Stephen LaRoque

The three monkeys covering sensory orifices come to mind:

I would respectfully request that you provide the LEC with more specificity regarding the allegation, including without limitation any matters of which you have personal or actual knowledge. Doubtless, if more specific or actual knowledge exists, it will prove critical to the LEC's work.

Doubtless, if you had been paying attention for the last few months, you wouldn't make such an idiotic request:

Imagine if you could (1) scam the government while (2) bad-mouthing the government, and then (3) use your taxpayer-funded business to pay a $17,250 fine levied for filing a frivolous lawsuit. I'm not saying that's what happened, but ...

The East Carolina Development Company, the small economic development non-profit founded by LaRoque in 1997, will pay $17,250 to Braxton’s lawyers for failing to turn over key documents in court proceedings, according to court documents.

This doofuss is one of the so-called stars in Thom Tillis' tarnished crown.

To my knowledge.

Thom Tillis has a tough decision to make: Allow his BFF Stephen LaRoque to keep stinking up the North Carolina House of Representatives, or send the Kinston crook packing. Given that Tillis is already proving to be just another power-hungry pol, I'm betting he gives LaRoque a pass. Mr. Speaker is starting to look an awful lot like old Jim Black.

NC Policy Watch has the story.

N.C. Rep. Stephen LaRoque’s non-profit failed to turn over documents detailing the inner workings of the federally-funded organization in an ongoing defamation lawsuit, a Superior Court judge ruled this week. The East Carolina Development Company, a non-profit that LaRoque has been executive director of since 1997, will have to pay $250 a day in fines until it turns over the documents requested by lawyers for Van Braxton, the former Democratic legislator that LaRoque beat in last year’s elections.

The fine seems a little thin, given LaRoque's history of scamming. The judge should have added a zero to the figure, with a bit of jail time to boot. And the focus should be on LaRoque's contempt, not his corporation. Corporations are not people.

If there was an award for petulance in the NC House there would be many contenders. The top place might likely be shared by Stephen LaRoque and Justin Burr, and not simply on account of their contempt for the trials of low-wealth citizens. LaRoque is on a crusade to redefine the NAACP as racist. Burr for example, has been contemptuous of the Racial Justice Act, and of opposition to various election law “reforms”. Burr reached a peak of pique when he ran roughshod over Verla Insko in a committee considering the abortion bill.

Burr’s juvenile physique has been tempered this session by the maintenance of a close haircut that is oddly suggestive of an outbreak of lice in the boys' dormitory. Burr grandiosely thinks he needs to educate Judge Howard Manning and Governor Bev Perdue on the need for low-income parents to pay 10% of that paltry income towards constitutionally required Pre-K education.

Thom Tillis appointed Stephen "The Skimmer" LaRoque to co-chair the House Rules Committee, a perfect fit if you're looking for someone who has mastered the art of bending rules for personal gain. But now all hell is breaking loose. The Skimmer is on the hot seat for a host of potential IRS violations.

Will Tillis allow LaRoque to continue in his leadership role, or will he dump The Skimmer in accordance with the oh-so-ethical standards of today's Republican majority?

I'm betting he keeps LaRoque around. For all his extreme sportiness, Tillis doesn't have the nerve to fire Stephen LaRoque or call for an investigation. With legal battles brewing on abortion rights and redistricting, Tillis needs all the sh(t screens he can find. That's one role Steven LaRoque is eminently qualified for.

Previously.

Blue NC'ers will be interested in a new NC Policy Watch Investigates series by reporter Sarah Ovaska. It's called “Public money, personal gains,” and details some of the questionable business practices of a powerful member of the North Carolina House Republican leadership team, Rules Committee co-chair, Rep. Stephen LaRoque.

Stephen LaRoque

According to the Kinston Free Press, Mr. LaRoque appears to be attracting much attention, sort of like the attention you might attract with a circus sideshow called Half Man, Half Hog. Sadly, as Hallstyle has written elsewhere, the proud people of Kinston appear to be nothing but thrilled to have a hypocritical corporate welfare queen as their representative in Raleigh.

Oink, oink.

His most recent annual salary was a measly $167,800, working in a corporation subsidized by the government? He pays $8 an hour for people to work in his yard.

Representative Stephen LaRoque. Slopping at the public trough?