Les Merritt

One of the state's leading political gossip columns today is reporting that State Auditor Beth Wood is under attack by anonymous cowards.

Wood was responding to questions about an anonymous tip Dome received, saying that Wood had two executive assistants babysit a child at the office during the weeks leading up to Christmas. Wood acknowledged she had the daughter of a friend in the office, but no one was asked to baby sit. She said the tip was another in a series of unfounded attacks against her.

I know that many of us worked towards achieving less Merritt, and for a while it seemed like we might actually have accomplished no Merritt. But alas, that is not to be:

In downtown Raleigh - just down the street from the State Capitol - a new watchdog group is working to expose government corruption. It's called the Foundation for Ethics in Public Service.

"We believe this could be a significant complement to counter public corruption, which I do believe is growing," offered Frank Perry.

Perry spent 22 years with the FBI and ran the Raleigh Bureau office in the years after the September 11 attacks. Most recently, he worked for the State Ethics Commission and the State Auditor's Office.

Now, he's joining forces with former State Auditor Les Merritt in creating the foundation.

Today I received an email I've been waiting for - an appeal to help Beth Wood become North Carolina's next State Auditor. Having met and spoken to her in that most sacred of all spots, the ladies' room, I am convinced she will be an auditor with integrity and not use her position to promote political agendas. disclosure:My agency receives state funding and is therefore subject to state auditing rules.

Here's the really important part - in order to qualify for public funding, Beth needs donations from you and me. She needs them in the form of checks or money orders in small amounts - cool, huh?? Everyone can do that. Read more below the fold.

Move Over Moondoggie!

State Auditor Les Merritt is on his way to becoming the next surfing legend.

The State Auditor’s Office has used state resources for political purposes. Merritt’s office has surfed to the North Carolina Democratic Party website 217 times in the past six months. In the past two weeks alone, Merritt’s office visited our website five times.

As an avid surfer, Mr. Merritt can’t get enough of the Democratic wave.

Frontpaged by Anglico. Great post!

Prior to Less Merit becoming the State Auditor, the office was held in high-esteem by partisans on both side of the aisle. But like most modern-day Republicans, Merritt couldn't be satisfied with simply doing his job. Not only did he engage in illegal moonlighting and shady partisan politics, he is also using the privileges of his office to further his own personal ambitions.

If you haven't seen this amazingly cool post by Jerimee, make sure you do. It's all about how Less Merit is spending taxpayer dollars to promote himself for State Auditor. And it's a classic!

Editorial, Charlotte Observer

Les Merritt appears to be having a hard time understanding that voters in 2004 elected him to be N.C. State Auditor -- not State Auditor and Private Financial Adviser, and not State Auditor and Four Oaks Bank Board Member.

Mr. Merritt, a Republican, did step out of his investment adviser business after a flap over his divided loyalties, but when political watchdog Joe Sinsheimer questioned his decision to be a director of Four Oaks Bank in Zebulon, Auditor Merritt said he would accept no money from the bank and intended to remain on the board.

Front-paged by Anglico