YOU DON’T SAY

“He still ain’t me.”

Former state auditor Beth Wood, on her endorsement of Republican David Boliek despite his lack of professional auditing experience. (WRAL News, 8/25/24)

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Auditor Endorsement

Jack Hagel, WRAL News, 8/25/24

Beth Wood, the longtime Democratic state auditor who stepped down in December, is throwing her support behind Republican David Boliek in the upcoming auditor’s race. The stance is as much an endorsement of the first-time candidate as it is a rebuke of his opponent, Jessica Holmes, the sitting Democratic state auditor, who was appointed to replace Wood.

“He’s got the thinking and the philosophy to run that agency,” Wood told WRAL in an interview. “He knows what it should be doing.” As for Holmes? “She doesn’t have a clue,” Wood said.

Wood’s backing of Boliek — and criticism of Holmes — is the latest chapter in an unusual and ongoing changing of the guard at what had been a relatively staid state agency. The broader story involves party politics, the peculiarities of governmental auditing, and a late-night hit-and-run that ultimately led to the resignation of Wood, who for almost 15 years was revered and feared as the state’s top government watchdog.

The endorsement stands out because Wood prided herself on separating the auditor’s office from party politics. She has long said success in the position is derived from independence, impartiality and auditing experience. Now out of office — and at a time when crossing party lines is considered a political taboo — the Democrat is favoring a Republican who has limited experience in governmental auditing and whose political statements have raised questions among rivals about whether he can produce unbiased audits.

Governmental auditing is highly specialized, so much so that most of the 19 states that elect their state auditor require the officeholder to be a certified public accountant — a designation given only to those who meet experience and education requirements and pass a rigorous exam on accounting and auditing. For the first time in at least three decades, not one of the candidates for North Carolina’s state auditor is a CPA.

Holmes has the most experience in the job: By November, she will have spent almost a year in the role. But Wood says Holmes’s résumé isn’t strong enough to win her support.

Wood resigned in December following a guilty plea to misdemeanor charges that she used a state vehicle for personal errands — the kind of thing state auditors are elected to ferret out. Investigators started looking into Wood’s driving habits after she drove a state-owned vehicle onto the hood of a parked car following a 2022 holiday party in downtown Raleigh.

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper appointed Holmes to finish Wood’s term. Holmes was picked over candidates who were recommended by Wood, including Wood’s former deputy, a CPA who had spent years working in the auditor’s office.

Holmes says it’s been a smooth transition. “I was fortunate to inherit longtime staff with a lot of expertise,” she said in a brief interview following a recent meeting of the state’s top executive-branch officials. “And we have been able to hit the ground running and deliver impactful audits that have saved taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars just in the short amount of time I’ve been in office.”

Wood says the endorsement is not bitterness toward Holmes. She just wishes Cooper would have heeded her advice on a replacement. “I have no resentment towards Jessica,” Wood said. “All I’ve ever wanted was the right person to sit in that seat.”

Cooper tops a long list of Democratic officials endorsing Holmes, who resigned as a deputy commissioner for the North Carolina Industrial Commission to accept the auditor position. When he announced her appointment last year, Cooper highlighted Holmes’s two terms on the Wake County Board of Commissioners, noting that she was twice elected chairwoman and that she helped manage the county’s $1.5 billion budget. He also praised her experience as a lawyer for the North Carolina Association of Educators and he spotlighted Holmes’s advocacy for affordable housing and child care.

“North Carolina is fortunate to have a dedicated, enthusiastic public servant in Jessica Holmes willing to take on the important role of state auditor, and I am confident that she will lead the department with determination and hard work,” Cooper said in his announcement at the time.

Morgan Jackson, Cooper’s chief political advisor, added in a statement on Friday: “She’ll be a bulldog when it comes to making sure taxpayer’s money is spent efficiently and effectively.”

Under Holmes, the auditor’s office published one performance audit and two investigative audits during the first seven months of this year, according to a WRAL analysis. That’s down from the five performance audits and nine investigative audits the office published during the same period in 2023, when Wood was at the helm. Between 2015 and 2023, Wood’s office pumped out an average of at least one discretionary audit per month during the first seven months of the year.

It’s not unusual for a new agency head to take a little time getting up to speed. Wood’s first-term output was scrutinized as she sought to put her own stamp on the office.

Holmes says she has been busy vetting the audits she inherited when she took office.

During her brief tenure, Holmes’s office has conducted an audit of federal funds that found inadequate monitoring of certain block grants and funds for housing, foster care and opioid abuse treatment; incorrect usage of foster care funds; and deficiencies in the process to determine eligibility for adoptions and Medicaid. Most cases involved nominal amounts when compared with the state’s $30 billion budget.

One notable investigative audit yielded allegations of misused government funds at Fayetteville State University — $692,000 in spending on consulting, laptops, travel and gifts that either lacked proper documentation or violated university policies.

Holmes says she has also focused more on front-end management and collaboration with institutions’ and agencies’ internal auditors to prevent fraud and waste, “as opposed to the back end, which makes for less of an opportunity for a news story, but is in the best interest of North Carolinians.”

“That same philosophy applies with all of our state agencies in terms of working collaboratively with our secretaries, but also being fair and unbiased and following the money and wherever the money goes,” she said.

When asked about the lower output, Holmes pointed to the fact that the office’s staff had thinned in recent years. In July 2022, there were 142 people in the auditor’s office, according to state human resources data. There were 128 when Wood left office at the end of 2023. Since Holmes took over, there has been more turnover: The office had a headcount of 120 at the end of June.

Holmes said it isn’t easy to compete for talent with the private sector, which often offers higher salaries and better benefits. Because of the staffing shortage, triage is the approach. “We have to prioritize and make sure that we’re conducting audits that have the most widespread impact across our state as possible,” she said.

Auditing experience isn’t required to become North Carolina’s state auditor, but it can be a difference-maker, Wood said. Knowing intimately when and how to conduct a financial audit or performance audit or investigative audit can help the office more quickly spot inefficiency, vulnerabilities or wrongdoing

Wood had significant training in accounting and governmental auditing before she ran for office in 2008. She had spent time working for the offices of the state treasurer and state auditor. And she had previously spent time at a public accounting firm and working as a finance chief for a furniture company.

The only candidate in the race who approaches having that level of private-sector experience is the race’s only third-party candidate, Libertarian Bob Drach, who plays up themes of independence and experience — the traits Wood favors. Drach is a management accountant — the kind of number-cruncher who focuses on things such as budgeting, forecasting and financial analysis. In those roles, he was often on the other side of the table from an auditor who reviewed his financial statements. Drach also says his third-party status makes him the only candidate who can conduct unbiased audits.

It’s one thing to manage a budget, and quite another to audit spending, Wood says. “You do not want a divorce attorney taking on your case if you are on trial for murder,” she said. She says her endorsement comes from her own careful analysis of the candidates’ résumés, Holmes’s output and recent speeches, and conversations with Boliek. Wood also factored in criticism of Boliek from Republican and Democratic candidates who worry he’ll politicize the office. “Of the two [major-party] candidates,” she said, “Dave Bolick can take my work and run with it.”

Boliek, who also has a master’s degree in business administration, narrowly won the Republican nomination in a runoff, despite a major funding advantage over GOP opponent Jack Clark, who ran on his professional experience as a CPA who works at the state legislature.

Boliek’s campaign raised $1 million as of June, the most recent available data. That’s significantly more than Holmes, who reported raising $177,000. Drach reported raising $3,200. Boliek has spent nearly all of the money he raised — including a large chunk on the competitive primary. He entered July with just $62,000 left in his campaign piggy bank, which is about half of the cash Holmes had on hand.

His website boasts endorsement from “conservative groups,” “conservative sheriffs,” “conservative” lawmakers and “other leading conservatives.” So Wood’s endorsement stands out, considering her affiliation with the Democratic Party.

“I’m kind of humbled by the whole thing,” Boliek said. “Obviously, I’m running, so I feel like I can do a good job. But when you get endorsed by people that have done the job, and have been in the seat, and have had the authority and the responsibility of the job, I think that does mean something and should mean something to the voters of North Carolina.”

Boliek has been criticized by his general election opponents, as well as his Republican primary runoff opponent, for taking what they see as political stances in his effort to win a job that demands impartiality.

As a member of the UNC Board of Trustees, he voted to defund diversity, equity and inclusion programs. At a May board meeting, Boliek said: “DEI is divisive. I don’t think it’s productive. I don’t think it gives a return on investment to taxpayers and to the institution itself.”

He’s also proposing an “office of election integrity” to audit the state’s voter rolls, election equipment and operations.

Wood hopes Boliek’s focus on election integrity and other conservative talking points was just a strategy to win his party’s nomination. “I hope it was just a primary thing,” she said, “because what really, really worked well between the auditor’s office and the General Assembly, particularly in these last years when we were of opposite parties, was that we were non-political.” [Source]

Appeals Pace

Gary D. Robertson, The Associated Press, 8/23/24

North Carolina’s highest court has decided it won’t fast-track appeals of results in two lawsuits initiated by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper that challenged new laws that eroded his power to choose members of several boards and commissions.

The state Supreme Court, in orders released Friday, denied the requests from Republican legislative leaders sued by Cooper to hear the cases without waiting for the intermediate-level Court of Appeals to consider and rule first on arguments. The one-sentence rulings don’t say how individual justices came down on the petitions seeking to bypass the cases to the Supreme Court. Cooper’s lawyers had asked the court not to grant the requests.

The decisions could lengthen the process that leads to final rulings on whether the board alterations enacted by the GOP-controlled General Assembly in late 2023 over Cooper’s vetoes are permitted or prevented by the state constitution. The state Supreme Court may want to review the cases even after the Court of Appeals weighs in. No dates have been set for oral arguments at the Court of Appeals, and briefs are still being filed.

One lawsuit challenges a law that transfers the governor’s powers to choose state and local election board members to the General Assembly and its leaders. A three-judge panel of trial lawyers in March struck down election board changes, saying they interfere with a governor’s ability to ensure elections and voting laws are “faithfully executed.”

The election board changes, which were blocked, were supposed to have taken place last January. That has meant the current election board system has remained in place — the governor chooses all five state board members, for example, with Democrats holding three of them.

Even before Friday’s rulings, the legal process made it highly unlikely the amended board composition passed by Republicans would have been implemented this election cycle in the presidential battleground state. Still, Cooper’s lawyers wrote the state Supreme Court saying that bypassing the Court of Appeals risked “substantial harm to the ongoing administration of the 2024 elections.”

In the other lawsuit, Cooper sued to block the composition of several boards and commissions, saying each prevented him from having enough control to carry out state laws. While a separate three-judge panel blocked new membership formats for two state boards that approve transportation policy and spending and select economic incentive recipients, the new makeup of five other commissions remained intact. [Source]

Recusal Request

Kyle Ingram, The News & Observer, 8/23/24

North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Phil Berger Jr. will not be recused from two high-profile cases involving his father, the Republican Senate leader. The court’s Republican justices denied Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s motion requesting Berger Jr.’s recusal on Friday, writing that the Senate leader was involved in the case in an official capacity only — not a personal one.

“We believe that Justice Berger can and will execute his responsibilities in this case fairly and impartially,” the majority wrote.

Rather than deciding on recusal himself, Berger Jr. referred the motion to the full court to consider.

In a dissenting opinion, the court’s two Democrats noted that the Code of Judicial Conduct makes no distinction between family members acting in their official capacity and personal capacity in its rules around recusal.

Justice Allison Riggs, who authored the dissent, noted that Justice Berger previously refused to recuse himself in another case involving his father that challenged the state’s voter ID law.

“To achieve the desired outcome in this case, members of this Court who typically ascribe to a strict textualist philosophy are eager to add words to the Code of Judicial Conduct,” Riggs wrote. “… I suspect the reason we have not changed these rules is simple — the optics of overhauling existing ethics standards to accommodate Justice Berger and Senator Berger are problematic, to put it mildly.” [Source]

COVID Lawsuits

Gary D. Robertson, The Associated Press, 8/23/24

A North Carolina racetrack shuttered briefly for defying state gathering limits during the pandemic can sue the top health regulator on allegations that Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration violated the constitutional rights of its operators by trying to make an example out of it, the state Supreme Court ruled Friday.

