FRANKLIN COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY
101 WEST NASH STREET
LOUISBURG, NORTH CAROLINA 27549
(919) 496-1469
www.FranklinNCGOP.com

February 26, 2006
 

The Donnie Rudd Scandal Continues
 

Foy and Lancaster: The Taxpayers' Friends
Republican Commissioners Want Rudd's Payments
Paid Back to Residents

Lancaster: 'The money needs to go to the people who deserve it.'
Democrat Commissioner Sid Dunston Halts Vote
Commentary by John Edwards



Left to right at Feb. 20th commissioners meeting: Republican Harry Foy, Democrats Raymond Stone, Lynwood Buffaloe, Sid Dunston, manager Chris Coudriet, Democrats Robert Lee Swanson, Jimmie Gupton and Republican Don Lancaster.
 

Residents can thank Republican Commissioners Harry Foy and Don Lancaster for demanding restitution fees be paid back to them from the Donnie Rudd tax scandal. These were fees that Rudd collected from foreclosures and were collected during an eight-year period.

Commissioner Harry Foy made the motion for the fees collected by the county and Lancaster seconded the motion at the February 20 board meeting. However Democrat Commissioner Sid Dunston halted the motion.

According to the Feb. 25 Franklin Times, the income in question was a $50 processing fee charged to residents who were in arrears paying property taxes to Rudd's office.

Rudd was indicted in 1998 on charges he failed to disclose the $300,000 collected. Rudd was ordered to pay $60,000 in restitution to the county. Foy made a motion to have the restitution paid back to the residents who were swindled out of the $50, according to the Times. Rudd began making restitution payments to the county in March 2003 and through Dec. 2005 he has paid only $2,888.

Republican Commissioner Don Lancaster seconded Foy's motion but Democrat Commission Chairman Sid Dunston halted the motion and accused Foy and Lancaster of "grandstanding."

"Why are we talking about something this old," Dunston said in the Feb. 25 Franklin Times. "Why are we bringing this up now?"

"I'm not going to allow this kind of grandstanding."

Foy said he brought the matter up after recently learning of the late 1990s judgment and restitution payments made by Rudd.

Lancaster called Dunston's accusation of grandstanding unfair and said: "Whatever he's (Rudd) paid, divide that by the number of people he took the money from and give it out. The money needs to go to the people who deserve it."

Because Dunston halted the motion no action was taken.

However, according to Robert's Rules of Order, once a motion is seconded it must be voted on. No one, including the chairman, can stop the vote from proceeding. If Foy makes the motion at another meeting, he can argue that it must be voted on if it is seconded again.

Why would Dunston be adamantly opposed to having a vote on the Donnie Rudd scandal? Probably because it would put the Democratic commissioners on record voting for or against the county repaying the fees. And why would that be a big deal? Because Rudd may sing like a canary if the commissioners vote for those fees to be repaid.

After all, as reported in the December 28, 2000 Wake Weekly: In 1998, during the [commissioners] meeting in which he was fired, Rudd claimed some county commissioners and the wife of one knew about the fee he was taking.

And for some elected officials, current and former, if Rudd talks there's no telling what names he may implicate in the biggest tax fraud scandal in the county's history.

Grandstanding it's not. Covering up it is.

Note: Harry Foy was elected in 1990, Raymond Stone in 2002, Lynwood Buffaloe in 2004, Sid Dunston in 2004, Robert Lee Swanson from 1976 - 1980 and 1984 to present, Jimmie Gupton in 2002 and Don Lancaster in 2004. The terms are four years. Robert Lee Swanson is the only current Democratic commissioner who was in office when Rudd was the tax collector.