Charlotte's Web ends; NC Auditor's report on hurricane recovery (11-20-2025--Hour2)

What's going on. Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to dpetecleanershow dot com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button. Get every episode for free right to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support. All right, so let me start with this. This is about the customs and border protection operation that was running in Charlotte for the past what five days? Six days? Now it has apparently concluded, and apparently they told the local Democrat leaders that they have concluded, and the Democrat leaders promptly rushed out to tell everybody, good, dear God, we're all going to be stronger together now. But yesterday I missed this yesterday, Otherwise I would have brought it to your attention, but I saw it now, so I'm going to tell you about it now. And it is a statement from a North Carolina Supreme Court judge. See if you can take a guess who this judge might be statement, this is not who we are as a nation, and it's not who we are as North Carolinians. I cannot be silent while the constitutional rights of our neighbors are being violated right here in North Carolina. Across the state, we are seeing reports a federal agents stopping and seizing lawful residents and immigrants with no criminal records, causing many North Carolinians to be fearful of leaving their homes, going to work, sending their children to school, shopping for food, or getting medical attention. We need strong public safety measures, but this is not law enforcement intended to protect the public. Indeed, it is making the public Let's safe in part because it has resulted in abandoning the effort to stop serious crimes. That's just stupid anyway, These agents are being pulled off cases investigating sex trafficking, child abuse, and terrorism. This type of political stunt further eroads the public's trust in the already broken justice system. Remember this is a sitting judge. They actually have a code of conduct. I just point that out. You're not supposed to trash talk the justice system. But this judge does have a history. Oh that's a hint. Does have a history of doing that The willingness of this administration to abandon the prosecution of serious crimes simply in service of political theater and to scapegoat immigrants is appalling. This is not who we are as a nation, and it's not who we are as North Carolinians. Okay, did you figure out who it is yet, Nita Earles. That's right, the left wing activist lawyer turned Supreme Court judge Earls, who is up for reelection next year. So keep that in mind. Now. I mentioned that the Border Patrol is rolling up its operation. We got a statement from Mecklinberg County Sheriff Gary not my fault McFadden, who announced that the federal officials have confirmed with him that the Operation Charlotte's Webs officially concluded. As a result, there will be no CBP operations in Charlotte on Thursday, November twentieth. It is important to clarify that while the Charlotte's Web operation has ended, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE, will continue to operate in Mecklinberg County as they always have. ICE maintains full authority to detain, apprehend, and take into custody any undocumented immigrant in accordance with federal law. As a reminder, the Mecklumberg County Sheriff's Office will not engage in any enforcement actions regarding immigration with ICE. We will continue to follow the law as it relates to House Built three eighteen and release those in our custody to ICE within the forty eight hour time period, right because we had to pass a law to make you do that. Now he wants credit for following this law that he opposed, by the way, and then he says they give a quote from McFadden. We will continue to build relationships, mend bridges, and listen to the voices of everyone in our community, well not everyone, as we move forward. I want the City of Charlotte to know I will keep fighting for clarity, accountability, and trust. I will continue to protect this city and every single one of its citizens. Oh my gosh, there's here's a suggestion then, like I don't know, maybe keep people from killing themselves in the jails, keep people from overdosing in the jails like that, that would like you have direct control over that. I don't know how you think that you're going to continue to protect the city and every single one of its citizens like this? That is a delusion of grandeur. Okay, you cannot do that. Law enforcement is reactionary. Okay, you don't know when a crime is going to occur. You're you're responding to the crime. And Mecklimber County isn't even a responding agency like that. The sheriff's deputies, they do the courthouse security, they do the jail. They're not They're not running around doing sting operations, you know anyway? And then what was the other one I had here? From thank you? The City of Charlotte statement from the mayor Viaisles. It appears that US Border Patrol has ceased its operations in Charlotte. I'm relieved for our community and the residents, businesses, and all those who were targeted and impacted by this intrusion. See again, like I would love a reporter to ask any of these Democrat officials that are making these statements now, are there any other laws that we should not be enforcing? Can you tell me what other laws we should not be doing, we should not be following? As we move forward, she says, it is essential that we come together not as separate groups divided by recent events, but as one Charlotte community. Our strength has always come from our ability to support one another, especially in challenging times. I am calling on all members of our community to join in this effort against the fascist Nazis that came into town. No, I'm kidding. I just added that last part. Let us stand together, listen to one another, and recommit ourselves to the values of dignity, compassion, and unity that define our city. This is all just pap Okay, this doesn't mean anything to me. It doesn't mean anything really at all. Was this another chat GPT derived statement. That's what this sounds like. This is like a lot of words to say nothing except to virtue signal to the people in your own base, to say like, this wasn't our fault. Please don't hold it against us. We want all illegals to stay. Never once does she mention the rule of law, that we are a nation of laws. We are a nation of laws before we are a nation of immigrants. Okay, let me jump over and get Michelle on. Hello, Michelle, welcome to the show. Hi, Hello, thank you Pete for taking my car. Sure. I just an observation, is that all this protesting that's been going on in Charlotte about ice in bordhist control. It's just funny that these people seem to care about the safety of illegal aliens, but none of them have gone and protests in the streets when individuals and being raped and molested, TEX traffic, kids killed. You know, where is the protests for the American citizen? The children, the women, the men of them are being killed might as well, even if they live, they feel dead. Where is the protesting for them? Because when does their life matter? There? We have them going to school and being cms, being molested, sexually harassed. Nobody's protesting for them. Now, this is why it's called suicidal empathy. That's where this that's what the term refers to. Suicidal empathy. When and I appreciate the call, Michelle, when a society values, say, honor above all things, then it is okay to die, if it's an honor death right. If you elevate empathy as the highest attribute to achieve in a society, then you know, committing Harry Carey basically to signal that you are the most empathetic that becomes the most rewarded thing. That's where the term comes from. That's what it applies to. That's why we see no protests for you know, otherwise, like shouldn't there be protests in front of the jail for the release of the violent illegal alien offenders? Right? We've seen none of that. We don't see protests down at the courthouse demanding accountability for the judges and the magistrates who turn people loose with no bond. We don't see that. We don't see protests for reduction in crime. We may see a vigil for somebody who has been murdered, but we don't see protests. We don't see anger in the street like we saw over the last six days. Here. It's suicidal empathy. It is best for us to sacrifice our own lives in order to signal to others that we have empathy. I care about your feelings more than I care about my own life. That's what that term means. I appreciate the call. You know. Stories are powerful. They help us make sense of things, to understand experiences. Stories connect us to the people of our past while transcending generations. They help us process the meaning of life, and our stories are told through images and videos. Preserve your stories with Creative Video. Started in nineteen ninety seven and Mint Hill, North Carolina. 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I should say this came from a teacher at Sedgefield Middle School and reportedly they had taken down after I guess complaints about this because the teacher pushed out the following. This was two days ago. This morning, I received quite a few questions and comments from students about the presence of border patrol across the city. Okay, my understanding is that this came from a science teacher. Okay, so here just again, I'm not a trained educator at all. I don't have all of the you know, the the training that comes with, you know, going through four years of teacher college. Although I did attend Winthrop University, and I did take one class in the education field, and I did spend K twelve then four years of college, you know, in education, so I feel like I have some bit of experience in this. But here's how I think my science teachers would have answered questions like this. That's not on the agenda for today. That has nothing to do with the course curriculum we are covering. This is a sign science class. Now open your textbooks or open your laptops, and we will proceed with the lesson. Okay, just because kids are asking you things doesn't mean you need to answer them, you know, just like if a kid asks, you know, hey, why do you have that bull ring thing through your nose? What is that? Why does your face look like a tackle box like? Stuff like that doesn't mean you need to answer those questions. They don't need to know who you're attracted to. They don't need to know about your living arrangements and your polycule. We never would even think to ask a teacher about those things, And if anybody ever did, the teachers would have just said, none of your business. Shut up your ind attention, like that's it. That's how you answer that stuff, especially if it's not part of what you are teaching. You are a science teacher. But you know, I'm only sending this out to everybody because they just add so many people, so many of these kids, they were asking about the presence of border patrol. In response to this, I the cool teacher that I added that part I shared with the students the attached graphic about their rights and your rights if encountering law enforcement, and it's taken from a nonprofit group called United We Dream. I also tried to communicate the sensitive nature of and empathy required to navigate these current events. With that being said, your students may come home with questions, No, they're they're their kids, dude or lady. I don't know, like they're not. They're not the parents' students. It's the parents' children. You're telling them things that maybe those parents don't appreciate you. You do what you going off book here outside of the science curriculum to share with them a graphic telling them, don't open the door for law enforcement, demand a warrant, don't sign anything, remember ice may lie. Do gree to follow them anywhere. That's the stuff this teacher shared with kids and then sent out to the parents as a heads up, like, Hey, I gave your kid this information and maybe you need it too. It did get taken down, though. Here's a great idea. How about making an escape to a really special and secluded getaway in western North Carolina. Just a quick drive up the mountain and Cabins of Asheville is your connection. Whether you're celebrating an anniversary, a honeymoon, maybe you want to plan a memorable proposal, or get family and friends together for a big old reunion. Cabins of Asheville has the ideal spot for you where you can reconnect with your loved ones and the things that truly matter. 