Former NC-GOP Chairman expected to cop a plea, cooperate in huge political bribery case.

The former Chair of the NC Republican Party is expected to plead guilty Wednesday to lying to the FBI in what is the state’s largest case of political bribery. Robin Hayes, a former Congressman, is expected to cooperate with federal prosecutors investigating an alleged scheme to funnel $2 MILLION in campaign donations to Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey and the NC-GOP in exchange for firing a top regulator at the Dept. of insurance.

• This $2 MILLION scheme to bribe the Insurance Commissioner is largest political bribe allegation in North Carolina’s history. Court filings suggest Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey was actually cooperating with the FBI and wore a wired recording device during key conversations with defendants.
  
  
• The case simply underscores the NC-GOP’s pay-to-play outlook on government and their reliance on corporate special interests to the extent that some are willing to bend the rules, break the law, and water down consumer protection in favor of a big corporate donor.
  
  
• The former Chair of the NCGOP is expected to plead guilty to lying to the FBI while he was chair of the NCGOP. This only underscores a culture of corruption in Raleigh that requires a wholesale change at the state legislature.
  
  
• The donor at the center of the bribery allegations is Greg Lindberg, who has given over $5 MILLION to different political causes. The biggest recipient of Lindberg funds has been Lieutenant Gov. Dan Forest. Forest is running for governor and has refused to return the tainted funds. Lindberg has donated $2.4 MILLION to groups supporting Forest. Lindberg is Forest’s biggest political booster as well as the biggest donor to the NCGOP.
  
  
• As an opinion headline recently stated in The Charlotte Observer, “Corruption is undermining NC government.”