Democrat BOE Appointees Reject Openness, Transparency and Bipartisanship | Eastern NC Now

Press Release:

    Raleigh, NC     Today under Governor Roy Cooper's direction, Democrat appointees on the new State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement have chosen to reject transparency. The Democrats voted down an online application process that would have allowed all qualified citizens to apply to be the ninth member of the Board of Elections. They voted down the nomination of a former Democrat Chief Justice to the North Carolina Supreme Court. They voted down the Republican's two suggested nominees of Chief Justice Burley Mitchell and legislative expert Gerry Cohen, who was a registered Democrat for several decades and drafted every single election statue currently in use. Instead, Democrats are opting to act as puppets for Governor Cooper.

    '"We are proud of our Republican members today. They stood up for transparency, openness and inclusion. As of this moment, Governor Cooper has a choice-- select a highly qualified former Democrat State Supreme Court Justice, or select a partisan liberal Democratic plant. Should the Governor choose wrong, his selection of the ninth member of the board will likely be the beginning and the end of that body," said Dallas Woodhouse, NCGOP Executive Director. "The North Carolina Republican Party will have no choice but to support amending the North Carolina Constitution to require an even bipartisan Elections Board, and recent polling shows that it would pass easily."

    The ninth seat is supposed to be reserved for a nonpartisan appointee. Instead of cooperating, Democrats have made it abundantly clear that they will accept no one other than Governor Cooper's choice, Damon Circosta, a far left liberal activist that is partisan in every way other than registration. Circosta served as an Obama legal adviser, attended marches protesting Republicans, and currently runs an organization that funds a host of liberal causes, most offensively, Circosta has ties to "BLUEPRINT-NC," an organization whose stated purpose was to "eviscerate" Republicans.

• Contact: Emily Weeks
•     Emily.Weeks@ncgop.org