NCGOP staffer working to elect Democrats?
You read that right, folks.
We’ve had our eye on state GOP controller Greg Fornshell for some time. He’s been on the state party payroll for quite some time. But while doing that, he’s managed to frequently land some nice freelance gigs with various campaigns inside and outside of the state. He’s even worked on campaigns for Republicans who were engaged in primary contests with other Republicans.
We’ve raised the issue over and over. Apparently, none of the higher-ups in the NCGOPe give one whoop. Fornshell keeps on freelancing, while working for the NCGOP, with nary a hand-slap.
Here’s the latest. November 2025’s elections will mostly be municipal. The City of Wilmington is but one of many cities holding elections. THIS mailer recently went out to city voters:
Bill Saffo and JC Lyle, according to state elections records, are Democrats. Luke Waddell and Richard Collier are Republicans.
Now, WHO (you ask) is The Future Empowering Committee NC?
We could not find a committee by that name registered with the state elections board. We did however find Empowering The Future Committee NC. It submitted paperwork to the state on October 16 and was officially approved on October 20.
Empowering the Future Committee NC filed disclosure paperwork identifying one Greg Fornshell as its treasurer. A fellow named Greg Fornshell is also currently identified on the NCGOP website as the state party’s controller. (Though, we do hate to trust the state GOP website, given their recent history.)
Could we be looking at a simple typo by the mailer’s printer – getting the order of the words in the PAC’s name wrong?
Better yet – are we looking at a longtime NCGOP staffer doing work to elect Democrats to office in Wilmington?
The mailing address for the PAC in the image above is also the mailing address for GOP consultant Dee Stewart‘s company.
Also, let’s look at the email address on the above image: greg@pacmanagementservices.com .
What’s PAC Management Services, you ask? Take a look for yourself.
Also, it appears PMS is tied to something also called Liberty Staffing.
So, has the NCGOP got a full-time staffer managing their finances AND working for at least two other companies (and a PAC that appears to be helping Democrats in Wilmington) at the same time?
If so, that Fornshell dude has got to be exhausted.
There has been party pressure this municipal election cycle for party officials not to support even an unaffiliated candidate running against a Democrat when no Republican is in the race. Allowing a staff member to go the exact opposite direction raises real questions.
The big issue is, whether there is a registered Republican running in those two races in Wilmington where the mailing supports a Democrat.. If there is in either or both of the races and this is the same person as the party staffer then that would be a clear party disloyalty violation. If there is no Republican running in those races, then it would not technically be party disloyalty but would run afoul of the heavy direction being applied to everyone else.
This would also seem to apply to Dee Stewart..
Also as to party disloyalty violations, I understand there is a new scheme that is said to be afoot to cover up for Phil Berger’s party disloyalty charges. Chairman Jason Simmons has submitted a new stalling tactic to the PoO committee that claims trying Berger would be interfering in a primary, an argument that is pure nonsense and not supported by anything in the PoO unless the committee decides to act like an Obama judge or Biden judge and discover something that is not there and nobody else can see. Given that the committee has been straight shooters so far, I suspect they will not do that, but the hearing on it before the PoO Committee is scheduled so that there will probably not be time to give Berger notice for the upcoming November ExCom meeting, facilitating Simmons kicking it to the next meeting and then not calling one until after the primary. This scheme would reflect a sickening level of corruption at the very top of our party if it goes down like that.. I hope that it will not and the powers that be will finally allow the Berger charges to be heard on their merits as they should have been long ago. If Chairman Simmons is playing this straight,, and I hope he is, he will go ahead and give Berger notice for the hearing at November meeting and if the PoO committee happens to go his way, he could always withdraw the notice later.. We do not need leadership coverups for party disloyalty and this issue needs to be heard and disposed of..
To add to your observations, since the filing period for the March primary has not officially commenced, any action by the NCGOP prior to the filing date would NOT constitute interference in a primary. Any “immunity” NCGOP is trying to provide Berger is based on a false premise.
Why is it each day we read of our party having major issues of legalities, violations, mistrust, shenanigans and in most cases against fellow party members?
Is our party that corrupt? If so, let’s state facts and work to fix the problem(s) and remove the people from leadership.
Let’s not forget that he has full and total access to all NCGOP donor data AND a recent article notes that over 50% of the donations to Democrat Saffo are from Republicans! He also has a Republican opponent.
When there is a vacuum of leadership chaos ensues!
I don’t blame anyone for making a living, but you can’t work for the NCGOP & simultaneously draw a salary from democrats.
Let’s refrain from criticizing dems. We have become them! OR, were we them all along and it’s now becoming so much more obvious b/c we see the demise of conservatism? We have NO conservative principles of Reagan, Jesse, Lauch. The party doesn’t even try to disguise their disgust with conservatives and conservatism. The party has been hijacked and it’s not for the better.
Is this the same guy that was doing treasurer work for a candidate in WV who was an opponent to a Trump endorsed candidate?
A real question remains if Fornshell has extracurricular activities on the outside, what other staffers at the NCGOP have outside side jobs and who are they with?
I think it is high time that Simmons proves his side gig is not tied to any of this Fornshell, Stewart and those we do not know about yet garbage.