The justices agreed unanimously that counterclaims that Ace Speedway in Alamance County and its owners filed seeking financial damages can continue, agreeing with a Court of Appeals panel in 2022 and a trial judge that refused to throw them out. That lawsuit was filed weeks after a judge in 2020 helped enforce then-Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen’s order to stop the track from holding events unless they complied with Cooper’s statewide executive order that included crowd-size limits.

State lawyers representing Kody Kinsley — Cohen’s successor — argued the speedway was cited because it repeatedly and publicly violated the law, and that sovereign immunity blocks such litigation against a state official. They also said COVID-19 gathering limits were temporary and served a proper governmental purpose to protect the public during the “early and uncertain stages of an unprecedented global pandemic.”

But the Supreme Court agreed the speedway’s attorney made plausible legal claims that the state infringed on rights for people to enjoy “the fruits of their own labor” and conducted ”unlawful selective enforcement” of its order against the speedway. The substance of those claims have yet to be judged in court.

“We emphasize that these allegations remain unproven,” Associate Justice Richard Dietz wrote in the court’s opinion, but “these allegations assert colorable claims under the North Carolina Constitution for which there is no alternative remedy,” and thus litigation is allowed.

The ruling hands a legal defeat to the Democratic governor by a court composed of five registered Republicans and two Democrats. The case now returns to trial court to be heard. The state Department of Health and Human Services is reviewing the decision, a spokesperson said.

State attorneys argued if counterclaims were allowed to continue, they would “hamstring the government’s ability to effectively address future public health crises and other emergencies,” Kinsley’s legal brief read.

The state Supreme Court has agreed to hear a pair of cases filed by operators of standalone bars who said Cooper’s executive orders forcing them to remain shuttered for safety while restaurants that serve alcohol got to reopen violated the state constitution. Court of Appeals panels have sided with the bar and taverns. [Source]

Anniversary Plans

Matthew Sasser, State Affairs Pro, 8/23/24

The year 2026 will mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

While the nation will celebrate its founding ideals of freedom and equality, North Carolina will be just as important in acting as an incubator for those revolutionary aims.

The second meeting of the semiquincentennial committee, held Thursday at the General Assembly, continued to collect and curate content and information for the upcoming celebrations.

“We look at this as a unifying thing for our state and our country,” Sen. W. Ted Alexander, R-Cleveland, said. “We all share a common heritage and we want to celebrate that.”

Packets of information pertinent to the 1976 bicentennial were shared with the committee.

“It gave a really good background of the sort of rationale, the philosophy of the times back then,” Rep. Hugh Blackwell, R-Burke, said, noting 10 years of planning went into that year’s event.

Blackwell said former Presidents George Bush and Barack Obama have been named honorary national co-chairs of America 250, the official nonpartisan entity charged by Congress with planning the semiquincentennial.

The North Carolina committee has sent letters to publications throughout the state to spread the word about the upcoming celebration. Also, the committee has reached out to the North Carolina Symphony about a potential partnership performance.

“We want everyone to be involved with our semiquincentennial,” Blackwell said.

North Carolina’s state archivist, Sarah Koonts, outlined what the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources is doing to prepare for the anniversary. The department is recognized by the national commission as the official planning committee of North Carolina, but states are welcome to organize to suit their local needs.

A goal is to have semiquincentennial events in all 100 counties of North Carolina. The thematic framework shows how North Carolina is a place where revolutionary ideas, civic responsibility and overcoming challenges are explored.

So far, 25 county-recognized committees have received $10,000 each in grants for exhibits, markers, events, local research or historic tours thematically related to the anniversary. Fifty grants for nonprofits or local governments have been awarded totaling $880,0000.

Koonts said a second round of grant applications will open next week and remain available through Nov. 1. Each county in the state that has adopted a resolution of a commemoration committee is eligible for the $10,000 county grant.

Education plays a major role in the planning process.

The 2024 Freedom Fellowship is the first cohort of teachers across the state that have been steeped in the history of North Carolina and the ideas of freedom from the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Those teachers have created America 250 projects in their classrooms that will serve as guideposts for future groups of fellows.

“We looked around at the children’s books and went, ‘Aw, there wasn’t much here about North Carolina — we can fix that,” Koonts said.

“Within Our Power: The Story of the Edenton Ladies’ Tea Party” by Sally Walker is the first of four North Carolina children’s books now available for preorder.

Jason Luker, operations manager at the Charlotte Museum of History, said it will do a restoration of and host a series of lectures around the Alexander Rock House — the last standing home of one of the framers of North Carolina’s first Constitution and Bill of Rights — and two exhibits for the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution.

Clarence Henderson, one of the participants of the Greensboro Woolworth sit-ins to protest segregation, said how important it is that these events spread allegiance to the nation across the state.

“There’s been so many misconceptions, so much misinformation, history trying to be rewritten,” Henderson said. “This country is being destroyed from within because people don’t understand what this country represents.”

Henderson, the former chairman of the North Carolina Martin Luther King Jr. Commission and president emeritus of the Frederick Douglass Foundation of North Carolina, said he could not overemphasize how important it is that these events convey how America offers a great opportunity to all.

“You and others created history,” Sen. Alexander said to Henderson. “I hope that we are able to somehow capture that story [for the semiquincentennial].”

Grant Spending

Dan Kane, The News & Observer, 8/24/24

A federal grand jury has issued a subpoena to UNC-Wilmington demanding records about Marion Warren, a former state district court judge who is the university’s state legislative liaison.

The subpoena is linked to a grand jury investigation into a domestic violence prevention program funded by a North Carolina nonprofit, one of dozens of organizations where legislators have sent millions of dollars of direct grants in recent years.

