Phil Berger’s son targeted in state insurance fraud complaint

No, not the judge.  (The other one.)

For those of you who follow North Carolina politics – and this blog – closely, you know that Rockingham County politics has been quite a piece of work this cycle.

Everyone by now is familiar with the knock-down drag out GOP primary fight between state senate president pro tem Phil Berger and county sheriff Sam Page.  Berger has positioned. himself as the political kingpin in Raleigh. All indications are there that Page is giving Phil Berger the political fight of his life.

Many of you may remember that the county’s 2024 county commissioner primary resulted in a defamation lawsuit being filed against three commissioners and some additional Phil Berger allies by now-former commissioner Craig Travis. 

Well, the matter is still being slugged out in the courts. And apparently in the public comment period for Rockingham County commissioner meetings.

Here’s the video from the board’s January 20, 2026 meeting.

Starting at the 45:10 mark of the video, you can watch a presentation from Eden resident Jim Fink alleging a scheme involving  commissioners Kevin Berger, Mark Richardson, and former commissioner Don Powell to get the county’s insurance provider to underwrite the cost of defending those three against the Travis lawsuit.

Fink suggests – on the video – that the three were sued for their action as individual political candidates during an election campaign and not as county officials.

Fink also raised another interesting point: The insurance company’s documentation says the claim was filed in July 2023. Travis’s lawsuit was not filed until June 2024.  How do you seek help with paying for a suit that had not yet been filed? 

Kevin Berger took an opportunity to chime in on Fink’s presentation Monday night. [See the 57:06 mark on the meeting video.]. In a give and take with the county attorney, Berger seems to confirm the submission of the claim to the county’s insurance provider and suggests — with the attorney concurring — that the insurance company accepted that the suit was filed against the commissioners as part of official county business.

[We’ve searched through the digital file on the case.  We couldn’t find any evidence of Rockingham County attorney Clyde Albright representing any of the parties in Travis’s lawsuit. That certainly seems unusual for a matter deemed as official county business.]

Well, we’ve obtained documentation of a complaint filed with the NC Department of Insurance by former commissioner Craig Travis.  The complaint alleges insurance fraud and names three people as “suspects”: commissioner Kevin Berger, commissioner Mark Richardson, and former commissioner Don Powell. 

Here is a summary of the fraud allegation made by Travis in his complaint: