Senate Republican Leader
Senator Phil Berger
26th Senatorial District
Phone Number: (919) 733-5708
North Carolina Senate
Room 1026, Legislative Building
Raleigh, NC 27601 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
December 11, 2007

After nearly a year of speculation surrounding Democrat Representative Thomas Wright (District 18), a top lieutenant of former House Speaker Jim Black, a grand jury yesterday charged Wright with swindling hundreds of thousands of dollars out of banks, corporations and campaign contributors.  Black is serving a five-year federal prison sentence for corruption related convictions.  Wright now faces five felony charges of obtaining property by false pretenses together with one felony charge of obstruction of justice.  If convicted, he faces a maximum prison term of more than 10 years behind bars. 

The inquiry into Representative Wright’s handling of campaign and other funds began with a complaint filed with the State Board of Elections last year by Joe Sinsheimer.  Months later, with mounting pressure from the media and the public, Democrat House Speaker Joe Hackney finally asked Wright to step down, but Wright refused.  Representative Wright still holds office in the General Assembly.

Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) made the following statement:

“These charges against Representative Wright are not a surprise to anyone.  The State Board of Elections referred much of this information to the District Attorney’s office months ago.  This constitutes yet another blemish on the North Carolina General Assembly.  Perhaps the most distressing aspect is the failure of Democrats in North Carolina’s General Assembly to firmly and forcefully call for Representative Wright to resign from his office.  We saw with former Speaker Jim Black the very same reluctance by Democrats to stand with the people of North Carolina against corrupt politicians.  Those who say this event is less important because the conduct occurred in the past are unwilling to admit the depth of corruption tolerated by the Democrat majority during Jim Black’s tenure as House Speaker.  I call on every member of the General Assembly to demand that Representative Wright resign immediately.”

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