The Aug. 5 subpoena demands “all documents and records relating to Warren’s position at UNC Wilmington.” It also asks for UNCW’s employee code of ethics, conflict of interest and outside employment policies. Among other things involving several more people, the subpoena also demands all documents and records of payments UNCW made to Warren and Juristrat, a company Warren founded in 2020.

Juristrat was formed as a “consulting and investing” business, state incorporation records show. Warren, a former state Administrative Office of the Courts director, is the only company official listed in its annual reports.

The campus provided a copy of the subpoena to The News & Observer Friday in response to a records request. Warren did not respond to a reporter’s phone call or text message this week.

UNCW hired Warren in April 2023 as an assistant to the chancellor and executive director of government and external relations. His annual salary is $213,200. The News & Observer has documented that he and his company have received consulting fees for a Charlotte company called U.S. Performance Center that had also received a direct grant from the state legislature.

A center spokesman said the fees were for “legal services and strategic counsel on how to best partner with colleges and universities.”

Before Warren was hired by UNCW, Juristrat had collected $300,000 in consulting fees from the Charlotte company that specializes in Olympic sports, state records show. Those fees continued until September of 2023, after he was hired at UNCW, with an additional $110,000 paid to Warren and his business.

Reporting off-campus income and positions is required of faculty and administrators to alert campuses to any potential conflicts of interest, records and interviews show. But a disclosure form Warren filled out for UNCW does not mention Juristrat or any payments from the company, U.S. Performance Center.

Warren did not fill out what is known as a “Notice of Intent to Engage in External Professional Activities for Pay,” UNCW attorney Steven Miller said in an email message. That form is required for faculty and administrative officials at UNC System campuses to gain approval for outside work.

University officials declined to comment on Warren’s conflict of interest report.

The subpoena focuses on more than Warren. It also requires all documents and records relating to payments from UNCW to four individuals: Larry Powell, Sonja Powell, Shawn Sullivan and Jordan Hennessy and to four companies: Juristrat, Banbridge, Tarheel Monitoring, LLC, Monotec, LLC.

All except Banbridge were also named in a separate subpoena the grand jury issued in June to the N.C. Department of Public Safety, which administers grants legislators gave to Caitlyn’s Courage, the domestic violence prevention nonprofit.

Hennessy is a former GOP legislative aide who co-wrote the legislation with Warren that provided the state funding for Caitlyn’s Courage, according to correspondence obtained by the News & Observer.

That nonprofit contracted with Tarheel Monitoring to run its prevention program. The Powells and Sullivan are Tarheel’s top officials, according to state records, and Monotec shares a business address with the company. Warren founded Banbridge, a “consultation and management services” company in 2021, according to state incorporation records. The subpoena required the records to be returned this week to the grand jury at the federal building in Raleigh. [Source]

Self Defense

Will Doran, WRAL News, 8/25/24

A state Supreme Court ruling Friday examined the extent to which North Carolinians have the right to kill or injure intruders on their property because of the Castle Doctrine — the legal principle that people have an inherent right to defend themselves or others while inside their home.

The ruling stems from a case in Fayetteville where a woman named Latoyna Dunlap knocked on her neighbor Angela Phillips’ door to confront her about things she believed Phillips had said. Witnesses disagreed on what exactly happened next, except that Phillips shot Dunlap, leaving her permanently disabled.

After being arrested for the shooting, Phillips took the case to trial and claimed self-defense based on the Castle Doctrine. At the trial, Cumberland County Superior Court Judge James Ammons told jurors that “self-defense is to preserve life. It’s not to give somebody a license to take somebody’s life simply because they’ve come on their property.”

Ammons also told the jurors that, as they deliberated on whether Phillips was guilty, that they could consider her self-defense argument — but also must weigh it against a rule that self-defense can’t involve excessive force.

Friday’s Supreme Court ruling said that that’s wrong.

There used to be a prohibition against using excessive force, the court’s Republican-majority states in the ruling, which divided the court along party lines. But the GOP majority wrote that they believe North Carolina’s Republican-led legislature meant to largely get rid of that prohibition on excessive force when lawmakers rewrote the state’s Castle Doctrine rules in 2011.

The opinion was written by Republican Justice Phil Berger Jr. His father Sen. Phil Berger Sr. is the top-ranking Republican state senator, a position he also held in 2011 when that law was passed.

“It has long been recognized that an individual has a fundamental right to defend his or her home from unlawful intrusion,” the younger Berger wrote in Friday’s ruling. “The General Assembly, as the policy making branch of our government, has twice chosen to expand that common law principle by broadening the set of circumstances under which deadly force is justified.”

Phillips was ultimately convicted of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury and sentenced to two to four years in prison. Friday’s ruling sends her case back to a lower court for a new examination of the facts.

Democratic justices Anita Earls and Allison Riggs wrote that they agreed with their GOP colleagues that the jury at Phillips’ original trial got bad instructions. But they dissented against the majority decision to send the case back down to a lower court. The Supreme Court should’ve been more aggressive in saying explicitly whether Phillips’ conduct was still criminal even in light of the new legal standards, Earls wrote.

She hinted at how she might have ruled if that had happened, expressing concern that the majority opinion didn’t go far enough in explaining that the Castle Doctrine is not “a blank check for violence.” She said she wanted to make it clear that North Carolinians still can’t shoot people who legally enter their property — unless they later have reason to fear for their lives, instead of just wanting the person to leave. “Lethal force is not the appropriate response to a lawful and unforceful entry onto property,” Earls wrote. [Source]

Governor Polls

Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan, The News & Observer, 8/25/24

A new High Point University/SurveyUSA poll paints a rosier Election Day outlook for Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein than it does for Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson.

Among registered voters, Stein leads Robinson by 14 percentage points: 48% to 34%. Another 18% are undecided. Among certain voters, Stein also maintains a large lead of 16 points, ▪ Among probable voters, Stein’s lead drops to six points.

Among those who plan to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris for president, 88% say they will vote for Stein. Among those who plan to vote for former President Donald Trump, 68% say they will vote for Robinson, too.

However, notably, 13% of Trump voters will also vote for Stein; and 5% of Harris voters will also vote for Robinson. It isn’t too unusual for North Carolina to split ballots. Trump won the state in the election, as did Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. What’s more significant about the poll is the size of the spread between Stein and Robinson, which is growing larger in favor of Stein compared to previous surveys.

