The North Carolina Legislative Building (Photo: Clayton Henkel/NC Newsline)
Four prominent North Carolina lobbyists have been indicted by a Wake County Grand Jury on criminal charges in connection with an April 2024 bourbon-tasting junket to Kentucky that included members of the General Assembly.
Named in the indictments are Kevin Wilkinson, president and founder of the Southern Group; Bo Heath, a partner with McGuireWoods Consulting; Doug Miskew, president and founder of Public Sector Group and David Ferrell of MaynardNexsen. They’re accused of giving or directing their employers, also known as principals, to give gifts, either directly or through a nonprofit, to Republican lawmakers who were invited on the trip.
According to the indictments, Ferrell and Heath “unlawfully and willfully” directed their respective principals, North Carolina Spirits Association and beverage giant Diageo, to provide money to a group called Greater Carolina to “directly and indirectly” pay for lawmakers’ travel expenses, hotels accommodations and meals.
Miskew and Wilkinson are accused of directing their respective principals, Churchill Downs and the Sazerac Company of Louisville, KY, to pay for events directly benefiting the legislators and other lobbyists and staff on the junket.
Under state law, neither lobbyists nor their principals are allowed to give lawmakers gifts, but lawmakers left themselves some gray areas for situations that involve events, travel or large groups of people, as long as no “corrupt intent” is evident. That flexibility could make prosecution difficult.
“Integrity, accountability, and transparency are not just professional obligations for me, they are core values,” Wilkinson told NC Newsline. “I welcome a complete and thorough review of the circumstances, and I’m confident I will be cleared of any charges through a fair judicial process.”
Mark Bowles, McGuireWoods Consulting’s chairman, said he believes Heath “did nothing wrong.”
“We fully support Bo,” Bowles said, “and are confident” Heath’s innocence will be proven.
NC Newsline also left messages with Miskew and Ferrell, but did not hear from them before this story was published.
Greater Carolina, connected to former Republican state lawmaker Jason Saine, described itself as a nonprofit conservative social welfare organization created to promote pro-business and free-market policies in North Carolina. The group no longer has an online presence.
Under federal tax law, 501c4 social welfare groups can lobby for legislation, but they can’t intervene in political campaigns, and political activities cannot be their primary purpose.
The trip to Kentucky made headlines across North Carolina in 2024 after an anonymous post by a Kentucky hospitality worker on Reddit claimed the group had booked a private bourbon tasting, but were already inebriated when they arrived on their tour bus.
The person who made the post described some members of the group as “extremely rude, disruptive” and said they did not tip the bartender or tour guides and that one of them “vomited in our bathroom sink.”
At the time, Greater Carolina spokesman Jonathan Felts said that the poster’s account of boorish behavior was overblown.
NC legislator who championed online sports betting resigns
“One attendee was a bit queasy upon arrival due to getting car sick enroute because the air conditioner was not working on the bus,” Felts told WRAL in 2024. “The person then, fortunately, made it to the first thing that had a drain and vomited. Upon completion of the vomiting, the person and friends/colleagues helped to clean up.”
Saine (R-Lincoln) resigned from the legislature in August 2024. That’s also when a complaint was filed with the IRS and state regulators against Greater Carolina by left-leaning group Carolina Forward. The complaint accused the group of bankrolling Saine, but Saine was not named in Wednesday’s indictments.
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