Les Merritt

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!

It's a common practice for state officials to use the privileges of their offices to promote themselves and their ambitions. We've seen plenty of it on both sides of the aisle over the past couple of years, but that doesn't make it right. Yet no matter how much of that shady behavior you've witnessed in the past, there's something about the way Less Merit does it that will rankle even the most cynical soul.

The Dome has the story, which broke as a result of Leslie launching a new website to tell North Carolina citizens that he's (cough, cough) doing his job of tracking down fraud, waste and abuse.

The problem with Leslie's approach is that it doesn't even begin to pass the smell test of having an arm's length distance from his political ambitions. Specifically, the new site includes a freakin' BIOGRAPHY of the two-faced watchdog himself - and it reads like a campaign commercial with an open HTML tag!

Les, a native and lifelong resident of North Carolina, was born & raised on a farm in rural Sampson County. He went on to attend North Carolina State University, earning degrees in both Economics and Accounting. Les is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Certified Financial Planner (CFP). Prior to being elected State Auditor, he served as president of Merritt, Petway, Mills & Hockaday, an accounting and auditing firm with offices in Zebulon and Raleigh.

Les and his wife, Cheryl, live in the Town of Zebulon in eastern Wake County. He has served as president of the Zebulon Elementary School PTA, the Zebulon Rotary Club and the Zebulon Lions Club and as a director with the Zebulon Chamber of Commerce. Les and Cheryl Merritt are members of Zebulon Baptist Church and have two adult children, Dale and Brooke.

Jerry Meek has responded to Leslie Merritt's whining letter to the editor printed in yesterday's Charlotte Observer.

Yeah. It's pretty much a slam. Jerry is young and he doesn't have kids, but this letter sounds like a parent's response to their whining child. That should be doubly embarrassing to Merritt.

In response to "Serving on bank board fits my job description" (Sept. 11 Forum):

State Auditor Les Merritt says taking a side job as director for a local bank will help him stay "connected to real people."

What is Mr. Merritt thinking? It's wrong to serve as a bank director when your office audits the state agency that regulates banks.

Somebody call a Waaaahmbulance. Leslie Merritt has taken offense to the CharO's Sept. 8, call for him to simply do his job. From the editorial:

Performing work -- even unpaid work -- for a commercial enterprise while supposedly serving the public full time presents a conflict of interests. The public has a right to expect that Auditor Merritt will work for it and not share his talents with a for-profit commercial enterprise. And Auditor Merritt's office has responsibility for auditing state agencies as well -- including the State Banking Commission, which oversees state banks.

Based on his reply it seems Merritt thinks it's okie dokie to profit from his elected position.

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

I really admire the way Joe Sinsheimer does what he does. It'll be interesting to watch Mr. Merritt squirm and backpedal in the face of this new challenge.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 31, 2007

Contact: Kerra Bolton, (919) 821-2777, ext. 216

Republican State Auditor Les Merritt Shows No Shame in His Partisan Game

RALEIGH -- Republican State Auditor Les Merritt once again shows his partisan stripes in ousting a political challenger and then lying to cover it up.

Beth Wood, a 10-year veteran, gave last week her 30-day notice to finish pending projects and train her replacement.

But after a newspaper article appeared earlier this week about Wood’s intentions to run against her former boss, one of Mr. Merritt’s top aides told Wood not to return to work.

Wood, a Democrat, was also locked out of the building and denied access to her personal belongings.