FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, February 20, 2020
CONTACT: Liz Doherty
News & Observer: Dan Forest “Fits The Bill” for “Public Official C” in Greg Lindberg Case Filings
RALEIGH — In the latest News & Observer Domecast podcast, a reporter panel featuring the “Under The Dome” politics team, including Dawn Vaughan, Danielle Battaglia, Colin Campbell and Will Doran, digs deeper into new filings in the Greg Lindberg bribery trial to answer the question on many folks’ minds: Who is Public Official C? Their answer? Dan Forest “fits the bill.”
According to new filings in the Lindberg case, on May 16, 2018, Lindberg associate John Gray told NC Commissioner Causey that Lindberg had helped “Public Official C” “avoid a primary by contributing large sums to his re-election even though it was scheduled for 2020.”
To recap, Lindberg is Forest’s biggest donor. He gave $2 million in contributions to committees that support Forest within the span of three days in December 2017 — at the same time he was trying to buy off Mike Causey:
- Lindberg gave $1 million to Dan Forest’s Truth and Prosperity PAC.
- He also gave $1.4 million to another PAC that supports Forest.
- Plus, Lindberg associates shelled out nearly $50,000 to Forest’s campaign committee.
On January 25th, 2018, Forest’s campaign touted raising over $2.4 million through multiple campaign committees bankrolled by Lindberg and his associates over a year before he announced his official run for governor.
Here’s the exchange:
4:22: “He [Lindberg] popped up, largely with connections to Dan Forest, who is possibly mentioned in the court documents. So, there’s 3 public officials, A, B, and C. And we know that A is Mark Walker.”
4:39: “There’s not a lot to go off of B. I mean, there was a section about B, but I don’t remember any huge facts that stick out that say ‘This is so and so.’ I have speculations…”
4:48: “The sort of key factors was the transcript that suggested that the person referred to as C was someone who was not up for election in 2018, which would basically knock out all the members of Congress, members of the legislature, who were getting Lindberg money. It’d have to be somebody who was not up for election, was essentially trying to show financial strength so that primary challengers might be less likely to go after him. So it fits the bill of Lt. Gov Dan Forest.”
More on the Domecast podcast: “The Under the Dome team at The News & Observer present the Domecast, your source for reviews and previews of topics in state government and politics for North Carolina.” Listen to the full Lindberg episode here: Domecast No. 195: The Lindberg Case.
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