EDITORIAL: Bribery case should drive campaign reform

April 04-- Apr. 4--What to call it? Shocking? Astonishing? Alarming? Devastating?

Yes, all of the above. And more.

The charges revealed this week against the chairman of the state Republican Party, the state's most generous political donor and two of his top lieutenants are a breathtaking leap into a situation we'd expect could only exist in an author's fertile imagination. Yet now we have, yet again, learned the truth of the ancient aphorism that truth is stranger than fiction.

Or at least it appears we have. Indictments aren't convictions and the four men charged will remain innocent until proven guilty in court of law.

Yet the federal indictments unveiled Tuesday contain considerable detail, some of it from surreptitious recordings of telephone or in-person conversations involving the people who were indicted and state Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey, who appears to be the target of a bribery attempt.

The man at the center of the scandal is insurance magnate Greg Lindberg, who arrived on the political scene just two years ago, making large contributions to Democratic and Republican politicians. The largest donations -- he gave more than $5 million in all -- went to Republicans, the party that presides over most state business these days, although its grip was loosened in the 2018 elections.

Federal prosecutors say Lindberg tried to funnel as much as $2 million to Causey, in return for replacing a key state regulator who was investigating Lindberg's insurance business, or at least putting one of Lindberg's top executives in charge of the investigator. Federal prosecutors say state GOP Chairman Robin Hayes agreed to funnel Lindberg's contributions through the party to Causey's campaign.

Causey, also a Republican, appears to have sought out federal law enforcement officials after he was offered the deal. He recorded conversations with the defendants and he turned over $250,000 in campaign donations from the state GOP to U.S. marshals. He also returned a $5,000 direct donation from Lindberg. "Everything I did was in cooperation and with direction of the federal investigators," Causey told The Associated Press Tuesday.

Hayes, Lindberg and two of Lindberg's associates -- John Gray and John Palermo -- were charged with conspiracy and bribery. Hayes is also charged with lying to the FBI agents investigating the case. They appeared Tuesday before a federal magistrate in Charlotte.

The 73-year-old Hayes had announced Monday that he wouldn't seek another term as leader of the state GOP. He attributed his decision to health problems. Hayes represented North Carolina's 8th Congressional District -- which included part of Fayetteville as well as Fort Bragg -- for five terms before losing the seat in the 2008 elections. He was a competent congressman who did a good job looking out for his district and for Fort Bragg.

We're troubled to see such a sordid saga unfolding in North Carolina politics and we hope the charges and evidence will be aired quickly in the federal courts. This has given the state GOP another grievous injury, coming right on the heels of the ballot-tampering charges that have left the 9th Congressional District without representation until new elections are completed later this year.

More important, it is a dramatic reminder of how big money is corrupting politics. Wealthy donors like Lindberg seldom make such lavish contributions for purely altruistic reasons. Big donors expect something in return, beginning with access, and often a lot more than that. If these allegations are upheld in court, this may be the biggest bribery scheme we've seen in North Carolina politics.

We'll likely learn a great deal more about the case in the months to come, but we already have sufficient evidence to know that campaign finance reform is essential. Given what we've already learned about this case, we have little doubt that the political money game is even more out of control than we knew. It's got to be reined in -- promptly.

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