When I reported for The News & Observer I wrote hundreds of stories about North Carolina state government shenanigans. Here’s how government works sometimes.
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Road graders manufactured by Huber Corp. met specifications and they were the low bid, but the N.C. Advisory Budget Commission voted 3-2 not to buy them.
Why?
You want the Commission’s reason or the real reason? How about both reasons.
The N.C. Department of Transportation already owned 800 road graders made by Galion Iron Works and Manufacturing Co. It didn’t want the Huber machines. The Galion was a good machine, and those highway boys wanted more of them.
The Highway Commission proposed splitting the award, half to General Machinery Co., representing Huber, and half to N.C. Equipment Co., representing Galion, but there were doubts about the legality of splitting the bid — Huber had won fair and square.
So how did the state get out of buying the Hubers when they met specs — Galion didn’t, by the way, not entirely — and Huber’s bid was the lowest?
Easy.
Wasn’t it true that the Galions bought by the state in prior years had not been delivered on time?
Yes, that was true. And those contracts contained no penalty for late delivery.
Did the current contract contain a penalty for late delivery?
No, it didn’t.
Well, there you go. Isn’t it about time the state began penalizing the winning bidder if it failed to deliver on time?
So that’s how they did it.
The state rejected all bids, put a penalty clause for late delivery in the contract, and rebid it. Nevermind that it was Galion that had failed to deliver on time.
And, yes, Galion won the rebid.
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OK, here’s one more.
The N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles sent a job applicant a form letter pointing out that he had two, five-year-old speeding convictions on his record and that “may be a negative” factor– some applicants have clean records.
The tone was, “Don’t call us, we’ll call you,” he told me, and they didn’t.
Three months later another man applied for the same type job at DMV. His driving record included four convictions for speeding; two for reckless driving; two for illegal passing; one for driving on the wrong side of the road; and one safe-movement violation and four driver license suspensions.
He got hired. His father was a Democratic county commission chairman and he had a recommendation from Gov. James B. Hunt’s Office.
When I asked the commissioner of motor vehicles why the fellow with a lousy driving record got hired while the one with two five-year-old convictions was not hired the commissioner looked at me like I had just arrived in Raleigh on a turnip truck.
This one had a sponsor, he said. That one didn’t.
Coming Monday: Dixie Dew