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I'm doing great as well. There's a publication called Inside Climate News, I believe, and they described your latest report that examined the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency, which is kind of neither or encore as it's referred to, that they that it wasn't good at rebuilding, entering budgets, overseeing contractors, or helping hurricane victims. Many of whom were left living in motels for years while their homes were supposedly being rebuilt. But I guess other than that, they did a good job. Right. Other than that, well, look, INCORE was set up to respond to both hurricanes Matthew and Florence. That was his primary purpose. And what we took a look at was the recovery process, which was based on the home rebuild program at INCORE. The homeowner recovery program really is the technical word for it. And there were I mean, we had the disaster of Matthew, we had the disaster of Florence, and North Carolinians experienced the third disaster, which was Incoor. And what the big picture on this is is that this agency, which was set up to help people in eastern North Carolina, spent way too much money, way too much time on process over actually swinging hammers and getting results. You say in the report that that inadequate oversight of vendors led to increased costs. Now, this was part of the previous administration. ENCORE was set up under Or is managed mainly by Roy Cooper, the previous governor, and Cooper's office has responded by saying that the federal government did not provide enough resources to meet the state's needs. It was that at all factored into this report by your office. Well, what we took a look at was where the rubber meets the road, and here's here's what we found with respect to the process over boots on the ground and results and with vendor over So when the INCREP was first set up, the vendors ran the oversight, they governed the program. In Corps basically outsourced the management of the entire program. So you had a situation where, for example, when applicants applied for INCORE to be a part of the program, the vendor managing that received four hundred and eighty dollars a month for up to approximately and this was never specifically designated, but generally up to eighteen months while somebody waited in line. The vendor could receive four hundred and eighty dollars a month, whether there was a decision made or whether there was any action taken on behalf of a particular applicant who was looking to receive help from INCORE. Now, by twenty twenty two, late in the game, in Corps actually took over the governance of program and after that the government itself began to hold not only a self but contract vendors more accountable. The process of building homes increased, but look, people had to wait two and a half years even to get approved, and then it took an average of four years to sling a single hammer to get anything done. And we haven't even talked about the temporary relocation assistance. I mean, you know, Pete, we spent an average of thirty two thousand dollars on hotel rooms for people. One family, for example, spent one four hundred and ninety nine days in a hotel at a taxpayer cost of two hundred and thirty four thousand, eight hundred and ninety six dollars. We could have built a house for that. Yeah, all right. So the timeline on this is Hurricane Matthew hit in late twenty sixteen. Pat McCrory was still governor, but then Roy he lost the reelection and Roy Cooper took over. Then Hurricane Florence hit in twenty eighteen. So Encore, and I want to make sure I understand this. So encre hires a vendor and the vendor is compensated for I guess on a per applicant basis, So there's essentially an incentive for them to keep the and the applicants are just homeowners that were impacted by these storms. So it sounds like there was an incentive for the vendor to keep as many applicants waiting because they would draw like four hundred dollars whatever you said, that number was per applicant per month, and so if you string them out for a year and a half, the vendor's going to make more money. Is that what you're. Saying, Yeah, I would. I wouldn't say that the vendor necessarily because we don't have any evidence, so sure, sure, clear don't want to be accurate. We don't have evidence that the vendor did that with an incentive motive. But that leads to another technical and I know a lot of this state auditor stuff really gets in the wage date, but it is important, I think for taxpayers to know a lot of the process. And the lack of metrics and the lack of key performance indicators and the lack of accountability written into these contracts really accelerated the lack of production because there really wasn't any accountability on either side. You know, the government who invites contractors and vendors to come in to do things on behalf of taxpayers as a responsibility as well to work with the contracting firm to get the job done and to provide that environment where they can actually succeed. And the vendor, on the other hand, has the responsibility to comply with what the government is asking in their contracting process. We did neither neither well, right, there was not accountability on either side of that into way laid into the game fee. And by that time we had wasted hundreds of millions of dollars. Right in half a decade. I mean that's the uncontract. Yeah. Yeah, the time was the big thing. I mean four years to start swinging a hammer. I mean that's just unacceptable. And you say in your report payments were made without full verification of work completed. So even after the work was done there, we don't even know if it was done as per the contracts were required to be completed. Right. It seems like it takes a really long time to get the hammers swinging, and then when the work is done, it's just okay, good job, here's your check, and there's no verification that it was done. There was some verification, but we found the verification to not be procedurally consistent, okay, and we also found we found the processes not to be standardized. And when you've got contractors needed and get paid, you're also in essence wanting to keep people on the job because eastern