Thread: Fern Shubert: Charlotte Observer continues to supress the tr

This is a message to us from Senator Fern Shubert. She is pointing out that the Charlotte Observer is still refusing to give their readers the whole truth.

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Remembering 9-11

Learning from History

By Fern H. Shubert (Former NC Representative & Senator & Candidate for Governor) - email: observations@alltel.net



(This entire article consists of quotes taken from correspondence with representatives of the Charlotte Observer on the fifth anniversary of 9-11.



Note that they refused to print a correction even though there is no doubt they printed something untrue. Keep this in mind if you read that paper.



This is consistent with their refusal for five years to reveal the fact that their political allies were helping criminals, including potential terrorists, get drivers licenses and helping register nonresidents to vote. It is also consistent with my experience with their bias for over a decade.)



-----Original Message-----
From: Fern H. Shubert [mailto:fernshubert@alltel.net]
Sent: Monday, September 11, 2006 1:49 AM
To: dingram@charlotteobserver.com
Cc: rthames@charlotteobserver.com; ted.vaden@newsobserver.com; ewilliams@charlotteobserver.com (and others)
Subject: Correction please

"Accuracy is among our most sacred journalistic values. That goes for the photographs, as well as the words, that we publish." Rick Thames

Dear Mr. Ingram:

Sorry to trouble you, but the last part of the following statement taken from your September 8 article in The Charlotte Observer is very misleading:

"Division of Motor Vehicles Commissioner George Tatum said 25,957 N.C. applicants signed affidavits in 2004 seeking to use the taxpayer ID. That was down from 41,977 in 2003 and reflects tougher restrictions the state imposed following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks."

The state did not impose tougher restrictions after 9-11. Within days after the event, the law was changed to permit the use of 1099s and matricula consular cards. The new law even said that if the applicant had no proof of NC residence whatsoever, the applicant could sign an affidavit that DMV was required to accept as proof. The press said we tightened up, but that was the opposite of the truth.

In 2003 there was another big flurry of activity because I released a letter the IRS sent to the Governor warning against the use of 1099's. Either he had failed to mention the letter or the press had failed to report it. Because of the pressure generated by my release of the letter, some changes were made which led to a reduction in the use of affidavits. Of course, the press still hasn't really explored how almost 400,000 licenses were issued before 9-11 without the use of 1099's or affidavits based on a ruling from the Attorney General's office when Easley was AG that said the law requiring social security numbers only required numbers be provided by those who had one and anyone who said thy didn't have one didn't need to provide one. Is that ruling still in effect? If so, the new law is as big a joke as the way they enforced the law pre 9-11.

If you want the facts, they're still posted and here is the link http://www.forfern.com/dlicense2.htm

By the way, I've already heard from examiners that while they can check the validity of SSN's, they have no way to verify numbers issued by homeland security. Why don't we centralize processing of licenses for those without SSN's? Also, they say the DMV computers are still set up to ask if the applicant is a US citizen and if they say no the examiner is still prompted to ask if the applicant wants to register to vote. Doesn't that seem rather stupid? Or, if you want to encourage voter fraud, maybe it is smart.

I don't know why I bother writing. The press in this state has helped deceive the public on this issue for five years. Some of us were trying before 9-11 to tighten up license requirements, and the House budget that year even called for mailing the licenses to be sure we got a real address. After 9-11 the House provision was dumped, and it has taken five years to get it passed.

If the Charlotte Observer expects people to believe what they print, they need to get this story straight. NC did not tighten up license law after 9-11; our leaders did the opposite, and it has taken five years to achieve what should have been done then because the truth was hidden from the public. Even when the Governor lied on statewide TV and said he'd taken care of the 1099 problem with an executive order, the Charlotte Observer didn't report the fact there was no such EO.

I don't believe I've ever discussed this issue with you, and I apologize if this note sounds harsh. My dispute is not with you; I'm sure you're just writing what you were told. I'm disgusted by the fact that for five years the Charlotte Observer and other major papers have refused to tell the public which elected officials insulted the victims of 9-11 by passing a new law days after the attack that helped criminals break the law by making it easy for them to get real fake ID. This is the fifth anniversary of 9-11. Do the editors want to continue to conceal the truth about how Easley and his legislative allies ignored the 9-11 Families and the 9-11 Commission Report? As some of the players are realizing as the public watches the ABC mini-series on 9-11, "facts are stubborn things."

The paper has now admitted its part in the Wilmington Riot. Why doesn't it come clean on how it helped drug dealers and MS-13 establish themselves in NC? This is the fifth anniversary of 9-11. Why not tell which elected leaders responded to that tragedy by making our drivers licenses so worthless that the South Carolina Attorney General suggested they should not be acceptable proof of identity for boarding planes?



SC Attorney General Thinks NC Licenses Untrustworthy (RR 1-11-2002)
In fact, he recently asked US Attorney General John Ashcroft to require airlines to refuse to accept licenses from NC and three other states as identification for boarding planes. As he stated "illegal aliens have been getting on planes all over this country with nothing more than a driver's license to carry them on board. . .This is a very dangerous situation."

But NC officials are not concerned about the situation. . . .

In an editorial November 1, the Charlotte Observer talked about how "Virginia's liberal policy for obtaining a driver's license or state identification card has led to fraud and corruption." They said "tens of thousands of illegal immigrants got legal driver's licenses or identification cards in Virginia, where applicants needed none of the standard proofs of identity or residency - such as a Social Security Card or utility bill."

But when it came to NC, the editor let his friends in state government off the hook. He claimed that "such elaborate schemes as those in Virginia have not been documented in North Carolina," even though 400,000 NC drivers licenses have been issued to people who admitted they had no social security number. Perhaps he forgot that the lawyer for a Madison County license examiner who was charged with "wrongful issuance of a driver's license" was chairman of the State Board of Elections and a fundraiser for Governor Mike Easley.

for some reason a lot of the stuff I am posting on Charlotte.com from ALIPAC is being removed.

Originally Posted by Charlesoakisland

for some reason a lot of the stuff I am posting on Charlotte.com from ALIPAC is being removed.

Gee I wonder why. So much for truth in reporting.