Ethics panel clears Crawford, but questions linger

The State Ethics Commission has dismissed an ethics complaint against Granville Democrat Jim Crawford over a campaign ad staged on the state House floor.

From the ruling:

"The investigation found that, when not in use, the House Chamber is open to the public at no charge during regular business hours. The investigation further found that all legislative employees who participated in the production of Respondent's [Crawford's] campaign advertisement did so on their own time or after taking leave to do so." 

"Legislative staffers Gennie Thurlow and Cindy Hobbs said Thursday that they were on the clock during the video shoot, but added that there was no intention to break any rules. They said they were just trying to help out." 

There's also apparently a lack of clarity about access to the House floor.

Nothing was said about public access. In fact, the chamber doors are kept locked when the House isn't in session. Access is tightly controlled by the legislative front desk staffers who conduct third-floor gallery tours for school groups. 

State law makes the Ethics Commission's investigations and deliberations confidential, so no rationale was provided. And while Crawford volunteered a copy of the complaint's dismissal, he didn't offer an explanation of the clear inconsistencies the findings pose. 

The only comment offered was by Crawford's legislative assistant Linda Winstead, who said Crawford asked her to tell us that "he hopes you feel guilty about filing this complaint."

(For the record, we didn't file it.)