Legislature paid private investigators thousands to look into Gov. Roy Cooper
Source: Charlotte Observer
BY COLIN CAMPBELL
OCTOBER 15, 2019 07:13 PM, UPDATED 14 MINUTES AGO
Legislators have spent more than $59,000 on private investigators probing Gov. Roy Cooper’s handling of Atlantic Coast Pipeline approvals, prompting the governor to criticize the price tag.
Since last December, the investigators for the firm Eagle Intel Services LLC have been investigating a $58 million mitigation agreement negotiated between the Cooper administration and the utility companies developing the natural gas pipeline through Eastern North Carolina.
The Democratic governor has said the mitigation fund — intended to fund economic development and environmental projects along the route — was negotiated separately from pipeline permitting, but Republican lawmakers question whether there was inappropriate “pay-to-play activity.”
. . .
Cooper spokesman Ford Porter blasted the spending in a brief emailed statement Monday. “Legislative Republicans have been caught lying to the courts, the public and even their own members so it shouldn’t be surprising that they are now wasting taxpayer dollars on a fake investigation,” he said.
Read more: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article236256303.html
