In Outing a Bribery Scheme, Mike Causey Is a Credit to His Office

Read WRAL reporter Travis Fain's wrap-up of the Greg Lindberg bribery case down in Durham. Read it and weep. Because billionaire Greg Lindberg is one of those "masters of the universe" who are single-handedly capable of shoving enough money at politicians to cast an ethical cloud over whole departments of government. For those public officials who accepted great heaps of his cash, they raise suspicions about personal integrity and suggest once again that the love/lure of money is the root of all evil.

Lindberg gave money to both the Republican and the Democratic parties. He gave money to Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer as well as to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. He gave 6 figures to Tim Moore, for his House Republican Caucus fund. He gave $50,000 to state Senator Wesley Meredith who was introducing an insurance law rewrite in the General Assembly that would have advantaged Lindberg (the law went nowhere). Most striking of all, Lindberg gave over $2 million to support Dan Forest for governor, a "strategic" expenditure in case Forest should become governor.

Lindberg isn't the first nor will he be the last, to grow his tendrils everywhere, from Raleigh power-centers to Mugstomp-on-the-Potomac. We've always had these guys who respect no bounds to get what they want. And elected officials with their hands out.

Except for NC Commissioner of Insurance Mike Causey. (You can read about what Lindberg wanted out of the Insurance Commissioner on your own. I'm not going to summarize all that here. It's beside the point anyway.) Mike Causey, Republican, cooperated with the FBI to expose a bribery scandal involving both billionaire Lindberg and Robin Hayes, Chair of the NCGOP. Mike Causey resisted the attempted bribery and exposed it all. Mike Causey is a civic hero.

Travis Fain found evidence that the Lindberg gang thought Commissioner Causey was also "dense," a kind of Gomer Pyle lame-brain. That Causey always seemed to agree to their quid pro quos and then dragged his feet and appeared to forget his assigned duties and never delivered what Lindberg thought he'd agreed to. All the time Causey was playing Lindberg, wearing at various times both hidden microphones and videocameras and gathering the evidence that led to Lindberg's conviction last Thursday (March 5). Robin Hayes had already pled guilty for participating and is awaiting sentencing.

Some North Carolina Democrats get tarred with the same Lindberg tar. Nobody's accused them of wrongdoing, but it's not a good look. What's documented is some $750,000 that Lindberg gave to the NC Democratic Party in 2018 while it was chaired by Wayne Goodwin, the previous Insurance Commissioner. In fact, according to Fain, Goodwin was Lindberg's "first." Lindberg had spent "more than $340,000 between Goodwin's campaign [to become Insurance Commissioner] and a separate political action committee that supported his re-election."

That's what Fain documents. What's undocumented is the money Lindberg gave to "dark money" groups, of which there was apparently a generous helping given to both sides. Including an unspecified amount to a 501(c)(4) group supporting Gov. Cooper's 2016 campaign.

What set off the whole bribery scene?

Goodwin had given the Lindberg insurance companies an advantage that appears to have been out of the ordinary. Causey's department after January of 2017 began reversing that policy. Lindberg was putting pressure on Causey to go easy on him.

Under Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin, the department allowed Lindberg's insurance companies to keep investing up to 40% of their assets, cash from policyholder premiums, into other companies that Lindberg owns. When Mike Causey took over as Insurance Commissioner, his team, led in part by Jackie Obusek, a senior deputy commissioner, insisted on "unwinding" what Goodwin had given Lindberg -- lowering that 40% and thus Lindberg's control over the companies' cash.

Lindberg wanted Jackie Obusek fired. That's what he was willing to buy from Mike Causey, along with of course a more generally lenient regulatory regime overseeing his activities.

Republican Richard Hudson (NC-8) Has a Democratic Opponent

Richard Hudson

Congressman Richard Hudson (R), who has represented the 8th Congressional District of North Carolina since the election of 2012, is pretty much a swamp creature. He's been hanging around Washington, DeeCee, and particularly Capitol Hill as a congressional staffer, for many years. He even did a term in hell as Congresswoman Virginia Foxx's chief of staff before moving on to other congressional offices and holding the bag for other congressmen. He knows how the place works -- or doesn't -- and that you go along to get a leg up.

Hudson worked for the now arrested and disgraced Robin Hayes when Hayes was the congressman from the 8th district. Hudson had moved on to DeeCee when Hayes was defeated by Democrat Larry Kissell in 2008. Hudson returned to North Carolina to oust Kissell in 2012. So the worm turns.

