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UNC BOG Members’ Lawyer Misrepresented Himself To Get Video Of Former ECU Chancellor

WUNC News | By Frank Stasio,
Grant Holub-Moorman
Published November 7, 2019 at 12:41 PM EST
Amidst closed door meetings and links to a problematic lawyer, Harry Smith abruptly resigned from both the chair and his member seat on the University of North Carolina Board of Governors
Amidst closed door meetings and links to a problematic lawyer, Harry Smith abruptly resigned from both the chair and his member seat on the University of North Carolina Board of Governors

A lawyer connected to some members of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors misrepresented his connection to powerful people in state government for access to the damaging video footage of former East Carolina University interim chancellor Dan Gerlach.

WBTV’s Investigative Executive Producer Nick Ochsner joins host Frank Stasio to provides details of the case between UNC Board of Governors and the former interim ECU Chancellor.

According to newly-released public records first reported by WBTV, attorney Peter Romary petitioned the City of Greenville for footage of Gerlach on the night he was seen drinking. In the petition, Romary told city officials he was acting on behalf of a senior lawmaker and later invoked the legislature’s subpoena power, neither of which were true.

Now, after weeks of refusing to comment on his connection to Romary on this case, Board of Governors member Tom Fetzer admitted to retaining Romary in order to pursue the damning video of Gerlach on the night he was seen drinking, walking unsteadily to his car, then driving off. WBTV’s Investigative Executive Producer Nick Ochsner provides the details of the case to Host Frank Stasio.  

Copyright 2019 North Carolina Public Radio
Frank Stasio
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
See stories by Frank Stasio
Grant Holub-Moorman
Grant Holub-Moorman is a producer for The State of Things, WUNC's daily, live talk show that features the issues, personalities and places of North Carolina.
See stories by Grant Holub-Moorman