Press Release

Rep. Tillis to File Ethics Complaint

For Immediate Release:  February 13, 2010
Contact: Thom Tillis at, 704-248-2980

Senator Rand's misuse of the "technical corrections" process constitutes a serious breach of trust and ethics

Representative Thom Tillis announced his plans today to file an ethics complaint with the North Carolina State Ethics Commission in connection with House Bill 836 (Technical Corrections) and potential misconduct with respect to passing this legislation.

Tillis said, "Legislators were misled and, as a result, a bill that should have been nothing more than 'crossing T's and dotting i's' contained a measure that will have a profound impact on the Department of Corrections.  Whether you agree with the final result or not, former Senator Rand's misuse of the technical corrections process and the willful involvement of any other member constitutes a serious breach of the spirit if not the letter of our rules.  Consequently, I believe it may require outside investigation by the State Ethics Commission or at least a review by our Legislative Ethics Committee."

When asked if his reasons for moving forward with the complaint were politically motivated, Tillis said "The bill was provided to us in the final hours of the 2009 session and we were provided no time to research it.  We have the recorded comments of the House Appropriations Chairman on the House floor assuring all members that this was a purely technical bill (CLICK this link to listen), and we have the transcripts of House Republicans who made inquiries about the bill (CLICK this link to view the transcript).  We were assured that this was purely a bill with technical corrections, which means something to the members.  It should mean that they are simply adjusting wording or numbering to improve the technical aspects of the legislation.  What we now know is that the bill contained provisions that reversed material legislation previously passed by the General Assembly, and it will have a significant fiscal impact on the Department of Corrections (CLICK here to view the NC State Auditor's report).  Either Rep. Michaux misled us or someone misled him.  This appears to be a gross abuse of the technical corrections process at best and a violation of General Assembly rules and/or ethical standards at worst.

House Bill 836 is not new to Representative Tillis.  The original version of the bill was filed by him, but as introduced, it was a bill seeking to increase penalties for tampering with or destroying electronic tracking devices for persons on probation or on bail (CLICK this link to see the bill as filed).  According to House and Senate rules, the leadership can "gut" bills and use them for other purposes.  In a press conference today, Tillis said "It is an interesting coincidence that the democrats used one of the leaders of the Republican Caucus' bills.  The democratic leadership had dozens of bills to choose from to run the technical corrections amendments so it is interesting that they randomly chose a bill originally filed by one of the most outspoken opponents to the budget and the tax increases.  It may have been a humorous gesture on someone's part but it brought the bill to my attention."

Tillis went on to explain that "I have the distinction of being the only member in this session who voted against his or her own bill.  When they gutted my bill and used it for this purpose, I voted against it."

Tillis will travel to Raleigh on Tuesday and he plans to meet with leaders in the General Assembly and other government officials prior to filing the complaint.  Tillis says, "I am going to Raleigh to give officials an opportunity to convince me that I should not file a complaint, but I have to say the case for filing a complaint is strong in my mind."