Wasteful County Spending and Lawsuits
Gary A. House

Many of you have asked why Harnett County is spending so much money on a lawsuit that it will not be likely to recover anything.  So far, the County has spent around $250,000 of your money claiming that former employee Randy Rogers and I, a commissioner, stole public documents and sabotaged a $42 million project.    The NC Attorney General  has looked at this case and found nothing to be stolen.  As far as the $42 million project, it was in my district and if you check the voting record, you will see that I voted for this project and promoted this project. Yet, the county continues to pursue these ludicrous claims.

The facts are that Randy Rogers is a whistle blower that no one other than me and Jim Burgin would listen to him.  I have endured two lawsuits that were brought by a rogue county manager without authority and a former fellow commissioner that were intended to make me resign.  Resignation is out of the question.  I will not turn my back on the taxpayers who have elected me and I will continue to fight wasteful spending and wrongdoing.

Why would such ridiculous lawsuits be brought against me?  I believe that the powers to be believed that I have knowledge of wrongdoing and exposure was unavoidable.  The lawsuits were intended to keep me quiet and to ruin my credibility.

I have proven to our current county manager that some of the information that is claimed to be stolen is currently being used by current employees.  Why does the current manager not put a stop to this frivolous lawsuit that he knows contains false information?  I have no idea other than he is being directed by someone that is in the background that will not reveal themselves at a public meeting.  Do county attorneys wield this much power? I certainly hope not.

I do know that I cannot obtain information from the county and I cannot get my questions answered.  So much for open government and no back room dealing.  I had the same issue with the former county manager.

Why does the county not pursue legal action against those who pushed for a lawsuit with false claims thus wasting the county's money and resources?

I wish that I could answer that question.  I do know that pressure is being put on me to sign statements that are not true.  I will not sign any statement that is not truthful to get myself out of a frivolous lawsuit brought against me by a body that I am 20% of.  How can I be a plaintiff and defendant in the same lawsuit?

No one will answer that question.  And yes, I know that sounds crazy because it is.

It appears that this lawsuit will continue and the county will continue to spend your money until I can convince a whistle-blower, Randy Rogers, to turn his back on the very issues he was attempting to blow the whistle on.  Mr. Rogers is his own man.  I do not have that power over him.  I know there is validity to his claims.  I believe the county knows it too.

Why they will not listen is beyond my ability to understand.