Governor's office: 'Serious concerns' at SBI for years

Gov. Roy Cooper’s top deputy said this week that current and former State Bureau of Investigation agents have reached out to the governor’s office for several years with concerns that left the administration “increasingly concerned about the direction of the SBI.”

A letter from Cooper's chief of staff, Kristi Jones, to a pair of House leaders responded to testimony that SBI Director Bob Schurmeier gave to a House of Representatives oversight committee last week, accusing the administration of meddling with his agency and calling for more independence.

Jones told lawmakers that much of what the administration has heard from current and former agents is protected by state personnel laws. But she said these people raised “serious concerns focused on such issues as a lack of racial diversity among sworn SBI agents, promotion decisions and practices and access to training, among others.”

Schurmeier hinted at these issues during his testimony last week, saying that Jones and Cooper’s general counsel threatened him with an investigation and pressed him to resign. The day after Schurmeier's comments, the House’s Republican majority put out a budget proposal that, among other things, repositioned the SBI in state government to give it more independence.

Schurmeier’s lawyer, Chris Swecker, told WRAL News Friday that Jones’ letter was “an opportunistic act” from the Cooper administration.

“Bob Schurmeier has had an impeccable career,” Swecker said. “There’s never been a hint of any allegations of racism, discrimination, you name it … prior to this.”

Jones said in her letter that oversight of the SBI is “constrained by law,” acknowledging that the SBI is already an independent agency. But, she said, the Cooper administration has attempted to work with the SBI to address issues whistleblowers brought to the governor’s office.

She said those issues “threatened significant harm to the SBI’s morale, operations and reputation.”

Her letter was addressed to the chairs of the legislative oversight committee that Schurmeier appeared before last week.

Schurmeier told that committee the governor’s office threatened him, in a 2022 meeting, with an outside review that the SBI would have to pay for. In her letter, Jones confirmed Schurmeier was told a review was warranted, that an outside law firm would need to handle it, that the SBI would need to bear that cost and that it could exceed $100,000.

Because of the bureau’s independent nature, Jones wrote, that review has not yet begun.