Also this week, Stein announced a plan timed for back-to-school season. Most North Carolina public schools — those that are traditional calendar and follow the state law — start the school year this week. He held press conferences around the state about his “Ready. Set. Save!” plan.

His proposal includes reinstating the sales tax holiday that was repealed in 2014. Usually held the first weekend in August, the sales tax holiday was meant as tax relief for school supplies. Stein also proposed giving more teachers a stipend to cover school supplies they pay for out-of-pocket, and more funding for free school meals.

Robinson unveiled two policy proposals in August: economic and public safety. He held a press conference in Statesville hours before Trump took the stage at a rally in Asheboro.

Robinson’s economic plan includes wanting to cut taxes for businesses and individual taxpayers and address inflation by cutting fees as well. Robinson attended the rally featuring Trump and Sen. JD Vance, but did not give a speech. [Source]

Kennedy Ballots

Lynn Bonner, NC Newsline, 8/23/24

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Friday he is removing his name from ballots in 10 swing states as he suspends his independent campaign for president and backs former President Donald Trump. Kennedy’s campaign asked this week for his name to be removed from ballots in Arizona and Pennsylvania. At his news conference, Kennedy encouraged voters who don’t live in competitive states to still vote for him.

North Carolina is considered a swing state, with polls showing a tight race between Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump. Kennedy is running in North Carolina as the nominee of the new We the People Party.

Ryan Rabah, vice chairman of Kennedy’s We the People North Carolina party and one of its lawyers, said Friday before Kennedy’s news conference that he was unaware of Kennedy’s plans for remaining on the ballot here. In an email, Board of Elections spokesman Pat Gannon said the office had not heard from We the People about its presidential nominee. As of Friday afternoon, about 30 of the state’s 100 counties had already started printing ballots, Gannon wrote.

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been nominated by the We The People Party as that party’s presidential candidate to be listed on the ballot. That party has not informed the State Board of any plans to change its nomination,” Gannon wrote. “If We The People officially withdraws his nomination, the State Board would have to consider whether it is practical to remove his name from ballots and reprint ballots at that time.”

Kennedy started We the People in his fight for ballot access in North Carolina and a handful of other states. The move was controversial. North Carolina Democrats sued over the State Board of Elections’ decision to certify We the People as a new party, saying it was simply a vehicle to get Kennedy, who was really an independent candidate, on the ballot. It’s easier to start a new party in the state than it is to gain ballot access a statewide independent candidate.

A Wake County judge just last week rejected Democrats’ attempt to keep Kennedy off the ballot.

Kennedy said during his Friday press conference that he did not want to be a spoiler and that staying on the ballot in battleground states would hand the election to Harris.

Friday afternoon, Kennedy’s sister called the Trump endorsement “a betrayal of the values that our father and family hold dear.” Kerry Kennedy said in a statement on the platform X that the family supports a brighter vision filled with hope. “We believe in Harris and Walz.”

It’s unclear how Kennedy’s decision will change the race. Recent national polls showed Kennedy losing ground, with support dropping to the single digits. To date, 73 North Carolina voters have registered as members of the We The People party.

Kennedy’s campaign was struggling. He has not made it onto the ballot in all 50 states and he’s running out of money. His campaign’s latest financial report shows about $4 million cash on hand and about $3.5 million in debts and loans. [Source]

Gambling Helpline

Brian Murphy, WRAL News, 8/25/24

A record number of people have called the state’s problem gambling helpline since North Carolina launched legal online sports betting earlier this year. The helpline took more than 500 calls between March and the end of June, according to data collected by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and obtained by WRAL.

It is the busiest four-month period on record for the helpline, which has data back to 2010. The North Carolina Problem Gambling Helpline set records for the numbers of calls taken in April, May and June, the last month for which data is available.

Sports betting in North Carolina began on March 11, and gamblers in the state have wagered more than $2.5 billion through the end of July.

“In almost every state where we’ve expanded gambling, especially in terms of sports with wagering or iGaming, we’ve seen a rapid growth in the number of calls going to their hotlines,” said Michelle Malkin, the executive director of East Carolina University’s Gambling Research and Policy Initiative.

Calls to the helpline more than doubled from February (68) to March (157) and April (159). The state is on pace to set an annual record, too, for calls to the helpline. Part of the reason for the increased calls is due to awareness. Gambling companies are required to prominently display the helpline number.

North Carolina collected more than $50 million in taxes and fees from gambling operators and affiliated companies in the fiscal year that ended on June 30. The DHHS received $2 million for gambling addiction and treatment programs.

Malkin said anyone who calls the helpline is eligible for free third-party counseling for gambling. It includes gamblers and those who are impacted by others’ gambling. Insurance is billed, but out-of-pocket costs are covered by the state. The program just launched, but it has room for about 100 people. “We’re going to assess what they need, how much treatment they need and provide that treatment through this third party,” Malkin said. [Source]

Summerfield Land

DJ Simmons, WFDD Radio, 8/23/24

The Guilford County Planning Board on Wednesday approved rezoning a portion of land that was formerly part of the town of Summerfield.

In June, the General Assembly approved the de-annexation of nearly 1,000 acres in Summerfield. The legislation was connected to a proposal by developer David Couch to create a new housing and retail complex on the land. At the Planning Board’s special meeting, it remained clear the two parties still did not see eye-to-eye.

Summerfield Town Council member Janelle Robinson said at the meeting officials could not find a middle ground with Couch. “We tried over and over to work with the developer, and gave many concessions and many compromises, and none of them were ever good enough,” Robinson said.

Attorney Tom Terrell, who represents Couch, argued the town was difficult to work with and alleged at one point it increased rezoning fees that would directly affect his client. “When the claim is made that they have done everything they can to work with that developer, I want you to know that there is a reason why it was de-annexed,” he said.

The Planning Board voted to rezone a majority of the area with the exception of a portion of the land staff recommended to be zoned general business, or GB.

