CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story referred to Mecklenburg Party Democratic Party Chair Drew Kromer inquiring about WFAE’s voter guide listing Republican Bill Fountain as a Democrat, and Fountain saying he did not remember writing that. It appears that WFAE’s system for taking responses from candidates logged another candidate’s responses under Fountain’s name. We are still trying to figure out how that happened. We regret the error.
Eleven of the 14 candidates seeking three at-large seats on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board are registered Democrats. The race is non-partisan, which means there’s no primary and party affiliation isn’t listed on the ballot.
But that doesn’t stop political parties from promoting their own candidates. In recent years the Mecklenburg Democratic Party has listed all registered Democrats and let voters decide which they prefer. But this year local party Chair Drew Kromer says the group broke with tradition and chose only three to promote.
That’s partly about focusing efforts in a crowded race where a small number of votes could determine who gets the three seats. But it’s also about avoiding a repeat of state Rep. Tricia Cotham’s April switch from Democrat to Republican, which happened after she beat three fellow Democrats in the primary, then took 59% of the vote against a Republican in the November election.
Kromer says if the party had looked more closely at her donors, they might have suspected she had Republican sympathies and support.
Republicans talk a lot about RINOs, or Republicans in Name Only. Kromer wants to make sure he’s not promoting any Democrats in Name Only … and during the endorsement process he found one that raised questions.
Questions about Michael Johnson
Six of the Democrats on the school board ballot — Shamaiye Haynes, Michael Johnson Jr., Brian Kasher, Tigress McDaniel, Liz Monterrey, Lenora Shipp and Monty Witherspoon — filled out questionnaires and interviewed with Democrats to seek the local party’s endorsement. The party endorsed Monterrey, Shipp and Witherspoon.
Johnson, a first-time candidate, answered a question about support from “Republican or conservative-leaning groups” by saying he expected a $200 donation from a Republican minister who prays with him weekly. But before the endorsement vote, Kromer told party members that the Raleigh post office box on Johnson’s campaign site is the same one used by several Republican groups, including one associated with GOP U.S. Sen. Ted Budd.
“It’s that sort of information that we want to identify so that people can see the treasury connections … that should raise questions for the Democratic Party,” Kromer said.
Johnson is part of a trio calling themselves the CMS Unity ticket, along with unaffiliated voters Annette Albright and Claire Covington. All three of them list Joe Patton as treasurer and Collin McDaniel as assistant treasurer of their campaigns. Patton and McDaniel list the Raleigh post office box as their mailing address and have email addresses through CM & Co. That’s a firm run by McDaniel, who is a registered Republican. McDaniel and that firm do have documented connections to Republican campaigns and PACs, but beyond that there’s not a lot of information available and neither responded to my calls last week.
Meanwhile, Blair Reeves, executive director of the left-leaning Carolina Forward advocacy group, cranked up the debate with an Instagram video posted last week. He described the Unity ticket as “Trojan horse candidates” set up by the Republican Party and called Patton and McDaniel “very well-known Republican campaign finance professionals.”
But Johnson and Albright say they simply chose an accounting firm that specializes in campaign finance. Albright, the only Unity candidate who has run before, says a staffer at the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections advised her that tracking finances would be more complicated with a three-person ticket. For instance, she said she was told if they made any joint purchases they’d have to divide that among their individual campaigns.
Albright says the group chose Patton because he used to work for the local elections board. That was a surprise to longtime Mecklenburg Elections Director Michael Dickerson, who wasn’t familiar with the name. After asking around his office, he says Patton appears to have worked for the state Board of Elections at some point.
Johnson says as a first-time candidate he was eager to get professional help with finances. “This treasurer has worked with both Democrats and Republicans in the state of North Carolina,” he said. “I put it like this: If you ever need to go see a specialist, do you ever ask your specialist, ‘Hey, are you Democrat or Republican?’ Or do you just go to the specialist because they can do what you need them to do?”
No big money coming in
One thing is clear from the 35-day campaign finance reports filed last week: None of the Unity candidates are getting big bucks from Republicans, PACs or anyone else. None has broken the $1,000 mark so far, and Johnson’s and Covington’s campaigns are mostly self-financed.
“I’m trying to bring together money myself to get like the palm cards out,” Johnson said. “So I don’t understand where (Reeves) is coming from. It’s really just a tactic to mess my name up and I think it’s wrong.”
And that minister’s $200 apparently has not materialized, at least not according to Johnson’s campaign finance report.
Albright reports a handful of local donations ranging from $100 to $250 — including $100 from Tricia Cotham’s mother, Democratic County Commissioner Pat Cotham.
“We’re literally begging people to donate to us,” Albright said last week.
If nothing else, the buzz about who’s behind campaigns shows people are starting to get serious about figuring out this race. Ten of the 14 candidates have responded to our questionnaire asking about their background, qualifications and positions on bonds, academic achievement, school safety, teacher conditions and leadership stability. Find their answers here.
