WBTV Fact Check: Ross Makes Misleading Claims in Defending Position About Sex Offender Registry | Eastern NC Now

Press Release:

    Raleigh, NC     One day after Deborah Ross said she was being "a good lobbyist" when she fought against the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry, WBTV released a detailed fact check that ruled Ross did in fact oppose the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry. For months, Ross has tried to avoid tough questions about the dangerous record she amassed during her time as the top lobbyist for the ACLU-demonstrating how desperate she is to distract voters from the truth about her pattern of prioritizing the interests of criminals over the safety of North Carolina communities.

    WBTV: #Fridayfactcheck: Ross Makes Misleading Claims In Defending Position About Sex Offender Registry
   

• "The war of words between Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) and his Democratic Challenger, Deborah Ross, has headed up over accusations from Burr that Ross opposed the creation of North Carolina's sex offender registry.
• "Ross, in turn, has accused Burr of lying and has pointed to a series of 18 votes she claims to have made during her time as a state representative in support of legislation she said strengthened or updated the sex offender registry.
• "This week's fact check explores the claims made by Burr about Ross' stance on the registry as well as the claims Ross has made in defending herself.
• ...
• "To support the ad's claim, the Burr campaign points to a memo Ross wrote as the executive director of the North Carolina chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union in 1995 summarizing legislation passed during the recently-concluded legislation session.
• "Specifically, Ross wrote that the memo highlights "key bills we lobbied on."
• "One of the last bills highlighted in the memo is SB53, which created the state's sex offender registry.
• "Ross' campaign refused multiple requests from On Your Side Investigates to make Ross available for an on-camera interview, so we were unable to ask her questions about her position on the creation of the sex offender registry.
• ...
• "Both the 1995 ACLU legislative memo and Ross' comments in the 1998 article present a consistent message from Ross that cast doubt on the efficacy of a sex offender registry. The opening line of her 1995 memo indicates that she was involved in lobbying against the original legislation that created the sex offender registry.
• "For those reasons, we rate Burr's claim as true.
• ...
• "We did not have an opportunity to ask Ross about the questions raised in our review of her defense because her campaign refused multiple requests to make her available for an on-camera interview.
• "Because of Odom's reference to only the 1997 bill in his defense of Ross and because of the multiple questions raised by the series of votes cited by Ross' campaign, we rate the claims made by Ross in response to the attacks from Burr as false.
   

• Contact: Jesse Hunt
•     jhunt@burrforsenate.com