In trouble? Dial 1-800-D.G. Martin

The North Carolina Clean Water Management Trust Fund – in some political hot water over acquisition decisions that appear to have a strong political connection – made a smart move the other day. It picked former Charlotte lawyer D.G. Martin of Chapel Hill to be the fund’s interim director while the board mounts a search for a successor to former fund director Bill Holman. Here’s a link to the fund’s announcement.
Martin was a wise choice: he’s a steady hand with a devotion to North Carolina and a fine sense of judgment about what’s best for the state. He ran for Congress from the 9th District and lost narrowly, then became a vice president of the University of North Carolina system. After retiring there, he has helped both the UNC Pembroke and the Triangle Land Conservancy, where he was interim director in 2003-04. He also ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate.
Holman resigned from the fund late last year to take a one-year appointment to the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University, a post that may lead to a permanent arrangement and a new initiative there on North Carolina and environmental public policy. Holman resigned after members of the fund’s board of directors had complained about the way he ran the organization, but the worst-kept secret in town was that some members of the board of directors had engineered the granting of a considerable amount of trust fund money to their home county of Brunswick. And as the Observer’s Bruce Henderson has reported, the Easley administration pressured the board to purchase some land in Western North Carolina from landowners who later contributed to the governor’s political campaign.
Martin’s interim appointment should help restore public trust in the fund, which administers $100 million in state appropriations to support water quality projects the length and breadth of North Carolina while the board searches for a permanent successor.