Lobbyists Indicted for Bourbon Trip Gifts to Lawmakers

0:00It's April 24. This is Durham News today, powered by AI. A Wake County grand jury just indicted four Raleigh lobbyists for dodging North Carolina's band on gifts to state lawmakers. Kevin Wilkinson, David Farrell, Douglas Bowen Heath, and Douglas Miskew, each guy hit with a misdemeanor charge for solicitation to break those rules. It all ties back to a bourbon tour in Kentucky last year, where they allegedly got their clients to foot the bill for lawmakers' travel, meals, and hotels. They routed the cash through Greater Carolina, a conservative nonprofit out of Moorsville. The group, linked to former Reb Jason Sain, who's now a lobbyist himself and ex-8 Clark Reemer, organized the trip. A couple lobbyists insist they broke no laws. Meanwhile, only Sain and send David Craven disclosed the trip on their economic interest forms, even though receipts show at least two more lawmakers. Craven says he went as Sain and Commerce Committee chair to study liquor sales in

1:00other states. North Carolina still runs its own, like 17 other. Spots. A left-leaning watchdog group, Carolina Forward, filed complaints sparking this probe. Ethics officials can't spill details yet, but any gift band issues go to the bipartisan legislative ethics committee for final calls on penalties. Lobbyists risk $5,000 fines, two-year lobbying bans, or worse from criminal charges. Lawmakers face no jail for taking gifts, but non-disclosure could mean misdemeanors or felonies, plus censure or expulsion. Out-of-state companies dodge charges, leaving their lobbyists in the hot seat while investigators keep digging into Greater Carolina beyond this. Trip. Places remind us ethics lines blur fast when money and bourbon mix in politics.