A Cary elected official says the town's oversight "wasn't good enough" after public records and state officials reveal taxpayer money was used to hire a ghostwriter to write a book about former Town Manager Sean Stegall's leadership style. 

A 2,600-page state audit released last week uncovered several "questionable" purchases among town officials.

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In it, Cary's Chief Strategy Officer Susan Moran said Stegall was encouraged by council member Lori Bush and other elected leaders to write the book. 

The auditor's report reveals the ghostwriter cost the Town of Cary more than $65,000. In the audit, Moran says the book's total cost was roughly $150,000.

Bush believed the book, titled The Top of the Arc, could share lessons about Cary’s evolution and public service, according to an email she wrote to WRAL on Wednesday. 

"Everybody assumed [Stegall] was paying for that," Mayor Harold Weinbrecht said in the audit report. "Nobody thought it was taxpayer dollars. I'm like, 'Why didn't somebody ask us?'"

Weinbrecht did not immediately respond to WRAL's request for comment about why council members and town staff did not ask more questions about how the book was funded if they knew it was being created.

In a statement to WRAL, Bush said in part, "Nothing in our budget materials indicated that public money was paying for the book, so I had no reason at the time to believe it was a town‑funded project."

"We were told it was Sean's book...we did not ask enough detailed questions about spending on projects like this. I regret that, and accept my share of responsibility for not asking harder questions and insisting on more transparency."

During a news conference last week after the audit's release, North Carolina's state auditor said Cary's "culture of extravagant spending" went beyond Stegall and was the result lack of question by elected officials. 

"This type of spending was acceptable, not only to town management, but was not really questioned by the council," State Auditor Dave Boliek said. 

In their response to the audit, Town of Cary officials said Stegall would "selectively share information with some Councilmembers and not others." 

Cary leaders said the town owns the book's copyright, and Stegall did not make any money from it. 

In the audit, Moran said that Cary had not broken even on the book, which sold 266 copies as of late May 2026 with more than 2,300 copies remaining in inventory.