First, State Treasurer Richard Moore hired Quellos money management to help him invest state pension funds, then he paid them hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees, then he solicited their executives for contributions to his campaigns.

Now the Charlotte Observer reports Quellos has some problems of its own. It has been sued for violating federal money-laundering laws and the Observer reports in 2001 the IRS said Quellos had marketed improper overseas tax shelters. (Charlotte Observer; 4-26-07).

This landed another political hot potato in Moore’s lap. He dealt with it by conducting a ‘review’ to determine if his contributors at Quellos should continue to manage state money. His conclusion: Yes. They should.

When Moore’s critics asked if their wasn’t a conflict between his accepting donations from Quellos executives and deciding they should manage state funds Moore, in effect, said, No. Absolutely not.

At a recent forum held by Civitas Foundation a group of conservative leaders were lamenting the Republican parties sagging political fortunes and blaming the liberal media. But virtually every fact about Richard Moore’s version of pay-to-play is the result of reporting by two newspapers. Compared to The Charlotte Observer and the News and Observer Republicans have barely uttered a critical word of Moore.

Moore and other Democrats have handed Republicans numerous opportunities to revive their sagging fortunes. But Republicans have not spoken out.

For instance, why don’t Republican leaders in the legislature introduce a simple bill and see if the Democrats oppose it. All it needs to say is that no firm whose executives contribute to Richard Moore can manage state pension funds.

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