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 We Deserve an Accounting on the NC Research Campus
by Tom Campbell
August 31, 2006
Perhaps David Murdock’s NC Research Campus is the best thing to happen to North Carolina in decades, but we are unconvinced. The 350-acre project in Kannapolis promises over .5 billion dollars in investment in biotechnology research and manufacturing. It is billed as a public-private partnership, certainly welcome news in Cabarrus County if the projected thousands of jobs become a reality. It was only three years ago that Pillowtex laid off 5,000 people at this same site in the largest single layoff in state history.
Murdock has a storied history here. It was David Murdock who led a buyout of the old Cannon Mills in 1982, paying 3 million for the company, starting what many believe was the downward spiral that ended in the company’s bankruptcy. During his ownership he used money in the employee pension fund to invest in stock in another company, and then personally pocketed the profits gleaned from the sale of the securities. David Murdock ended the employee pension fund, purchasing annuities for employees instead. The company holding the annuities collapsed, leaving longtime employees high and dry in their retirement. Murdock sold the company for a big profit.
That same David Murdock repurchased the same six million square foot site for what was reported to be an incredible bargain after it was shuttered by Pillowtex. He sold off equipment, heart of pine paneling inside the buildings, brick from the buildings and anything else that could be salvaged, netting millions. The opportunistic entrepreneur then conceived of the NC Research Campus or “biopolis.”
David Murdock is one of the world’s richest men, worth a reported .7 billion. He has proved he has a gift for seizing opportunity and making a fortune for himself. What hasn’t been demonstrated is his devotion to charity or public service.
Our antenna was raised at the announcement of the NC Research Campus. Noticeably absent from the ceremony was Governor Mike Easley. While university, legislative and local government leaders were drooling to embrace and praise the project, few details were made available and still fewer questions were raised about who would be at risk, how much money both the public and Murdock were to invest, and who was going to ultimately benefit if all went as envisioned.
Officials in Cabarrus County admit they should have asked more questions. Murdock recently demanded that they authorize 0 million in public infrastructure improvements or else, he threatened, he would downsize the scope of the project. This amounted to blackmail and left a bad taste with county leaders.
Put this in perspective. 0 million is almost as much money as the state, Winston-Salem and Forsyth County pledged to Dell Computers to build near Winston-Salem, and was more than South Carolina reportedly provided in benefits to locate the BMW plant near Spartanburg. Murdock expected one county to pony up this sum.
One can only wonder what he expects the state to provide. We haven’t been told. Is it because state leaders don’t know themselves or don’t want us to know? Have we written a blank check?
Maybe our distrust and concerns are totally unfounded. If so, our leaders could quickly put them to rest with an accounting of which agencies will be providing assistance and how much public funding is to be put into the project. That is not an unreasonable request and one that should be forthcoming. Until then, call me a doubting Thomas.
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