Officials at Washington's Office of Unemployment Compensation sent a “wage audit notice” to New Hanover County in January asking the county to provide Berger's salary information after he was elected in November and sworn in Dec. 6.
The notice is used by the Benefit Payment Control Branch to make sure “payments are proper” and is part of the agency's fraud detection program, according to the letter. The agency confirmed that Berger's benefits stopped May 21, but would not release how much he was collecting. A New Hanover County commissioner earns about $17,000 a year, and it is not considered a full-time job. Having a part-time job does not stop the benefits, officials said, but only adjusts the benefit amount from the agency.
Berger said Thursday after a commission agenda review meeting that he worked inhouse for a trade association doing nonprofit management. He declined to name the group or when he worked there. He said the group cut staff and he lost his position.
Erna Vance, a customer service specialist at the Office of Unemployment Compensation, would not verify how much or how long Berger received the benefits. She said it is not uncommon for people to live outside Washington and get benefits because they worked in Washington. ...>more
"But I would not feel so all alone --The GOP has been steadily courting Tea Party candidates across the country because when you have smug assholes like Eric Cantor as the face of your party, well, you have an image problem. These days they're looking to tap into all of the populist rage that is sweeping across the Heartland by kissing the asses of complete nutjobs. So why is the North Carolina Republican Party attacking Tea Party candidate Tim D'Annunzio? Because he likes to party. And he's fucking crazy. A laundry list of Republican gripes, from the AP:
But, wait! There's more! Seems Little Timmy has a blog! Oh, the hilarity!In Hoke County divorce records, his wife said in 1995 that D'Annunzio had claimed to be the Messiah, had traveled to New Jersey to raise his stepfather from the dead, believed God would drop a 1,000-mile high pyramid as the New Jerusalem on Greenland and found the Ark of the Covenant in Arizona. A doctor's evaluation the following month said D'Annunzio used marijuana almost daily, had been living with another woman for several months, had once been in drug treatment for heroin dependence and was jailed a couple times as a teenager.
The doctor concluded that his religious beliefs were not delusional. A judge wrote in a child support ruling a few years later that D'Annunzio was a self-described "religious zealot" who believed the government was the "Antichrist." The judge said he was willfully failing to make child support payments... >more
