THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 18, 1995 TAG: 9503180234
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEW BERN LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
The Marine Fisheries Commission voted to delay action on funding its first fisheries grants on Friday after a key coastal legislator told the Marine Fisheries Commission that the General Assembly would be watching the panel's actions.
Rather than authorize funding for any of the 41 fisheries grants recommended by a grant selection committee, the commission voted to meet next week to review those applications and any other proposals members want to reconsider.
``Based on all the discussion that's gone on, I feel like we've got to go the extra mile,'' said commission member Jerry Hardesty of Clemmons during the panel's debate.
And the commission agreed to ask its long-range planning committee to develop a written ethics policy to guide members who may be faced with conflict-of-interest questions.
Commission Chairman Robert V. Lucas said the panel's actions are an effective response to questions raised recently about the integrity of the new fisheries grant program and the handling of it.
``I definitely think we restored any loss of credibility from the public's viewpoint,'' he said in an interview after the meeting. ``I think there were a number of facts that came out about the process during the debate that answered a lot of the questions.''
And he said that delaying the commission's vote on the grants to allow a more thorough review of the proposals was an appropriate step for the panel.
The program has been the subject of controversy for two weeks. During a two-day meeting earlier this month in Morehead City, the committee culled from a list of nearly 145 applications for research projects - totaling more than $8.6 million - 41 projects totaling $959,561.
Three of the 41 grants for funding by the fisheries commission were to go to members of the grant selection committee or their family members, or to businesses with ties to committee members.
But Lucas said the grant selection committee was not charged with dealing with the issue of conflict of interest, just the technical merits of the applications.
``That was the job of that committee,'' he said. ``And that committee did that job.''
But Sen. Beverly Perdue, a Craven County Democrat, told the commission that publicity surrounding these questions had jeopardized funding of all state fisheries programs because legislators were aware of the complaints leveled against the panel over its handling of the grants.
``Y'all have got a real problem at hand,'' she told the commission. ``Clean it up today. Make it look do-able to the people in this state.'' by CNB