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Delta Visions
posted at 2007-05-11 02:45 | Last modified 2007-11-14 10:38
In Wednesday’s House Approps meeting, Forsyth Dem Earline Parmon attempted to earmark $250,000 of the $5,000,000 budgeted for the NC Community Development Initiative. Parmon wanted to set the money aside for Delta Visions, which she described as a group seeking to provide low and moderate income housing in a run-down neighborhood in Winston Salem.
Some lawmakers questioned the move. The intended source of the money, NCCDI, makes grants and loans for redevelopment projects all over the state. Leo Daughtry (R-Johnston), Alma Adams (D-Guilford), Marilyn Avila (R-Wake), Hugh Holliman (D-Davidson), and Larry Brown (R-Forsyth) all voiced concerns, saying Delta Visions shouldn’t get special funding outside the grant process.
Mary McAllister (D-Cumberland) and Larry Womble (D-Forsyth) spoke in favor of the amendment, but it still failed to pass. You can hear the debate on it here. It's a big file - 9 minutes - but interesting.
This isn’t the first time Parmon has asked for money for Delta Visions. Along with Womble, she introduced a bill this year seeking a $500,000 grant. In the 2005 session, Parmon and Womble sought $300,000 for the group. Neither proposal succeeded.
What is Delta Visions?
According to the group’s tax returns, Delta Visions provides low-cost housing services, apparently via housing units on a sizable patch of land it owns in Winston-Salem.
When I asked her about it, Parmon told me Delta Visions is a foundation started by members of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. The group apparently wants to build a convention center on its land, which is why Parmon and Womble are seeking sizable grants. Parmon says the group hasn’t had any luck with city funders.
Parmon’s connection
The president of Delta Visions, Doris Herrell, has been Parmon’s campaign treasurer for the past five years. In that capacity, Herrell has loaned Parmon's campaign more than $10,000 since 2002.
Parmon seems to have paid it back, mostly in late 2005 and early 2006. You can find her campaign records here. Hint: Search under both Herrell and Harrell - her name shows up both ways.
Doris Herrell didn’t respond to a request for comment. When I asked Parmon whether her ties to Herrell had anything to do with her repeated requests for money for Delta Visions, she said “Absolutely not.” (My short interview with her is here.)
That may be true – and it may be that nothing here is illegal or even technically unethical. (I don’t know, and the Ethics Commission staff hasn't called me back with an answer.) But either way, this probably isn’t the best year for lawmakers to try to steer state money to their associates, no matter how good the cause.
Comments? Drop me a line.