North Carolina is also a hot housing market, so you want to be able to keep contractors in the job process. So they just oftentimes went ahead and paid invoices without the verification process. So what do we do? Where do we go from here? Because obviously, like they're they're winding this thing down. I mean, even Governor Josh Stein is moving the Hurricane Helene relief efforts into a different organization and see Grow I think is the name of that one. Even he recognizes that Encore was inadequate here. So what is your recommendation going forward? And I just testified in from the House and Senate Joint Oversight Committee on this issue, and we have several recommendations. First of all, I think you're you're dead on with with Governor Stein clearly, and I have not directly talked to him about that, although I've talked to him about other things. He made a policy decision not to continue with incore and stood up another agency. And that's what we do in North Carolina when a disaster occurs. The current process is to stand up an ad hoc agency and start from scatch scratch. You know, Pete Enforce spent twenty five point four million dollars on a software program that they ultimately never could work correctly because they didn't design it right from the beginning. Oh my god, We've we've We've got to have a plan and a strategy for dealing with what I call the back end of the house. The front end of the house, to use a restaurant analogy, that's first responders, swift flight or rescue, stabilizing the situation. The back end of the house is the recovery, and that is also accounting for the billions of dollars that tax payers are giving to help these recovery efforts. We've got to have a strategic plan in place. I've reckoon ended involving all the Council of State members. I'm a Council of State member. I signed up to be a statewide elected official. I want to be held accountable. I'm willing to be part of the process. It needs to be housed with the governor, the chief executive officer, but all of the executives elected statewide play a part right now in Helen recovery. We need to be able to have buy in on this as well as legislative leadership and relevant cabinet members to have a standard way of responding so we can flip the switch, Pete, because we can't continue down this path. We can't start from scratch every time a storm. Hells, Yeah, that's insane, that's insane. And do you have any understanding of why that is the case. Well, it's just there's never been I guess the political will to move forward with a standardized way of doing this. You know this this started in commerce in course, started in commerce, moved to incoors. Right now. Inc Grow is the main component of government that is working on Helene recovery. But the Department of Commerce is running a lot of the rebuild program. So we we seem to be moving in a better direction. But you still have a bifurcated system even within the Governor's office today, where you've got Commerce working on rebuilding, you've got inc GROW coordinating agencies and you know, my office, for examples, never been called by the Governor's office or NCI GROW for input. And I've talked to other Council of State members who have also not been called yet. Each each Council of State member is responsible for really unique and focused parts of the recovery agriculture for example, the treasurers it is running a loan program, the insurance commissions really important in recovery. There's a lot of responsibility. We still need to get on the same page so the taxpayer is getting the most efficient work out of discoverment. Yeah. I appreciate your efforts on this and appreciate your time as always. North Carolina State Auditor Dave Bollock, thanks so much, Start to take care, appreciate it. Thanks State you too. All Right, if you're listening to this show, you know I try to keep up with all sorts of current events, and I know you do too. And you've probably heard me say get your news from multiple sources. Why Well, because it's how you detect media bias, which is why I've been so impressed with ground News. It's an app and it's a website, and it combines news from around the world in one place, so you can compare coverage and verify information. You can check it out at check dot ground, dot news slash pete. I put the link in the podcast description too. I started using ground News a few months ago and more recently chose to work with them as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how stories get covered and by whom. The blind spot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left and the right. See for yourself. Check dot ground, dot news, slash pete. Subscribe through that link and you'll get fifteen percent off any subscription. I use the Vantage plan to get unlimited access to every feature. Your subscription then not only helps my podcast, but it also supports ground News as they make the media landscape more transparent. So Wral's story on this. Some victims of Hurricane Florence and Matthew remained in temporary housing for more than fourteen hundred days because the state agency created to lead the disaster recovery prioritized process management over repairing and rebuilding homes. That's according to the State Auditor's office. Their report dropped yesterday. You just heard from the state auditor himself. They're recommending, you know, standing up a different model, which, by the way, I was very critical of Roy Cooper during COVID for this very thing. You have ten Council of State statewide elected offices, and he would make all of these decisions on his own, never bringing in like the agriculture Commissioner, which is stupid, because agriculture was impacted, these industries, the insurance industries, like all of these different industries that you have the Council of State over, they were all impacted and he didn't and he stiff armed all of these other statewide Council of State offices so he could have complete control over the process. And I think the auditor is right that needs to stop. All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast, so if you'd like, please support them too and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to dpetecleanershow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.