Hudson's association with Robin Hayes glows like a neon of his swampiness. Hudson also took lots of money from billionaire Greg Lindberg, the man behind Hayes's arrest for attempted bribery.

Among those associated with the congressman, the largest recipient of money from Lindberg was a joint fundraising committee affiliated with Hudson — the Hudson Freedom Fund. According to campaign finance reports, that group received donations of $44,300 and $33,900 from Lindberg in December [2018] and January [2019], respectively. [Josh Bergeron, Salisbury Post]

Scott Huffman

Hudson gave $15,000 of that to charities benefitting soldiers at Fort Bragg: "The GOP lawmaker says he didn't do anything wrong, but just wants to avoid the appearance of any impropriety" (Politico). The appearance lingers, as does the aroma of influence peddling.

Hudson already has a Democratic challenger in Scott Huffman, who tried once before in 2018 but lost the Democratic primary to ultimate candidate Frank McNeill, who took almost 45% of the vote against Hudson last year. Huffman is a Navy veteran and owner of a "technology business." His greater community involvement has come from founding and leading Indivisible Charlotte.

He has a website, a very active Twitter feed, and a Facebook group.

Dan Forest Now Admits He Accepted Help From Wheeler-Dealer Charged in Bribery Scheme

Dan Forest

Stop the presses! Lt. Gov. Dan Forest has amended his campaign finance reports. He now admits that he took "in-kind" help from Greg Lindberg in the amount of $3,761. Small potatoes, you say?

Yes, but previously Forest was putting distance between his campaign and Lindberg. Forest neglected to even mention on his reporting forms that a fundraiser had been mounted for him at a Lindberg home, with Lindberg picking up the cost of catering and "refreshments."

Lindberg also donated $1 million to building a Forest juggernaut in 2017, money that was laundered through a super-PAC, and that ain't small potatoes.

What Sound Does a Hollow Log Make?

The Central Committee of the North Carolina Republican Party reportedly met for seven solid hours on Sunday, arguing over what to do about their top leadership. The state party chair, Robin Hayes, was recently arrested for attempted bribery of the state's insurance commissioner and is now under five federal criminal indictments. Hayes has been allowed to step aside from his duties, appoint an interim leader (Aubrey Woodard, who chairs the 11th Congressional District Committee), but also retain the title of "chairman" until the state party's convention in June.

Executive Director of the NCGOP, Dallas Woodhouse, is also being allowed to resign at the conclusion of the June state convention. Woodhouse has been the pugnacious and rambunctious executive director since 2015 and has left plenty of roadkill in his wake. “I am under contract through the convention. When my contract expires I am moving on, which is always what I had in mind,” Woodhouse said.

Woodhouse admits that he testified to the grand jury in the Hayes bribery case but is not mentioned in the indictment. He has also claimed that the party did nothing wrong in laundering a large contribution from Greg Lindberg into the campaign account of the insurance commissioner.

Rule of Thumb: In North Carolina, the More Pious the Politician, the More Prone to Corruption

On the website for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association you'll find a proclamation that Lt. Gov. Dan Forest is "Representing Christ on the Front Line." "His career and life are rooted in faith in Jesus Christ," we are told:

“My faith instructs everything I do every single day,” he said. “God has given us a very clear plan of how to order our lives, how to order our families, how to order our government and how to order the church. Those things are directed by His Word, and that’s what we try to uphold.”

Forest believes the Lord has him in the political arena “for such a time as this” and that, similarly, the church must embrace its divinely destined role in a culture that has, in many ways, turned its back on God.

Forest knows exactly how everyone should be leading their lives, but he's become personally pretty dodgy on his connections to Greg Lindberg -- trying to distance himself from the high-rolling political donor now indicted for attempted bribery of a public official. Forest's spokesman told the News and Observer that Lindberg has never contributed to Forest’s official campaign account, yet Lindberg gave $1.4 million to the North Carolina Republican Council of State Committee, which Forest chairs, and Lindberg was listed on a Forest fundraising email as a maxed out contributor.

Plus Forest and Lindberg were obviously tight during the fall of 2017. The News and Observer found at least three events where they were hip-to-hip and the money was flowing:

An August fundraiser at what appears to be Lindberg’s house.
A September ribbon-cutting for one of Lindberg’s insurance companies.
An October 50th-birthday party fundraiser for Forest, the invitation of which listed Lindberg as "co-chair."

