Free Republic

Ten years after a foundation formed and chaired by U.S. Rep. Frank Ballance began to receive appropriations from the state of North Carolina, the congressman is scrambling to explain where all the money went. "I have accountants and lawyers trying to put all this stuff together," Ballance says. The questions surrounding the John Hyman Foundation have been multiplying since first raised in March by Hal Sharpe, the conservative editor of the Littleton Observer. Funded primarily by the state Department of Corrections to provide substance abuse treatment and prevention services to at-risk residents in Warren, Halifax and surrounding counties, the foundation...

RALEIGH—The Administrative Office of the Courts announced last week that it is terminating the Warren County Drug Treatment Court program, which relies on the services of the John Hyman Foundation, an organization based in Warrenton and chaired by U. S. Rep. Frank Ballance, D-1st. In addition, last week the state Division of Mental Health reprimanded the Hyman Foundation for violations of state law and “a pattern of noncompliance” with the foundation’s DWI program. “This is a shock. I can’t see why our clients should be punished because of mistakes the John Hyman Foundation may or may not have made,” Mary...

Campaign discrepancies haunt BallanceBy NED B. HUNTER, Rocky Mount Telegram U.S. Rep. Frank Ballance still has not explained discrepancies in his N.C. Senate campaign finance reports, said Kim Westbrook, N.C. State Board of Elections director of campaign finance. The reports are incomplete, Westbrook said. The reports lack occupational information of campaign donors for the third and fourth quarters of 2000, and complete addresses for both contributors and disbursements. There also is an unexplained refund to a contributor. "He's not under investigation. He has failed to file some required forms from the past elections," she said. Ballance, D-1st District, said he...