Board member Cara Buchanan said there needed to be some restrictions. “I’m all for development. My job is development,” Buchanan said. “However, there needs to be some sort of limit. And if we allow this to all be GB, then there’s no limit.”

The Board may consider rezoning the remaining area at its meeting on Sept. 11. [Source]

Cary Elections

William Tong, The News & Observer, 8/23/24

Cary voters will elect their local leaders a different way after the Town Council voted Thursday night to use the same election method most North Carolina communities use.

Since 2000, Cary has used the nonpartisan runoff election method, which lets candidates who finish second in a race in the town’s October general elections request a runoff vote in November. That method can be expensive, council members and town staff said Thursday.
For its 2023 municipal elections, Cary reimbursed Wake, Chatham and Durham counties’ boards of elections $690,711. The town is located in parts of each of those counties.

“Saving money — being cheap — is paramount,” council member Carissa Kohn-Johnson said.

The plurality method removes the possibility of a runoff. Whoever gets the most votes in the general election wins.

Cary previously used the nonpartisan plurality election method from 1871-1935 and 1963-2000. Some council members worry the plurality method might put candidates who didn’t win a majority of votes into office.

“We were having people prevailing with a small number of votes,” Mayor Pro Tem Jennifer Bryson Robinson said about why Cary chose a runoff system in the past. Robinson supported the change “with reluctance” and said she hopes candidates won’t be winning with 25% of the vote. [Source]

Rent Lawsuit

Avi Bajpai and Brian Gordon, The News & Observer, 8/23/24

The federal government, joined by North Carolina and seven other states, filed an antitrust lawsuit Friday against RealPage, accusing the real estate software company of helping landlords across the country “sidestep” market competition that should bring rental prices down, and instead charge renters more.

In a 115-page complaint filed in the Middle District of North Carolina, the federal government said RealPage had “built a business out of frustrating the natural forces of competition” with software it sells to landlords to collect “nonpublic information” about renters gathered by competing landlords and make “pricing recommendations.”

The complaint states that while renters rely on “robust and fierce competition between landlords,” the software landlords use from RealPage “distorts that competition.”

The lawsuit, which accuses the Texas-based company of violating sections of federal antitrust law, seeks to rid rental markets of RealPage’s “unlawful information-sharing scheme,” and end what the government said was “its illegal monopoly in commercial revenue management software.”

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein joined the lawsuit, as have a bipartisan group of attorneys general and lawyers for the seven other states.

During a press conference Friday afternoon, Stein said that while the exact usage of RealPage’s software by landlords in North Carolina isn’t clear right now, three of the top 10 markets the company operates in are Charlotte, Raleigh, and Durham/Chapel Hill.

Stein, a Democrat who is running for governor, said the lawsuit was filed in North Carolina because the state “was harder hit than almost any other state in the country,” and because attorneys joining the legal action knew he “would aggressively pursue it.” [Source]

Named

News Release, 8/23/24

The Office of Gov. Roy Cooper has announced the appointment of Alexandria E. Leake to serve as District Court Judge in Judicial District 35, serving Avery, Madison, Mitchell, Watauga and Yancey counties. Leake will fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Hal Harrison. “I am grateful for Allie Leake’s service to her community and her willingness to step up,” Cooper said. Leake is currently a Partner at Leake and Stokes, PLLC in Marshall. Leake received her Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her Juris Doctorate from West Virginia University College of Law.

Departmental Roundup

State Affairs Pro, 8/26/24

North Carolina departments published a number of news releases on Friday. The N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services announced that its North Carolina Pesticide Disposal Assistance Program had reached a significant milestone, collecting more than five million pounds of banned, outdated or unwanted pesticides in the state since the program began in 1980. Operating under the Structural Pest Control and Pesticides Division, the program aims to keep the unwanted or banned pesticides from being accidentally released or disposed of in landfills or other improper manners. “It’s really rewarding to know that people want to do the right thing, and we’re helping them do that,” PDAP manager Derrick Bell said. Collection events in Columbus, Sampson and Wake counties garnered 20,000 pounds of pesticides in one week, putting the program over the five-million mark.

“It took us nearly 40 years to collect four million pounds of pesticides, and now the program has been so utilized that we collected another million pounds in just the last five years,” said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. “It is not a regulatory program, but instead is a voluntary way for farmers or other homeowners and citizens to safely dispose of pesticides.” Prior to 2019, the program averaged about 160,000 pounds of pesticides collected each year. In the last five years, that average has been 196,509 pounds per year, with 2022 setting a record of 217,476 pounds collected. This year, PDAP has collected about 170,000 pounds of pesticides.

Troxler also announced that nine agricultural research projects were awarded over $1.16 million in specialty crop block grant funding. The projects focus on helping specialty crop growers manage disease and adverse weather conditions and look at new plant varieties that could grow better in the state. “Specialty crops offer great opportunities for North Carolina farmers and these projects have the potential to lead to better production recommendations for farmers and ultimately increased production,” Troxler said. “Projects this year involve strawberries, pumpkins, native plants, blackberries, wine grapes, vegetable crops and Christmas trees and all are spearheaded by N.C. State University researchers.” NCDA&CS administers the statewide program with project funding coming from the USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.

Meanwhile, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services announced the launch of the North Carolina Strategic Housing Plan to help maintain, increase and better utilize affordable supportive housing for people with disabilities across the state. This plan addresses housing needs for individuals with disabilities, including those who are currently receiving or eligible for NCDHHS-funded services as well as those who are experiencing homelessness, currently residing in congregate settings or at risk of entry into these settings, according to a news release. “Improving equitable access to housing opportunities empowers people with disabilities to choose their own path for their life,” said NCDHHS Deputy Secretary for Health Equity and Chief Health Equity Officer Debra Farrington. Beginning in May 2021, NCDHHS gathered a diverse group of stakeholders and department leaders to form the Housing Leadership Committee. This group collaborated to develop the Strategic Housing Plan with the goal of increasing access to a broad spectrum of community housing options while simplifying pathways to community-based care for individuals within their chosen community. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently announced a nearly $8 million grant awarded to the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency (NC HFA) to create 225 additional affordable housing units in North Carolina for people with disabilities. NCDHHS will continue to partner with NC HFA and other community organizations to implement strategies to improve affordable housing options for people with disabilities and to meet the goals of the NC Strategic Housing Plan.

