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Gov. Cooper Removes LaWana Mayfield From Commission

David Boraks
/
WFAE
Gov. Roy Cooper withdrew his nomination of Charlotte City Council member LaWana Mayfield to the state's Human Relations Commission Wednesday.

Democratic Governor Roy Cooper on Wednesday rescinded his appointment of Charlotte City Council member LaWana Mayfield to the state’s Human Relations Commission, after Republicans criticized her appointment.

Republican State Senate President Phil Berger and 28 other Republicans on Tuesday cited a Tweet Mayfield made in March 2018, after the police shooting of an unarmed black man in Sacramento. Mayfield tweeted that “being back in America under President Trump has created homegrown terrorist (sic) wearing blue uniforms.”

They called on Cooper to pull her nomination, and said the Tweet was “violent, hateful rhetoric.” They acted after the Charlotte Observer editorial board questioned the appointment.

Cooper’s spokesperson Ford Porter said Wednesday that the governor “values law enforcement and recognizes that more must be done to build meaningful respect and understanding between law enforcement and communities.”

Porter added that the administration did not “want any appointment to divert from the work of the Human Relations Commission in promoting equity for all North Carolinians.”

Mayfield, a Democrat, was first elected to the council in 2011 and said she is running for an at-large seat this fall.

After Republicans criticized her appointment Tuesday, Mayfield released a statement saying she planned to "bring a unique perspective" to the commission.

In the spring of 2018, Mayfield apologized for a Tweet she made questioning the 9-11 terrorist attacks. She wrote that, "I am still waiting for someone to produce pieces of the alleged plane that opened the doors for US Citizens to loose (sic) all privacy rights (from the conspiracy theorist in me)."
 

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Steve Harrison is WFAE's politics and government reporter. Prior to joining WFAE, Steve worked at the Charlotte Observer, where he started on the business desk, then covered politics extensively as the Observer’s lead city government reporter. Steve also spent 10 years with the Miami Herald. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, the Sporting News and Sports Illustrated.