Former state auditor Les Merritt, who served from 2004 to 2008, criticizes the state Ethics Commission in an opinion piece in the Fayetteville Observer. The Republican says "the eight commissioners who are expected to serve the public as an effective regulatory and watchdog entity have been silent in the face of the state's continuing ethics crisis."
J. Andrew Curliss covered state and local politics and government for The News & Observer for more than a decade before joining the investigative team in December 2008.
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