Appeals court decision may end slush funds for governor, executive branch | Regional carolinacoastonline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from carolinacoastonline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The N.C. attorney general can’t keep and distribute money from a settlement over hog waste that leaked and overflowed from lagoons.
A split 2-1 panel of the N.C. Court of Appeals, in an opinion issued Tuesday, Dec. 15, ruled money resulting from a settlement between Smithfield Foods and the N.C. attorney general must flow into the state treasury.
The ruling effectively ends the attorney general’s hog settlement “slush fund,” says Mitch Kokai, senior political analyst for the John Locke Foundation. It could also end any similar deals in the future involving officials in the state’s executive branch.