The N.C. Department of Justice announced that Attorney General Josh Stein had filed a bipartisan lawsuit against software company RealPage, alleging that it violated antitrust law and pushed apartment prices artificially high for renters in North Carolina and across the country. Stein is joined in filing the lawsuit in the Middle District of North Carolina by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Attorneys General of California, Connecticut, Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington. “Few things are as important as our homes – but too many North Carolinians struggle to afford their apartment,” said Stein. “Rents are already too high.”

RealPage sells “revenue management software” to property managers across the country, with a heavy footprint in the Triangle and Charlotte-Mecklenburg areas. In exchange for buying and using that software, property managers share detailed, nonpublic, competitively sensitive data with RealPage that includes information about units coming on the market, the rent they are charging, and discounts.

RealPage uses this nonpublic information to suggest a price that property managers should charge for their apartments to make more money. Then, RealPage uses a range of strategies to induce its clients to automatically accept those recommendations. When they do, prices for comparable apartments become artificially inflated, and renters aren’t able to find a better deal by shopping around.

“Access to affordable housing options is becoming increasingly difficult,” said Monica Burks, Policy Counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending. “Anti-competitive practices that inflate already high housing costs disadvantage individuals and families working hard to secure this basic need.”

School Tour

News Release, 8/23/24

Gov. Roy Cooper issued a news release Friday saying that he would continue to tour the state’s public schools to highlight successes the state has enjoyed in public education. Cooper will also continue to urge “the legislature to fully fund public education and make meaningful investments in teacher pay,” the news release said. Cooper has visited dozens of public schools and early childhood education programs over the past eight months highlighting statistics such as:

North Carolina has the highest number of National Board-certified teachers in the country.
In the 2022-2023 school year, North Carolina public school students earned over 325,000 workforce credentials.
More than one-third of high school graduates take at least one college course for credit, preparing them for meaningful careers that boost our communities.
In 2023, North Carolina students outpaced the national average of number of students taking Advanced Placement exams and the number of students receiving a proficient score of 3 or higher.
The graduation rate in 2023 was 87%, one of the highest numbers in our state’s history.

Registration Forms

Bianca Holman, WTVD News, 8/24/24

Trenice Wright pulled into the driveway of her job Friday afternoon in Raleigh and saw dozens of white forms on the ground. She took a closer look; they were all voter registration forms.

“I felt bad because…one, people’s information is on there. Their addresses are on there,” Wright said. “Then, they’re assuming that they’re registered to vote.”

Most of the ones WTVD News saw were blank. However, there were three completed. According to the Board of Elections website, one was invalid and the other two were registered voters. ABC11 was able to contact one of the voters, who did not want to reveal her name. She said she completed the form with a nonprofit group at the Southgate Plaza Food Lion. She wanted to volunteer and confirm her address change.

Those living in the area said it was trash day but are still unsure how this happened. “I am hoping it was an accident,” Wright said. “I would hope that someone did not purposely throw these voter registrations out their window or walk past and just throw them.” [Source]

Liquidia Lawsuit

Kevin Ellis, Business NC, 8/22/24

Morrisville-based Liquidia has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to challenge its decision to grant exclusivity to a competing drug for lung disease. The FDA granted Liquidia tentative approval for its drug Yutrepia, an inhalation powder that treats two types of lung disease. However, the FDA ruled it would not give Liquidia final approval until a three-year exclusivity agreement expired on May 23, 2025, for a similar drug, Tyvaso DPI, made by Silver Spring, Maryland-based United Therapeutics.

Liquidia’s stock price has slumped more than 31% in the last four days. It was trading for about $9.50, after closing at $14.20 on Friday. Liquidia has a 52-week range of between $5.71-$16.99.

“The FDA’s action improperly allows United Therapeutics to tack on yet another regulatory exclusivity, stifling competition and patient choice,” says Liquidia CEO Roger Jeffs in a release. “This decision violates clear congressional intent to allow NCI (new clinical investigation) exclusivity only for true innovations that are supported by new clinical studies that demonstrate safety and/or efficacy of the innovation. It is our strong belief that the FDA’s decision to grant Tyvaso DPI this new NCI exclusivity should be vacated, and Liquidia should be allowed to bring Yutrepia to market for the benefit of patients immediately.”

Yutrepia treats pulmonary arterial hypertension, a rare, chronic, progressive disease caused by hardening and narrowing of the pulmonary arteries that can lead to right heart failure and eventually death. Currently, an estimated 45,000 patients are diagnosed and treated in the United States. There is currently no cure for PAH, so the goals of existing treatments are to alleviate symptoms, maintain or improve functional class, delay disease progression, and improve quality of life, according to Liquidia. Tyvaso DPI gained approval on May 23, 2022. [Source]

WS/FCS Enrollment

Amy Diaz, WFDD Radio, 8/25/24

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools began the academic year with nearly 2,000 fewer students than expected. One explanation for the absences is the district’s start date this year, which was two weeks earlier than normal – a decision made in January.

According to Superintendent Tricia McManus, there were about 350 students who let the district know they’d be missing the first couple of weeks due to preplanned vacations and camps.
But that still leaves roughly 1,600 fewer students on the fifth day of school this year compared to last. That’s important because the state uses that data to calculate funding allotments.
“That’s how we provide services for our students, our multilingual learners, and our students that have IEPs,” she said. “Like all of the people and the resources that we provide are based on numbers.”

The district is reaching out to families in an effort to get kids back in class, which has been working to some extent. On the first day of school, McManus says there were 46,985 students. By the fifth day, that number rose to 49,544.

“I think it’s just going to keep going up every day, and we’ll just keep keeping our eye on that, and keep calling those that have not shown up yet,” she said.

