GOP Rep. Stephen LaRoque has been indicted by a federal grand jury on eight counts of taking federal money from his economic development company and using for personal expenses.

WRAL:

Misuses cited incl. LaRoque purchases of car, rental house, skating rink, zamboni (wow), faberge eggs (double wow), jewelry...

Indictment can be found posted here.

[update 1] Greg Flynn links to an FBI press release on Twitter. This was a joint investigation.

A long list of Democrats have lined up to run as at-large candidates on the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners. A few of the names are familiar, but most are newcomers to Mecklenburg County politics as candidates.

The following is a rundown of the candidates listed in the order in which they responded to my question on Amendment One. The only exception to this order is Pat Cotham. For many reasons, Pat is the one candidate I am choosing to endorse. I recommend close attention to all of the candidates near the top of the list, however, this is one of the most qualified slate of candidates I've seen in a long time and it is a shame we don't have more seats open.

The current splash of news about Sue Myrick's unnecessary advertising with her family firm is old news to those of us who read BlueNC.  I wrote about this back in 2008, but we had little luck getting The Charlotte Observer or News & Observer to pick up on the news.

To date we have not found a business address, website or phone number for Myrick-Gunter Advertising. I did find this listing on a website that wants the owners to claim the business, Myrick-Gunter Marketing, but the address listed is a residence in Charlotte. Several of these business listing sites give a listing for Myrick Gunter Marketing at that same address with the business not being claimed by the owner.

The beauty of the web gives me one more interesting tidbit. A person named Mia Alderman on LinkedIn claims to be the owner of Myrick Gunter Marketing. When checking that name in the phone directory her home address is the same as the business address given for Myrick Gunter Marketing. Also from the web - her maiden name is Myrick.

How does a marketing/advertising firm in this day and age survive with no phone number, no website and no business location? Maybe it exists for the sole purpose of funneling money from Sue Myrick's campaign to Sue Myrick's family through unnecessary media buys? What do you think?

The following is the post I wrote back in 2008

You know that feeling. The one you get when you go to thank a list of people and just know you're going to leave someone important out. I got that feeling yesterday in the mad rush to promote candidates to run for Governor.  We only have a few weeks before filing begins so the race was on to recruit candidates, promote facebook pages and buy up urls. In the rush I forgot some very important people - women.

Someone threw out Janet Cowell's name and I think Elaine Marshall's name came up, so the rest of you are off the hook. For me, there is absolutely no excuse. I'm the daughter of a female politician for heaven's sake! Today, please allow me to right my wrong. The Democratic Party of North Carolina has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to strong women prepared and qualified to serve this state and its people.