State Senator Harry Brown Puts Your Money in His Pocket

When I moved down to the Charlotte area years ago and was deciding whether to live in Mecklenburg County in North Carolina or York County in South Carolina, one of the many factors that weighed in to my decision was North Carolina’s auto inspection requirements.  We don’t have these in South Carolina and with good reason.  They’re useless.  South Carolina got rid of them more than a decade ago and attempts have been made to scrap them in North Carolina, but the auto dealer and mechanics lobbies fight earnestly to keep them around because they make big bucks off of them.  Some of them have even wormed their way into the State Senate leadership, like Senate Majority Leader Harry Brown (R-Jacksonville).

State Sen. Harry Brown had some advice earlier this year for a lawmaker who wanted to end annual vehicle safety inspections: Run your idea past some car dealers and get back to me.

Brown knew what the response would be.

Car dealers, repair shop owners and other auto-related businesses are among the fiercest opponents of curtailing North Carolina’s vehicle inspections program.

The groups have repeatedly helped quash attempts to overhaul or end it.

Brown owns two Jacksonville car dealerships and is part-owner of another in Mitchell County. Since 2008, his businesses received about $177,000 from safety inspection fees.

As expected, the lawmaker, Stan Bingham, a Davidson County Republican, got a fast education on the politics of inspections. Bingham initially hoped legislators would support his bill but, “I saw real quick that was out of the question.”

Brown, the Senate majority leader, had the power to decide if Bingham’s bill would advance or die.

It was dismissed without a vote.

The Charlotte Observer

Wasn’t it just last year that many Republicans around the state were complaining about the entrenched corruption and special interests that oozed from the Democratic slime that had a choke hold on this state government since Reconstruction.  People were told that was a reason to take that historic opportunity to throw them out of Raleigh and install the GOP.  Well, the Republicans have been in control for all of ten months and we’re already seeing the Republican leadership continue the tradition of using the hand of government to pad their own pockets.  That’s exactly what Harry Brown is doing.  Regardless of what he claims, he opposes doing away with these inspections because his businesses make money off of them.

When Bingham proposed ending the program earlier this year, members of the Independent Garage Owners of North Carolina and other trade associations launched a lobbying campaign aimed at lawmakers.

Groups such as the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association, Automotive Service Association and Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association wrote letters against the proposal.

“They were telling them it was a safety issue, but the other issue was that it was going to destroy their business,” said Bob Pulverenti, executive director of the Independent Garage Owners group. “It could have been devastating to the industry.”

Brown received about $50,000 in campaign donations from the auto industry in 2010, far more than any other candidate for state office, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics, a nonpartisan watchdog group.

Brown, an Onslow County Republican, said his business interests did not influence his opposition to eliminating safety inspections. He said his experience as a car dealer gives him insight into why the inspections are necessary.

“It’s important vehicles on the road are safe,” Brown said.

Ah yes, there it is.  It’s about safety.  Harry Brown isn’t interested in that six figure income he is receiving from this racket.  He cares about you.  He’s concerned about the safety of you and your family on the road.

Honestly, does this guy think you were born yesterday?

We had these stupid inspections when I lived in Pennsylvania and all they did was cost most people hundreds of dollars every year on trivial mechanical fixes that mostly were preventive maintenance which came no where close to outweighing the costs of having the work done.  These inspections are nothing more than a gift to the auto dealers and garage owners throughout the state so that politicians can buy their votes and their campaign money at election time and they come at the expense of the poor and the middle class.

Republicans have been very critical at the federal level of the Obama Administration’s crony capitalist ways.  Those of you in North Carolina might want to take a step back and drain your own swamp first.  Harry Brown is engaging in legalized theft to steal from you and line his own pockets.  I’m pretty sure that the conservatives and tea partiers came out in droves last year to change the political corruption in North Carolina, not change who manages it.

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