You could see this one coming. When Republican state Rep. Tim Moffitt formed a company to sell web sites to his Republican colleagues, trouble was sure to follow. Now it has.

Moffitt’s company plagiarized copy on websites they sold to his fellow House members. They used talking points from interest groups and other publications without attribution. The information was used to push conservative positions on the cookie-cutter websites that his company produced.

Moffitt got out of the way and let his general manager, Brent Lanning, take the fall. Lanning claimed Moffitt is not involved with day-to-day operations and not at fault. Passing the buck and denying responsibility is a time-honored tradition among sleazy politicians.

Who really thought that it was good idea for a legislator to set up a business to sell services to other legislators? Think about it. Moffitt’s fellow Republicans are paying him out of their campaign coffers for campaign services.

I’m sure there’s nothing illegal about it. It’s just the epitome of what people think is wrong with politics–cronyism, profiting from elected office, milking campaign funds and now claiming credit for other people’s ideas. At the very least, there’s a potential for conflict of interest by shuffling campaign funds from one candidate to another through business transactions.

Tim Moffitt is a guy who is too ambitious for his own good and certainly too ambitious for the General Assembly. He should stick to building his web sites. He killed off the competition by marketing to colleagues who had a vested interested in keeping him happy and keeping him solvent. I wonder how many of the legislators that serve on committees he chairs or co-chairs are also his clients? Or how many legislators who have business before those committees are also his clients? And I wonder if his clients’ bills do better than bills introduced by non-clients? Inquiring minds want to know.

Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >