Tag: Stephen LaRoque

LaRoque’s voter suppression Hail Mary

August 15, 2012 at 3:14 pmCategory:Uncategorized

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Former state representative Stephen LaRoque appeared in federal court in Raleigh last week to face charges of theft and money laundering. Pending trial in Greenville at a later date LaRoque was released on an unsecured bond and restricted to travel within the 44 counties of the Eastern District of North Carolina. That has not stopped another case involving LaRoque from making it all the way to the Supreme Court in Washington DC. The spotlight will be on voter suppression, namely the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act, not LaRoque, though LaRoque’s name and statements appear in documents submitted to the court, including statements referring to his status as a state legislator.
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Thank you, Fayetteville Observer

July 25, 2012 at 7:48 amCategory:Uncategorized

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The shout out for NC Policy Watch reporter Sarah Ovaska’ s investigation of now-indicted State Rep. Stephen LaRoque is nice, but the main reason you need to check out this piece in today’s Fayetteville Observer is because of the message it delivers about corruption in state government and, in particular, the disturbing lack of action to curb it from the leadership of the North Carolina House.

You can read the entire editorial by clicking here.

 

Rep. LaRoque and those Fabergé eggs

July 20, 2012 at 11:23 amCategory:Uncategorized

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Faberge Imperial Egg, Va. Museum of Fine Arts.

N.C. Rep. Stephen LaRoque apparently had a thing for Fabergé eggs, jeweled collectibles that fetch high prices and are often emblazoned with gold, rubies and diamonds.

The Kinston lawmaker’s weakness for reproductions of the elaborately-decorated eggs that now symbolize the wrongs of pre-Revolution Russia came out this week, when LaRoque was indicted by a federal grand jury and accused of using federal money to support his own lavish lifestyle.

N.C. Rep. Stephen LaRoque (R-Kinston)

Deep inside the 72-page indictment are mentions of purchases LaRoque made of a dozen Fabergé  eggs, spending more than $24,000 on the decorative collector items at shops in a Las Vegas casino and upscale mall in Northern Virginia.

The eggs LaRoque bought are most certainly reproductions – only 57 of the actual Fabergé  eggs are thought to exist and aren’t really the type of things that have price tags.

The real Imperial Fabergé  eggs were jewel-encrusted gifts that Tsar Alexander III bestowed on his wife for Easter, and came to represent the lavish and extravagance of the pre-Revolution Russian dynasties. Smaller decorated egg-shaped pendants were also made by the revered jewelry house, and worn as necklaces. Read More…

Good news, if a tad late

July 18, 2012 at 4:41 pmCategory:Uncategorized

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Reporter Craig Jarvis of Raleigh’s News & Observer tweeted this afternoon that House Speaker Thom Tillis referred the indictment of Rep. Stephen LaRoque to the House Ethics Committee this morning.

This certainly sounds like an appropriate action and at least a first step in dealing with the scandal.

As this morning’s edition of the Weekly Briefing detailed, however, a) it’s been a long, darn time in coming, and b) there would appear to be a lot more to be done. Let’s hope more action is in the offing.

 

National nonprofit magazine weighs in on LaRoque controversy

August 18, 2011 at 10:03 amCategory:Uncategorized

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The controversial nonprofit management practices of State Representative Stephen LaRoque (as well as his responses to a Policy Watch investigation) have caught the eye of the national publication, Nonprofit Quarterly.

This is from a column posted online this morning by the group’s national correspondent, Rick Cohen:

“Somehow, LaRoque’s answers do not generate the impression that he is exactly on top of the latest thinking on good nonprofit management when it comes to conflicts of interest, self-dealing, transparency or financial accountability. One would also expect the USDA to get on the stick and start overseeing the $7.5 million it gave LaRoque through the Intermediary Relending Program and the $582,000 from the Rural Business Enterprise Grant program. And one would also expect the person responsible for charity oversight in the North Carolina Attorney General’s office to find out whether LaRoque’s serial self-dealing transactions and his conflicts of interest cross the line.”

You can read Cohen’s entire piece by clicking here.