Editorial: Golden LEAF Foundation should come under state ethics law

By: JournalNow Staff | Winston-Salem Journal
Published: January 19, 2012

Sometimes, you can follow the letter of the law and still look bad on the front page of the newspaper.

That's the case with Michael and Helen Ruth Almond, owners of Antaeus Consulting LLC of Alleghany County. Michael Almond is a member of the board that oversees the state's Golden LEAF Foundation, and Helen Ruth Arnold did considerable consulting work tied to grants won from the foundation.

Helen Ruth Arnold told the Journal's Monte Mitchell that she and her husband did nothing wrong, that they did everything "by the book." But the problem is "the book," the state law that governs situations such as that the Almonds found themselves in.

No one is saying that either person did anything illegal. But their consulting company has been paid more than $129,000 so far working on projects funded largely by Golden LEAF. In one case, the company wrote a successful grant application to Golden LEAF. Michael Almond, who has completed ethics training, did not vote on the awarding of the grants. He recused himself from consideration of them. There is no evidence that he even talked up the grants with his colleagues on the board. The law makes no other demands of him in this case, but it should.

The grants raise issues, as mentioned by sources in Mitchell's story, that the Almonds should have considered before they pursued the contracts. The contracts create the impression, even if nothing more, that the voting board members were taking care of one of their own, in short, that this is a place for patronage.

This situation would likely not have arisen at some other state agencies, those covered by the State Ethics Act. But the foundation has its own conflict-of-interest rules and it is not covered by the act, an omission the state auditor criticized in 2009.

Legislative Republicans have long criticized the foundation, sometimes for weak reasons. Now they can improve the foundation without destroying it. The legislature should push to have the foundation moved under the state ethics act to strengthen public confidence in the good work it does.