With only 8 months left (!) till the primary, it's scorched-earth time for Democratic gubernatorial contender Richard Moore, who's facing Bev Perdue for the '08 nomination. With friends like these, who needs the GOP? 

The background

Lieutenant Gov Bev Perdue's staffer Will Polk filed this complaint today with State Auditor Les Merritt, alleging that someone named Cliff Bennett used an IP address registered to State Treasurer Richard Moore's office to request financial disclosure and other records for Perdue.  The complaint wasn't about the request for records - it was about the use of state equipment for political purposes, which is specifically banned by state policy. 

Two very different responses

Moore's spokesperson Sara Lang sent out this response at 1:27pm:

Department of State Treasurer’s response to letter from Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue’s office to the State Auditor

“The Department of State Treasurer takes these allegations seriously and will look into them.  Political motivations are clearly the basis for these actions.”

Sara Lang
Communications Director 

Eight minutes later, part-time state employee/campaign worker Julie White sent this out for Moore campaign manager Jay Reiff:

Statement from Jay Reiff:

The Lt. Governor’s attack today is the height of hypocrisy and phoniness.  Everyone knows Beverly Perdue’s chief of staff has been running her unofficial gubernatorial campaign for the last two and a half years.  This is a political stunt designed to keep people from looking into the fact that he just now started working full-time for her campaign.  Additionally, Perdue’s campaign chair Robert Zaytoun, who is also a member of her Health and Wellness Trust Fund Commission, recently submitted multiple extensive records requests of the Department of State Treasurer. 

In an attached letter, we are asking the State Auditor to look into the use of state resources for political purposes out of the Lieutenant Governor’s Office.   Treasurer Moore will look into whether anyone in the Department of State Treasurer has used state resources inappropriately.  We call on the Lieutenant Governor to do the same thing.

The copy of Zaytoun's request is here.  I'm told he hasn't yet received the records he asked for two months ago.

But Reiff's counter-complaint to the Auditor is what's really over the top. Reiff accuses Perdue of using state personnel (including the Highway Patrol), equipment, facilities, and time to run her campaign.  His smoking gun?

Numerous political observers have maintained that "everyone knows she's running for governor" for years now.  Yet she just announced this week that she is opening an official campaign office. This begs the question of where her campign has been run, and who has been running it, in recent years.

I emailed and called Reiff to ask about grounds for his complaints.  Turns out Reiff's out of his office till Sept. 27th.  His message refers callers to another staffer, Eric Fletcher, who was apparently unaware he was on the hook for this one.  Fletcher promised he'd get someone to call back, but no one ever did.

Who's Cliff Bennett?

Back at the ranch, we reporters were scrambling to figure out who the heck Cliff Bennett might be.  (According to ZoomInfo, he's a graphics designer for a used car publication in MI, which made zero sense in this context.)

Leafing through the original complaint from Polk, I ran across a familiar name at the bottom of the email in question - Sara Y Lang.  She forwarded an N&O story to "Cliff Bennett," who included the forwarded article in a request for records on Perdue.  (If you want to see it yourself, here's the complaint - check pages 12, 14, 15, and 17.)

The address Lang used to forward the article was a personal address (AOL). So I wondered whether maybe Lang knew Bennett.

From: Laura Leslie
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 1:38 PM
To: Sara Lang
Subject: Re: Statement from Department of State Treasurer

Hi, Sara.  I noticed that Bennett appears to have received the N&O article via email from Sara Y. Lang, yawnsara(at)aol.com  - is that you?  If  so, do you know Bennett? 

Thanks,
Laura

Lang's only response:

We are looking into it.

Sara Y. Lang
Communications Director
Department of the State Treasurer

With all due respect, what sort of "looking into" does this require?  Either it is her email address, or it isn't - in which case, there's another Sara Y. Lang out there who knows "Cliff Bennett" (see below) and is involved in NC politics.  Possible, I guess, but a bit of a stretch.

The punchline

Over at Dome, Ryan Teague Beckwith figured out that Cliff Bennett of St. Clair, MI, is the brother-in-law of Julie White...you know, the part-time Moore staffer who sent out Reiff's accusation that Perdue is using state equipment for her campaign. Pot, meet kettle. 

After that, it didn't take long.  At 5:54pm, Moore Chief of Staff Stacey Phipps sent out this message:

“It was brought to my attention this afternoon that Julie White, an employee of our Department, sent public records requests using a private email account from a state computer under the name of one of her relatives.  To our knowledge, no laws were broken.  However, Ms. White has violated departmental policies.  Appropriate disciplinary action will be taken.”

Stacey Phipps
Chief of Staff
Department of State Treasurer

Apparently, it isn't technically illegal to assume a false identity for political gain.  

It ain't over...

• According to Dome, Perdue spokesman Tim Crowley doesn't believe the issue started and ended with Julie White.  (Given Lang's appearance in the complaint, I'm inclined to agree.)

• Perdue's campaign spokesman David Kochman says Reiff's counter-complaint is a distraction technique: "It simply isn't true."

• Neither Jay Reiff nor anyone else from Moore's campaign has responded to multiple requests for comment.

• The Office of (Republican) State Auditor Les Merritt isn't commenting on either complaint or any pursuant investigation.  (But I'd imagine they're laughing their posteriors off at the prospect of refereeing a feud between the two top Dems.)

Comments?  Drop me a line.