McManus says the goal is to stay close to last year’s enrollment figure, around 51,000. Plus, she says this is an important time for students to learn about procedures and expectations in their schools. [Source]

NCSU Title

Shelby Swanson, The News & Observer, 8/25/24

Thanks to their “Intimidator” tractor, the Pack Pullers — an engineering group at N.C. State — were named overall champions in the 2024 International Quarter-Scale Tractor Student Design Competition in Peoria, Illinois. The competition, held annually in late May and early June, gives students real-world engineering experience by challenging them to design, build and test small-scale tractors.

The Wolfpack team, who have participated in the competition for roughly 20 years and have never finished higher than third, was named overall champion.

The competition is a comprehensive test of each team’s tractor design. Participants endure early mornings and late nights in Peoria, where they must justify their design choices and demonstrate their tractor’s superiority in operational efficiency, durability and effectiveness. [Source]

NC Insider Legislative Report
LB: LEGISLATIVE BUILDING. LOB: LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING

HOUSE CALENDAR

Monday, Sept. 9, 2024

House Convenes at 12 P.M.
SENATE CALENDAR

Monday, Sept. 9, 2024

Senate Convenes at 12 P.M.
HOUSE & SENATE: Reconvening allowed under provisions of SB 916, if no sine die adjournment previously adopted.

Monday, Sept. 9 to Wednesday, Sept. 11
Wednesday, Oct. 9
Tuesday, Nov. 19 to Friday Nov. 22
Wednesday, Dec. 11 to Friday Dec. 13

Legislative Studies and Meetings
LB: LEGISLATIVE BUILDING. LOB: LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING

Thursday, August 29

1 p.m. | Agriculture and Forestry Awareness Study Commission, Ed Emory Auditorium, Kenansville.
 

N.C. Government Meetings and Hearings
BOLD ITEMS ARE NEW LISTINGS

Tuesday, Aug. 27

1 p.m. | Coastal Resources Commission Meeting, Beaufort Hotel 2440 Lennoxville Road, Beaufort.
Wednesday, Aug. 28

9 a.m. | Coastal Resources Commission Meeting, Beaufort Hotel 2440 Lennoxville Road, Beaufort.
10 a.m. | North Carolina Rules Review Commission – Rules Review Commission Meeting, 1711 New Hope Church Road, Raleigh.
1 p.m. | NC Global TransPark Authority – Executive Committee Meeting, 2780 Jetport Road, Kinston.

Tuesday, Sept. 3

1:30 p.m. | The Accountability Committee of The North Carolina Partnership for Children meets, The meeting will be held via Zoom. You may contact Yvonne Huntley at 984.221.1242 or email at [email protected] for additional information.
Friday, Sept. 6

10 a.m. | The Finance and Audit Committee of The North Carolina Partnership for Children meets, The meeting will be held via Zoom. You may contact Yvonne Huntley at 984.221.1242 or email at [email protected] for additional information.
Tuesday, Sept. 10

8:30 a.m. | The Fund Development Committee of The North Carolina Partnership for Children meets, The meeting will be held via Zoom. You may contact Yvonne Huntley at 984.221.1242 or email at [email protected] for additional information.
Tuesday, Sept. 17

10 a.m. | The North Carolina Partnership for Children Board of Directors meets. You may contact Yvonne Huntley at 984.221.1242 or email at [email protected] for additional information.
 

UNC Board of Governors
23 S. WEST STREET, SUITE 1800, RALEIGH

Wednesday, Sept. 11

Meeting of the Board of Governors, TBA.
Thursday, Sept. 12

Meeting of the Board of Governors, TBA.
Thursday, Oct. 17

Meeting of the Board of Governors, TBA.
Wednesday, Nov. 13

Meeting of the Board of Governors, TBA.
Thursday, Nov. 14

Meeting of the Board of Governors, TBA.
 
N.C. Utilities Commission Hearing Schedule
DOBBS BUILDING, 430 NORTH SALISBURY STREET, RALEIGH

Monday, Aug. 26

6:30 p.m. | Public Witness Hearing – Application for General Rate Increase for Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Inc. | G-9 Sub 837
Monday, Sept. 16

1 p.m. | Public and Expert Witness Hearing – Application Pursuant to G.S. 62-133.2 and Commission Rule R8-55 relating to Fuel and Fuel-related Charge Adjustments for Electric Utilities | E-2 Sub 1341
1 p.m. | Public and Expert Witness Hearing – Application pursuant to G.S. 62-133.9 and Commission Rule R8-69 for Approval of Demand-Side Management and Energy Efficiency Cost Recovery Rider | E-2 Sub 1342
1 p.m. | Public and Expert Witness Hearing – Application Pursuant to G.S. 62-133.8 and Commission Rule R8-67 for Approval of CEPS Compliance Report and CEPS Cost Recovery Rider | E-2 Sub 1343
1 p.m. | Public and Expert Witness Hearing – Application pursuant to G.S. 62-110.8 and Commission Rule R8-71 for Approval of CPRE Compliance Report and CPRE Cost Recovery Rider | E-2 Sub 1344
1 p.m. | Public and Expert Witness Hearing – Application pursuant to G.S. 62-133.2 and Commission Rule R8-70 relating to Joint Agency Asset Cost Recovery Rider | E-2 Sub 1345
Tuesday, Sept. 17

10 a.m. | Expert Witness Hearing – Application for General Rate Increase for Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Inc. | G-9 Sub 837
 

Other Meetings and Events of Interest
BOLD ITEMS ARE NEW LISTINGS

Tuesday, Aug. 27

10 a.m. | Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler will host top Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture leaders, plus other national and state leaders to discuss the emergence of H5N1 in dairy cattle and the federal and state response, Kerr Scott Building at the N.C. State Fairgrounds. To RSVP, visit the Conversations with the Commissioner link on the NCDA&CS webpage at www.ncagr.gov.

Friday, Sept. 6

No time given | The 2024 N.C. Mountain State Fair opens at the WNC Agricultural Center in Fletcher. Runs through the 15th, and more information is available at https://www.wncagcenter.org/p/mountainstatefair
Friday, Sept. 27

2024 Lumbee Powwow, Lumbee Tribe Cultural Center, 638 Terry Sanford Drive, Maxton.