Jeff Moore
Carolina Journal
According to a letter released by NC House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, sent to CEO of state funded NCInnovation (NCI), the organization has threatened legal action against a House staffer, and House leadership is quite upset about it.
As previously reported by Carolina Journal, the board of directors of NCI — a private nonprofit given $500 million in taxpayer funds to facilitate the commercialization of public university research — voted to form a “Special Litigation Committee” (SLC) in order to pursue legal action against individual directors and outside third parties for perceived harassment or harm.
On Dec.12, NCI counsel sent a letter to Chairman Harry Warren and Chairman Jake Johnson of the House Oversight and Reform Committee in which they named House Staff Director Joe Coletti as a target in an investigation by the SLC for “serious claims resulting in financial and repetitional harm.”
At issue is material posted to the House Oversight and Reform Committee (Committee) webpage in which possible discrepancies between NCI actions and statutory requirements were highlighted. Carolina Journal republished the House Oversight note in covering NCI’s first audit report submission to the Committee.
In the letter, Moore aggressively rebukes NCI for threatening staffers and emphasizes the organization’s reliance on public taxpayer funds, as well as the oversight strings attached to such funds.
“Unfortunately, this is not the first threatening letter your organization has directed at Mr. Coletti, despite the fact that his actions are carried out under the direction of House Leadership,” writes Moore in the letter. “Given the numerous accusations in these letters, it is unclear why NCInnovation directors are ‘investigating’ Mr. Coletti for ‘reputational harm’ when your organization appears determined to inflict this harm on him instead.”
Moore goes on to describe NCI’s “thinly veiled threats” as a “troubling pattern of behavior” before further expressing concern that state taxpayer dollars may be funding a portion of such activity; activity that has nothing to do with the stated mission of NCI.
“Although most of your staff’s salaries appear to be privately funded, your counsel acknowledged in the letter that some state dollars are allocated to salaries,” writes Moore. “You and your staff have provided periodic explanations of annual salaries, as required by state law. At no point was it indicated that state funds were being used.”
Resulting from last minute budget negotiations in 2023, lawmakers awarded half a billion dollars to the private entity to fund an endowment, the returns from which would finance NCI grants to university researchers. The public money came with a bevy of conditions, however, one being a requirement to raise $25 million in private capital to fund operations.
NCI maintains they are in compliance with such requirements. According to the letter, the Speaker’s office is concerned about the potential that even a small portions of state funds are being used to legally threaten House staffers performing oversight functions; which Moore describes as a “waste of time and resources” considering the significant disaster funding needs in the wake of Hurricane Helene.
Within the context of NCI’s $500 million haul funded by North Carolina taxpayers, and in addition to the need for Hurricane Helene relief funds, the letter points out that the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency could still need another $200 million or more to finish recovery efforts related to Hurricane Matthew (2016) and Hurricane Florence (2018).
The letter’s close is direct in reiterating the privileged position NCI is in related to state funding priorities (emphasis added):
Furthermore, the engagement of NCiInnovation staff and directors in these political games is a stark departure from NCInnovation’s mission. When the General Assembly appropriated $500 million to NCInnovation in 2023, it did so with the intention that NCInnovation would “promote the welfare of the people of the State and [] maximize the economic growth in the State.” We did not intend or anticipate condescending letters and threats of litigation against legislative staff or our appointees to the Board — particularly at a time when NCInnovation’s sizable appropriation could be utilized elsewhere.Going forward, we expect your organization to cease this petty sniping and instead focus on the mission for which NCInnovation was established and funded. If this type of action continues, I suspect, from what I am being told, that the next General Assembly will reconsider whether NCInnovation should continue to receive state funding.Speaker Moore letter to NCInnovation, Dec. 18, 2024
Moore, the longest serving House Speaker in the state’s history, was elected to Congress last month to represent North Carolina’s 14th Congressional District in Washington, DC, and thus will not be a part of of the next General Assembly in Raleigh for the first time in decades.
The letter copies, however, his successor, Speaker-designate Destin Hall, R-Lenoir, who is from the western part of the state; as well as Speaker Pro Tempore-designate Mitchell Setzer, R-Catawba; Majority Leader John Bell, R-Wayne; Majority Leader-elect Brenden Jones, R-Columbus; and House Oversight Committee co-chairs Reps. Harry Warren, R-Rowan, and Jake Johnson, R-Polk.
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