#ncgop: Fur flies (and so do emails) in Woodhouse-Womack spat

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Slander [alleged]. Libel [alleged].  Freebies and Freeloaders at the top of the party food chain [alleged].  Sketchy accounting on party FEC reports [alleged].  Grab some popcorn and a comfortable chair, folks.  Saturday’s NCGOP executive committee meeting could be downright FUN.

Here’s the latest in the ongoing, um, “discussion” between executive committee member Jim Womack and NCGOP executive director Dallas Woodhouse:

On Fri, Nov 10, 2017 at 5:22 PM, Dallas Woodhouse <dallas.woodhouse@ncgop.org> wrote:

Further: Jim it appears you accused us of not following the law in a mass blind CC email, since Carl responded to me.

Again: This is libelous and slanderous. 

On Fri, Nov 10, 2017 at 5:16 PM, Dallas Woodhouse <dallas.woodhouse@ncgop.org> wrote:

Jim:   As to points 1 and 3.   I am not attempting to convince you of the wisdom of dealing with the Haywood matter.  I was just informing you of the process which we follow.
The committee can handle this matter however it chooses.
On two point #2.
I find these unfounded allegations highly problematic and inflammatory.  I will forward you copies of the recent auditors review that examined the parties last two years and gave us a clean bill of health. Secondly:  Every single expense is reported to the to the Federal Elections Commission or the State Board of Elections, as is every single donation.
 
Lets be clear about the charge you just made. 
When you say.. The FEC reports that have been filed seem to have a number of omissions in them; 
and details of the party’s fundraising to date and our expenses- which do not seem fully disclosed in the FEC filings. 
You are accusing me, my staff and perhaps others of violating Federal and State law, the plan of organization and our party’s code of ethics. 
For someone to make that allegation, you should have significant evidence to back it up.  Our campaign filings are unimpeachable and we have not outstanding issues with any regulatory agency. 
Further:   If you care to explain what this means
 
either that or a good number of our CC members are taking freebies from the party that the rest of us aren’t aware of
 
I would like to know.
Tomorrow you will of course see all the financial numbers which are incredible strong, and of course we welcome examination of this area.
*Careful, Mr. Womack.  There’s plenty of room left on Saturday’s “disloyalty” docket.*
Of course, Womack had a response:

Mr. Woodhouse;

My comments are neither libelous nor slanderous.  I am not accusing anyone of doing anything illegal, immoral or unethical. My previous comments were statements of observation, based on the details of FEC-processed reports .  I’m sure your attorneys will affirm that reality for you.  I revere my party and its platform.  I am only inquiring because I want us to be truthful, accurate and transparent in our reporting.

Now, rather than fuming about my observations and my concerns, perhaps it would be more constructive for you to investigate the reports and determine whether my observations are accurate and if there is a plausible explanation for what I have observed.  I believe it would be far more productive for you and your Finance Team to evaluate my points and dutifully report to the ExCom why the cumulative 2017 report for the North Carolina Republican Party reflects no records of contributions to the NCGOP from Robin Hayes, Dallas Woodhouse, Kim Cotten-West, Zan Bunn, and Zac Crotts anytime this year.  I recall that these and a number of other CC members were present at nearly every convention event.  Perhaps there is a very simple explanation for why they weren’t reported as having “contributed” their $340 or so as required.  The $680 my wife and I paid for convention certainly certainly was reported.  Why not the payments for those CC members and party insiders? 
While you’re at it, please have someone provide us with an explanation of the direct travel and mileage disbursements to Chairman Hayes in the amount of $16,501 for the first 9 months of the year, and the $10, 625 for his jet fuel at the Concord Airport since January 2017.  Many of us are curious about those $27,000 of costs to the party that we weren’t aware were in the budget for 2017 when it was glossed over at the brief ExCom meeting last winter.  I distinctly recall Chairman Hayes bragging about how he doesn’t take a salary and that he brings great value to the GOP. 
Oh, and by the way, please have someone provide a plausible explanation about the highly unusual transactions involving Greg Lindberg and Jim Goodnight in August 2017.  Specifically, we would like to know why these two individuals contributed $500,000 on 8/29 and $50,000 on 8/03, only to have all but $10K refunded to each ON THE SAME DAY they made their contributions.  While there may be a perfectly legitimate explanation for these transactions, they look an awful lot like a Brian Cranston (“Breaking Bad”) operation, designed to inflate our fundraising achievements.  Please enlighten me if I have this wrong.  My math could be a little off, but it would seem like our expert fundraisers leading the NCGOP have truthfully only raised about $600K or so in nine months, and that the majority of that came from profits during our annual convention- skimmed from the exorbitant convention fees paid by party activists.
Now, if you and Mr. Lemons (our Treasurer) do not wish to provide the ExCom with full disclosure about these and other highly unusual details in the on-line FEC reports, then I’ll just inquire of the FEC directly.  I am 100% sure they would fully cooperate by inquiring into these matters. 
Again, thank you for your interest in my observations.  
Warm Regards/
Jim Womack
Chairman, Lee County GOP