Greater Carolina: a head count, details on lil’ Miss Newby, and that “Men’s Clinic” bill
Okay. If you’re looking for some new bathroom reading, try this out. It’s a 13-page March 26 search warrant filed by the SBI regarding this probe of legislators, lobbyists and that Kentucky distillery trip.
Read it for yourself. Don’t let drive-by media or sleazy politicians mislead you about it.
The warrant has some detail on Sarah Newby, the daughter of state Supreme Court chief Justice Paul Newby and the state Republican Party’s finance director. I don’t believe a senior NCGOP official has had this much attention from law enforcement since Robin Hayes in 2019.
Here are some of those aforementioned excerpts from the linked search warrant:
A head count. It’s tricky to figure just WHO and HOW MANY elected folks attended these junkets to Kentucky. The above excerpts tell us NINE attended in 2024.
THIS excerpt below gives us some detail on the head count of electeds who took part in the 2022 trip:
Okay. So, eleven in 2022 and nine in 2024. It’s hard to tell if it’s a total of 20 or if there were some repeat attendees.
According to the filed warrant, state senator Tim Moffitt was the only elected official attendee who reported the trip on his state ethics forms. He was apparently one of the eleven in 2022.
From reading these warrants and media accounts, THIS is what we’ve been able to figure out. Apparently, state Rep. Ray Pickett of Watauga County, senator Todd Johnson of Union County, and then-Rep. Jason Saine of Lincoln County were all with Moffitt on the 2022 trip.
So, that’s FOUR out of ELEVEN.
Media accounts revealed that state senator Dave Craven (Randolph County) went on the 2024 trip. The complaint that spurred this probe included receipts indicating purchases by state Reps. Kyle Hall (Stokes County) and David Willis (Union) on the 2024 trip. Jason Saine, apparently, also attended the 2024 trip.
So, that looks like we know FOUR of the NINE from 2024.
Carolina Men’s Clinic. . Media reports and court documents appear to indicate a $4,079 expense by Greater Carolina at something called Carolina Men’s Clinic. After thorough investigation and some of our best guessing, we think they’re talking about THIS PLACE.
What we’ve got to say about THAT? If you’re turning to lobbyists to cover the cost of your erectile dysfunction treatments / bulk purchases of viagra, then you are officially what we in my neck of the woods call *a real piece of work.*
I think you may have missed a bigger picture issue here. WHO WAS THE STATE PARTY CHAIRMAN WHEN EACH OF THESE PARTIES OCCURRED? Who was the finance chair when all this happened? Larry Shaheen is not going to miss a good party with beer and boobs. The there is Dave Craven. Did he not do nominating speeches and chair different meetings to include state executive committee meetings? Image being able to control the narrative. Who put him up to it? A certain NC Senate candidate perhaps?