News 14 Carolina - Political Connections

George Tatum is out at the DMV...we're still waiting to get any reaction beyond the confirmation that it has happened. The spokespeople at DMV and DOT are quiet and say all the "officials" are unavailable.

Here's what our friends at the AP are saying..

"Division of Motor Vehicles Commissioner
George Tatum has resigned amid allegations he sought special
treatment for a friend to get a vintage title for a replica truck.
A Department of Transportation spokesman confirmed Tatum's
departure but gave no further details, calling it a personnel
matter.
A D-O-T spokesman says Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett is
also unavailable.
D-M-V records show that Tatum's administrative assistant sent an
e-mail to staff indicating that Tatum's friend, Robert Kinlaw of
Fayetteville, needed help getting a title for a 1937 Ford truck.
Tatum denies helping Kinlaw get the vintage title, which saves
the owner hundreds of dollars in taxes and makes the car more
valuable.
Kinlaw was denied an antique title after his truck was inspected
in Nash County, but he later received a title after taking the
truck to a Fayetteville inspector.
The S-B-I is already looking into the case at Tippett's request."


Here's an interesting fact I looked at today for my story on the state of lobbying in North Carolina. According to the Secretary of State's office there are 827 lobbyists registered in North Carolina. There are 170 lawmakers. I'm no math major but my calculations put that at nearly 4.9 lobbyists for every lawmaker. There's a joke in there about the .9 lobbyist right? Okay roughly 5 lobbyists per lawmaker.

Can you say competition for their time!