NC GOP 6th Supports Guilford Citizen Action to Investigate Illegal Government Electioneering
For Release 4:00pm April 27, 2022
6th Congressional District Supports Citizen Complaint Against Guilford County Tax Increase and Debt Issuance Ballot Referenda Due to illegal and coercive campaign activities using government funds and resources
Greensboro— April 27, 2022 — This afternoon, a Request for Investigation was presented to Guilford County Board of Elections and the County Attorney. The letter, signed by Charles Winfree, attorney for Jerry Alan Branson, outlined many illegal electioneering activities on the part of Guilford County Government and Schools.
“On its blazing banner, the County directs you to “information” about the upcoming school bond. This link presents the viewer with an entirely unbalanced discussion of the bond, accentuating the needs and downplaying the costs of the bond. There is no discussion of the hundreds of millions of dollars that the County will be obligated to pay in interest and other costs associated with the issuance of the bonds,” said Mr. Winfree, in the letter.
Teachers, Parents and Students are being barraged
Since early April, government websites (Guilford County and GCS) have pushed a pro- bond and tax increase message, even going to far as to include the Democratic Composite Sample Ballot on that site. That ballot was removed from the site in response to demands by Guilford County Republican, Marcus Kindley, and Guilford County Republican Party Chairman, David Gleeson. However, over the last week, the government’s sales campaign has extended to mandatory teacher meetings, pro-bond flyers to be distributed by teachers, pro-bond messages at on campus student assemblies, unattributed mailers, etc. After having been inundated with messages such as ‘the bond will get nice things for your school,’ the You Can Vote organization
is scheduled to bus students of voting age to the polls to vote for the bond beginning April 28, the first day of early voting.
“These messages are not balanced, or even honest in some cases,” said J. Alan Branson, of Guilford County, who is also running for the Republican At Large County Commissioner slot in the May 17 primary, “and voters and taxpayers, parents and students deserve better.”
The Statutes are clear.
“The above activities by Guilford County clearly violate N.C.G.S. 153A-456, which flatly prohibits Guilford County from using county funds or assets to endorse a referendum. More generally, N.C.G.S. 153A-99 prohibits the use of public funds for political purposes. Furthermore, our Court of Appeals ruled in Dollar v. Town of Cary, 153 N.C. App. 309 (2002) that governmental advertising that is designed to promote a viewpoint on an issue in order to influence an election is impermissible. Because Guilford County is promoting a viewpoint that the bonds and sales tax increase should be approved, this constitutes an illegal contribution or expenditure in violation of our election laws,” the letter continues.
The bond issuance is potentially tainted
The entire letter can be read here.
The 6th Congressional District Republican Executive Committee presently represents Guilford, Rockingham, most of Caswell and some of Forsyth counties.
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For more information, press only (only about this endorsement):
Tina Forsberg, Chairman, 6th Congressional District [email protected]
UPDATE:
Contact for Alan Branson: 336-451-7169, [email protected]
Contact for Chuck Winfree: 336-273-8998, [email protected]