The Carolina Journal is reporting that Kay Hagan and her husband Chip, through their company JDC Manufacturing, lowered the cost of a stimulus project and kept the savings for themselves.
The company’s original application stated the total project would cost $438,627, and said JDC would contribute “leveraged funds” amounting to $187,983, or 43 percent of the total. As the project reached completion, however, JDC revised the total budget downward by $114,519 and applied all the savings to its share, keeping all the taxpayer funding.
The story goes on to note that JDC hired Solardyne/Green State Power—another company owned by the Hagans—to install solar panels. That move “appears to violate a conflict-of-interest provision that was included as part of the original application for the stimulus grant,” according to the Journal.
This news comes just days after Inside Sources reported that Hagan stood to profit from her vote to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank. Chip Hagan served as Assistant Secretary for Mother Murphy’s Laboratories, which received thousands in Ex-Im Bank grants. The Hagans have between $100,000 and $250,000 invested in Mother Murphy’s, as well.
AP style guide reminder: just like it’s “Attorneys General,” this can be reported as “conflicts of interest.”