#hayesscandal: Dallas’s turn on THE HOT SEAT?

The top governing committee of the NCGOP is convening to talk about, among other things, the future of Dallas Woodhouse’s relationship with the party:

A key group of North Carolina Republicans will meet Sunday to plot the state party’s path forward after the indictment of its chairman and a top donor and two of his associates on federal bribery charges.

 

Among the changes it could discuss: Removing NC GOP executive director Dallas Woodhouse, the outspoken Raleigh operative who has become the face of the state party in recent years, attacking Democrats and defending Republicans whenever necessary.

 

The state party’s central committee, a group of 30 or so elected officials, district chairmen and party loyalists, is responsible for hiring and firing the executive director, according to the state party’s 2018 organizational plan. It is the only position the committee is responsible for. No staff will be on Sunday’s conference call.

 

“We’re going to talk about this whole situation and certainly leadership and management of the party. It’ll be the first time just the entire central committee will have a discussion about this whole entire unpleasant situation,” said Charles Hellwig of Raleigh, the party’s 4th district chairman.

 

[….]

 

Woodhouse, who testified before the grand jury in December, said he is not a target of the investigation, but instead a witness. He said he does not know and has never spoken with Greg Lindberg, the indicted political donor at the heart of the scandal. Woodhouse, who has been the party’s executive director since October 2015, was not mentioned in the indictment.

 

[…] “I work at the pleasure of the central committee and that is the status. That status can change by my determination or theirs,” Woodhouse said Friday. “I will not resign. I have nothing to resign for.”

 

No votes can take place on Sunday’s call because of party rules about notice. But Aubrey Woodard, the party’s acting chairman, has also scheduled an in-person meeting for April 14, where action can be taken.

 

“He has done a very good job in the performance of his duties. Until the committee decides to take action in that respect, he has my full support,” said Woodard, the party’s 11th district chairman.

 

District chairmen are voting members of the central committee.

 

“That’s a personnel matter that we’re going to have to discuss at the central committee,” said John Steward, the party’s 9th district chairman. Steward said the meeting is to “take a complete assessment of where we are and what our next step will be.”

In a statement Friday, the Mecklenburg County Young Republicans called for “working with the central committee in removing from leadership those who no longer deserve our trust based on the last year,” citing election losses in the state Supreme Court and legislature, the invalidated 9th district election and now Hayes’ indictment.