate Case
"Carbon emission reduction keeps getting pushed back as if it is homework that can be done later," said one plaintiff's mother. "But that burden will be what our children have to bear eventually."
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One of South Korea's two highest courts on Tuesday began hearing Asia's first-ever youth-led climate lawsuit, which accuses the country's government of failing to protect citizens from the effects of the worsening, human-caused planetary emergency.
Nineteen members of the advocacy group Youth4ClimateAction filed a constitutional complaint in March 2020 accusing the South Korean government of violating their rights to life, the "pursuit of happiness," a "healthy and pleasant environment," and to "resist against human extinction."
The lawsuit also notes "the inequality between the adult generation who can enjoy the relatively pleasant environment and the youth generation who must face a potential disaster from climate change," as well as the government's obligation to prevent and protect citizens from environmental disasters.
"South Korea's current climate plans are not sufficient to keep the temperature increase within 1.5°C, thus violating the state's obligation to protect fundamental rights," the plaintiffs said in a statement.
South Korea's Constitutional Court began hearing a case that accuses the government of having failed to protect 200 people, including dozens of young environmental activists and children, by not tackling climate change https://t.co/XRIGE23KGMÂ pic.twitter.com/snvqBaGGe9
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 23, 2024
Signatories to the 2015 Paris agreement committed to "holding the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above preindustrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C."
According to the United Nations Environment Program's (UNEP) most recent Emissions Gap Report, the world must slash greenhouse gas emissions by 28% before 2030 to limit warming to 2°C above preindustrial levels and 42% to halt warming at 1.5°C. UNEP said that based on current policies and practices, the world is on track for 2.9°C of warming by the end of the century.
A summary of the lawsuit notes that South Korea is the fifth-largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development nations, and that the government is constitutionally obligated to protect Koreans from the climate emergency.
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Lee Donghyun, the mother of one of the plaintiffs, toldReuters: "Carbon emission reduction keeps getting pushed back as if it is homework that can be done later. But that burden will be what our children have to bear eventually."
The South Korean case comes on the heels of a landmark ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which found that Switzerland's government violated senior citizens' human rights by refusing to heed scientists' warnings to swiftly phase out fossil fuel production.
The ECHR ruled on the same day that climate cases brought by a former French mayor and a group of Portuguese youth were inadmissible.
Courts in Australia, Brazil, and Peru also have human rights-based climate cases on their dockets.
In the United States, a state judge in Montana ruled last year in favor of 16 young residents who argued that fossil fuel extraction violated their constitutional right to "a clean and healthful environment."
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More than 300 bodies were reportedly discovered in the mass grave near the Nasser facility in Khan Younis, Gaza, and eyewitnesses said Israeli soldiers executed civilians during their two-week-long raid of al-Shifa last month.
Türk demanded an "independent, effective, and transparent" probe into the killings and mass graves, adding that "given the prevailing climate of impunity, this should include international investigators."
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The IDF's destructive attacks on Nasser and al-Shifa were part of a broader Israeli assault on Gaza's healthcare system. An analysis released Monday by Save the Children found that the rate of monthly Israeli attacks on healthcare in Gaza since October has exceeded that of any other conflict around the world since 2018.
The group estimated that Israel has launched an average of 73 attacks per month on healthcare in Gaza—and at least 435 attacks total since October.
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After a prolonged debate, the unelected House of Lords cleared the way to pass the Safety of Rwanda bill early Tuesday morning, after dropping several proposed amendments including one that would have required independent verification that the central African country is a safe place to send migrants.
The House of Commons then passed the bill, and King Charles III is expected to formally approve the legislation in the coming days.
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The Conservative government signed a treaty with Rwanda last December to strengthen protections for asylum-seekers, including a provision that partially bans Rwanda from sending people back to their home countries.
But the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) called on the U.K. to abandon the plan and instead "take practical measures to address irregular flows of refugees and migrants, based on international cooperation and respect for international human rights law."
"The new legislation marks a further step away from the U.K.'s long tradition of providing refuge to those in need, in breach of the Refugee Convention," said Filippo Grandi, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees. "Protecting refugees requires all countries—not just those neighboring crisis zones—to uphold their obligations. This arrangement seeks to shift responsibility for refugee protection, undermining international cooperation and setting a worrying global precedent."
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Dorothy Guerrero, head of policy and advocacy at Global Justice Now, noted that "disastrous foreign and economic policies of successive governments have contributed to the need for people to seek refuge."
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"The passing of the Rwanda Bill is a shameful day for the U.K.," she added.
Hours after the legislation was passed, French officials announced that at least five people, including a seven-year-old child, had been killed while attempting to cross the English Channel, bound for the U.K. in an overloaded inflatable boat.
At The New Statesman, associate political editor Rachel Cunliffe wrote Tuesday that the tragedy reveals "the flaws of the Rwanda plan," which proponents say could deter migrants from seeking refuge in Britain.
Proponents of the Rwanda plan will inevitably point to today's disaster as further evidence that strong measures are needed to address the issue of Channel crossings. They will accuse Labour and opposition parties of ignoring the human cost of letting this crisis continue and argue that lives are at stake if the government does not act.
[...]
The reality is that a substantial number of people who pay people traffickers large sums of money to crowd them on to a tiny boat do so because they feel they have no other option. Fleeing war and persecution, they are desperate. And so they are prepared to take desperate measures. Measures that sometimes lead to tragedy, but which are deemed necessary given the hopelessness of their situation.
It is hard to see how the threat to send a tiny fraction of those who arrive (Rwanda has said it will only take 150-200 migrants) changes this calculation.
The Labour Party, which is leading Conservatives in polls ahead of the expected elections, has vowed to scrap the legislation if it wins control of the government later this year, and critics have expressed doubt that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will actually secure deportation flights before Britons vote.
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