The N&O reports today that M. Scott Edwards, a Murfreesboro optometrist and political crony of former House Speaker, Jim Black, will go on trial today for perjury in Wake County.
Edwards is accused of lying on four campaign finance reports in 2002 and 2003 as treasurer of the North Carolina State Optometric Society Political Action Committee.
The charges stem from evidence presented almost one year ago at the State Board of Elections in which individual optometrists testified they had sent checks with blank payee lines to the political action committee, run by Edwards.
According to evidence at the hearing, the payee lines were filled in later on at least $14,000 in checks, which went to individual candidates, including Black, a Charlotte-area optometrist.
The elections board said the procedure allowed the political group to get around campaign donation limits.
According to his attorney, he plans to proclaim his innocence: Edwards made mistakes in reporting "but it was not his intention to deceive or defraud, and it wasn't his intention to make false statements about important information."
Yawn. I've heard that one before. It's called the "unintentional oversight" defense.
Prosecutors are making the same argument against Edwards that I've made for over three years against Randolph Hospital executives Robert Morrison and Steven Eblin: The indictments alleged that Edwards knew that "the information provided in the report was untrue and the omissions and inaccuracies were material."
Just like when Morrison and Eblin, as "non-profit" executives, repeatedly and knowlingly LIED under Oath about the "confidenitality" of financial records that were (IN FACT) public record and actually posted on the Internet (on www.Guidestar.com) . . . not to mention VERY "MATERIAL" to my damages claim. Just like they failed to provide the information (or how/where to get it) after a judge ordered them to cough it up.
You see, they did not intend for their lies to screw me at settlement . . . and save them hundreds of thousands of dollars (that I would have used to rebuild the practice they absorbed/destroyed). That was not their intention at all.
Let's review where I've gotten with my perjury complaint:
The NC State Bar says the state of North Carolina won't hold hospital lawyers accountable for filing the false answers on behalf of their clients (even though the lawyers are supposedly "experts" on "non-profits and it was their job to know better). Likewise the Bar won't hold my attorney accountable for his gross negligence in his fiduciary obligations to me . . . by failing to catch the "unintentional oversight" (and lying to me about punitive damages not being taxable).
Just like the state of North Carolina won't do a ^%$# thing to sanction a "non-profit" hospital that pulls these kinds of stunts. Just like North Carolina will do NOTHING about the local District Attorney (Garland Yates) simply refusing to do his job . . . burying the case rather than sending it to the Attorney General for a proper investigation.
Just like the NC Medical Board will not protect or defend the duties it requires . . . and is quite content to leave doctors hanging in the middle of ethical quandaries and bad situations.
You see, Randolph Hospital is an important economic lynchpin of the community. It therefore cannot be held to the same standards of law and order as the rest of us. Likewise, our local
"non-profit" hospital cannot stand the "embarrassing" scrutiny that this case will present for the Board of Directors and senior medical staff . . . who both actively and passively allowed executives to wage their vendettas unchecked. You see, the people I accuse are very important people . . . very big fish in this small town pond. They do not have to obey the same laws the rest of us do.
And I am a nobody.
Herein lies the lesson: Justice in North Carolina is ONLY for those who have the right last name/know the right people . . . or have all the money (or access to the public's) . . . or to serve a political end.
Oh, and the local press is a JOKE. The Courier's publisher is in bed with Bob and Steve, and the Greensboro N&R can't see past "Black and White".
Moral of the story: In North Carolina, it's more important for doctors and lawyers to be "collegial" than honest. And in that equation, patients & taxpayers come in a distant second.
My life in my hometown was destroyed by these people . . . who lied and cheated and stole . . . who abused the public's trust . . . who got rich on the public's dime . . . and I'm not supposed to be nail-spitting mad about any of it.
I'm supposed to "just go away".
Late Evening Addendum: This morning I sent an e-mail request directly to Robert Morrison, asking for copies of last year's IRS 990 returns for both RMA and Randolph Hospital as soon as they become available. In stark contrast to Mr. Morrison's obfuscative behavior during litigation & settlement negotiation, he provided a sussinct, same day response: "OK".
Why was it so hard before?
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