Who Reviewed the Randy Rogers Alleged Stolen Documents?

Who Reviewed the Randy Rogers Alleged Stolen Documents?

Vice Chairman Gary A. House

Harnett County Board of Commissioners

            First of all Randy Rogers is no thief.  Randy Rogers is a whistle blower.  I know of no documents that he stole from Harnett County and I do not believe he stole any documents period.  Yes, he did copy public documents.  Many of the documents that he obtained came from the internet and from visits to other federal and state agencies, some of which I accompanied him.

            Some of the information that he obtained involved other elected officials.  So it was obvious that I could not bring it to the Harnett County Board of Commissioners.  I trusted Commissioner Jim Burgin and I went to him first.  Commissioner Burgin met with me and Mr. Rogers and looked at many of the copies of documents.  Commissioner Burgin was always kept in the loop and knew as soon as I knew of any information that was found to be out of line.

            The next place I went was to our attorney of the Board of Commissioners.  I was told that he worked for the majority of the board.  So I did not reveal any findings to him and went on my way.

            The next place I went was to the in-house attorney.  I was told that she worked for the county manager.  So I again did not reveal any findings to her and went on my way.

            I then had Mr. Rogers go to the in-house attorney and show her some of the information with which he had issues.  To the best of my recollection, he made two trips to see her with no concern being showed.

            I then had him visit the in-house county engineer.  The in-house engineer listened intently and told Mr. Rogers to sit there and said she was going to get County Manager Scott Sauer.  Mr. Rogers objected.  The engineer told him not to worry that Mr. Sauer would back them up.  According to Mr. Rogers, Mr. Sauer listened and realized there were issues and he would get to the bottom of it.  Nothing ever happened nor was it mentioned again.

            Once I realized that I was not going to get anywhere going through county channels, I began looking in other places. 

            I chose to contact State Representative David Lewis for guidance, who I considered the patriarch of the Harnett County Republican Party.  Representative Lewis invited me, Commissioner Burgin and Mr. Rogers over to his house to meet with an attorney friend of his.

            We sat around Representative Lewis’ dining room table for two hours listening to Mr. Rogers and looking at copies of documents that he brought with him.

Representative Lewis even called the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and had two agents meet with Mr. Rogers and me.  It was quite obvious that the agents had no knowledge of public utilities.  It took me hundreds of hours to wrap myself around some of the complex issues.  After they left my office, I know they made a few inquiries to the county but I have no idea what they asked or what they were told. 

            I then turned to former State Auditor Les Merritt and former FBI agent Frank Perry of the NC Foundation for Public Ethics.  Mr. Rogers and I met with them several times.  Commissioner Burgin accompanied us on at least one occasion. 

           

Mr. Rogers and I were told point blank that we had the best documented case of public corruption that they had ever seen in North Carolina.

I began taking packets of information provided to me by Mr. Rogers to Mr. Sauer who always brought our in-house engineer into the room.  Mr. Rogers also provided the same information to Commissioner Burgin.  It was obvious that the information was over Mr. Sauer’s head but the in-house engineer understood.  I am quite sure of that.  Her mouth would often be hung open and she once said that this information made sense of the puzzle she had been trying to put together.

Upon Mr. Rogers termination from the county, Ricky Temple, a now former employer of Harnett County Public Utilities who revealed Mr. Rogers identity, realized that Mr. Rogers was correct in his assertions about public utilities and joined him in a whistleblower suit against the county.  Yes, the one who told that Mr. Rogers was the whistleblower later joined him.

In recap, the ones who reviewed the copies of documents that Randy Rogers, the whistleblower, provided were County Manager Scott Sauer, in-house engineer, in-house attorney, Commissioner Burgin, Ricky Temple, former State Auditor Less Merritt, former FBI agent Frank Perry, Representative David Lewis, the SBI, the agencies that Mr. Rogers mailed the information to and me.

With no reference book on how to be a whistle blower, Mr. Rogers went through all reasonable steps to bring attention to wrongdoing in Harnett County.

I know, without a doubt, that Mr. Rogers speaks the truth.

It is a shame with the way the county has crucified him that there will never be another whistle blower in Harnett County.