What does the Bible say about the love of money?

He Did It For Money. Lots of Money

Congressman Mark Walker,
NC-6

Congressman Mark Walker (NC-6) received at least $233,600 from Greg Lindberg, owner of Eli Global, and dutifully made at least one phone call to praise Lindberg to the NC Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey. Apparently, this didn't break the law. But it sure as hell rings the corruption bell.

Laura Leslie lays out the sequence of events:

November 30, 2017 -- Lindberg gives $44,300 to the Walker Freedom Fund PAC 

December 1, 2017 (the next day) -- Lindberg gives $5,400 -- the max allowed -- to Walker's campaign committee. (There's no money max on "satellite" spending, like on PACs formed for single candidates) 

January 16, 2018 -- Lindberg gives $33,900 to Walker Freedom Fund PAC 

February 5, 2018 -- One of Lindberg's indicted associates texts his boss: "to say he had talked to Walker about their problem with Causey." That same day, according to the indictment, Lindberg wrote a $150,000 check to a second Walker fundraising PAC 

February 7, 2018 -- Congressman Walker puts in his bought-and-paid-for call to Insurance Commissioner Causey, praising Lindberg for "doing good things for North Carolina business" 

Good things. Not to even mention the good things Lindberg did for bank accounts of sitting congressmen.

Walker's corrupt and/or eminently corruptible.

He's a preacher, incidentally, sort of like Rev. Mark Harris was a preacher.

Government Employee of the Year

North Carolina's Commissioner of Insurance Mike Causey might just be a candidate for poster child of the year, something titled "Incorruptible Public Official."

As more information comes out about the indictment of big-bucks donor Greg Lindberg and his facilitator, Robin Hayes, Chair of the NCGOP, Causey emerges as a rock-solid honest man. Here's a relevant passage from the reporting by Paul A. Specht et al. published yesterday morning:

Causey said his involvement with Lindberg began in 2017 when the insurance department was conducting a routine financial examination of one of Lindberg’s companies.... 

“There were questions on some of the financials,” Causey said. 

Lindberg, fast on his way to becoming one of the largest campaign donors in the state, donated $10,000 to Causey’s campaign in early 2017. Causey said the donation came “out of the blue,” but he directed his campaign finance director to return the money. 

“It might not look right,” he said.

Later that year, Causey said he was told that Lindberg wanted to host a fundraiser for him. Causey declined. 

“We were still engaged in the ongoing financial examination,” Causey said. “And it just didn’t look right.” 

By then, he said, officials at the department had questions about the practices and financial health of Lindberg’s companies.

“There were loopholes being exploited,” Causey said.

Lindberg was throwing around the money, especially to Republicans (but why not? They were in charge of most everything) but also to prominent Democrats like Wayne Goodwin, who might want about now to be giving that money back.

Did Mike Causey Wear a Wire for the Feds?

Fascinating reading, this unsealed indictment of NCGOP Chair Robin Hayes and three others. Because it seems pretty obvious that NC Commissioner of Insurance Mike Causey not only cooperated with federal law enforcement but also helped make recordings of a crime in progress.

Greg Lindberg, now famous as "NC's biggest political donor" and founder of Eli Global, a multinational corp that "provides information and financial services," had a sit-down meeting in Commissioner Mike Causey's office, asking for some "regulatory favors."

Travis Fain's reporting: "Lindberg allegedly wanted Causey to fire or reassign an unnamed deputy commissioner causing problems for some of the businesses Lindberg owns, and he offered up to $2 million in political donations to get it done."

Congressman Mark Walker (NC-6)
Photo AP / J. Scott Applewhite

Lindberg specifically wanted Causey to hire his man Joe Palermo as his assistant. Palermo not only works for Eli Global; he's chair of the Chatham County Republican Party.

From the indictment, where Causey got Lindberg to speak plainly about bribery:

38. The COMMISSIONER asked to speak to LINDBERG alone, and during that portion of the meeting, the COMMISSIONER asked LINDBERG, “What’s in it for me? What can you do to help that’s not gonna be…under the radar screen?” LINDBERG responded that he would create an independent expenditure committee to support the COMMISSIONER’s re-election and fund it himself with $1 million to $2 million.

Another shoe waiting to drop?
Congressman Mark Walker is implicated as "Public Official A" for receiving $150,000 for help in putting pressure on Causey. He seems to have escaped indictment, but he'll have to give the money back, and he has some 'splaining to do.