It's time NC House District 6 Candidate Arthur Williams came clean and explained how he got out of Coeur Inc. | Eastern North Carolina Now

   Publisher's note: Our policy, at BCN, is to publish all well presented articles, including press releases.

    As is also our policy, we will allow Candidate Williams all the space he needs - at no charge - to answer any allegations perceived, or otherwise.

    Press release by Candidate Lawson:

    Being an elected representative in the General Assembly carries with it a high level of public trust. Mr. Williams needs to explain this situation if he expects the people of the Sixth House District to trust him in his current bid for election to public office.

   Here is what he needs to explain, at least:

    1. Did his selling of his interest in Lail & Williams Properties, LLC to the Beaufort County Committee of 100 have anything to do with any kind of government funding of Coeur?

    2. Could the triangular deal between him (and his partner Jack Lail), the Committee of 100, and Coeur, Inc. have been completed without government money?

    3. To save a lot of questions here, would you be willing, Mr. Williams, to fully and openly disclose all of the paperwork on any deals that involved government money, either directly or indirectly?

   Here are the facts we know from public records:

    1. On August 11, 2004, while serving in the N. C. General Assembly, Arthur Williams (along with his partner Jack Lail) sold their interest in property described in a deed recorded at BK 1416 PG 948 to the Beaufort County Committee of 100; and

    2. The property owned by Lail and Williams, as partners in W&L Properties, was acquired by another LLC incorporated as Lail & Williams, LLC on September 25, 2000; and

    3. This property on Creekside Dr. was then leased to Coeur, Inc. by the Committee of 100.

    4. The Committee of 100 took out a mortgage with Wachovia Bank using the property as collateral. This mortgage was apparently satisfied on November 23, 2005 as recorded in BK 1490 PG 321.

    5. In July, 2004, less than a month before Williams sold his interest in the property to the Committee of 100, the Committee of 100 received a grant from the One NC Fund for $200,000 for the purpose of supporting a "job creation grant" to Coeur, Inc.

    6. Media reports, based on announcements made by the Committee of 100, indicate that "other agencies in addition to One NC Fund would contribute to the Committee of 100 for the purpose of borrowing $1.4 million to buy the building from the previous owners (Lail and Williams) who were leasing it to Coeur, Inc." at the time and had been leasing it for some time.

    Thus, the underlying question is: Did grants from the State of North Carolina and other agencies connected to the State and/or state funding play any role in the selling of his interest in Lail & Williams, LLC to the Committee of 100, the recipients of such grants? And the corollary question becomes: Will Mr. Williams be willing to disclose all of the records, including ethics disclosures, related to this transaction for public inspection?
Candidate Mattie Lawson, showing up, speaking to interested voters: Above.    photo by Stan Deatherage