Latest news with #SonsofConfederateVeterans
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Guilty pleas revealed in Sons of Confederate Veterans campaign finance case
The State Board of Elections has revealed its first criminal convictions — two guilty pleas to a misdemeanor charge — in the six years after state lawmakers made campaign finance investigations secret. That outcome drew little praise from a campaign finance watchdog whose complaint to the elections board prompted the case. He says it took too long and resulted in too little. In January, two leaders of a political action committee for the Sons of Confederate Veterans pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of accepting cash contributions in excess of $50. They were ordered to pay a $100 fine and court costs, according to a letter the board sent to Bob Hall, the retired executive director of Democracy NC. Court records show Mitchell Flinchum of Burlington, the PAC's treasurer, and Thomas Smith of Raleigh, the PAC's assistant treasurer, pleaded guilty to the misdemeanors on Jan. 23. Neither the board nor prosecutors announced the convictions at the time. Hall did not find out until he received a letter known as a 'closure notice' from the board that was dated May 16, nearly four months after the convictions in Wake County District Court. 'It's a pitiful settlement, but at least they admitted to engaging in criminal activity,' Hall said in a news release Tuesday. Hall filed a lengthy complaint against the nonprofit North Carolina division of the Sons of Confederate and its Heritage PAC in January 2020. He did so after The Daily Tar Heel, the UNC-Chapel Hill student paper, revealed evidence of illegal donations to the PAC. The nonprofit had struck a secret $2.5 million deal with the UNC System to take possession of the controversial Silent Sam statue memorializing Confederate soldiers at UNC-Chapel Hill, which protesters tore down. A judge later pulled the plug on the deal. Prior to the 2018 law, the board would make public complaints and election records associated with them, until it found possible criminal conduct, Gary Bartlett, the board's executive director from 1993 to 2013, told the N&O last year. At that point, the board withheld information until a public hearing before the board that included testimony from witnesses. Transparency from such hearings, which legislators ended, helped give the public confidence that campaign finance cases were being handled appropriately, Hall and other government watchdogs have said. A public hearing would have shed light on claims Sons of Confederate Veterans members made that they were pressured to make cash donations to the PAC and that they had been listed as the source of other donations they did not make, Hall said. 'It would have triggered tax investigations and racketeering investigations by the federal investigators, it very much could have done that,' Hall predicted. Smith could not be immediately reached for comment. Mitchell declined to talk about the case. 'As far as I'm concerned it's settled,' he said. 'I'm glad after all of it to hopefully have it in the past.' Efforts to interview state elections officials and Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman about the outcome of the Heritage PAC case were unsuccessful. Patrick Gannon, a spokesman for the board of elections, said in an email that the board did not see a concern with issuing its notice of the case's outcome last week. 'Campaign finance investigations are confidential under state law,' he wrote late Tuesday afternoon. 'From our perspective, the case was open until just recently, and we provided notice of the status to the complainant.' The board's letter to Hall said that it investigated the nonprofit and its PAC for roughly a year, turning over its findings to the State Ethics Commission for its recommendation. Requiring that referral was another change to campaign finance investigations from the 2018 legislation. The commission's recommendations are also confidential. The commission's review added two months to the case, the board's letter showed. In June 2021 the board referred the case to the Alamance County district attorney to investigate Flinchum and to Freeman in Wake County to investigate Smith. The case was later consolidated in Wake County. Freeman asked the SBI to investigate further. When asked about the length of time it takes to resolve elections board cases referred to her, Freeman said the elections board is hampered by a lack of funding and staff and the SBI's financial crimes unit is taking longer to do its work. Hall criticized Freeman's handling of the case, and others in recent years that did not lead to criminal charges, in his news release. 'It's disappointing that the District Attorney took so long to accomplish so little,' Hall said.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NC Sons of Confederate Veterans leaders guilty of campaign finance misdemeanors
Two individuals affiliated with the North Carolina Division of the group Sons of Confederate Veterans pled guilty earlier this year to misdemeanor campaign finance violations committed in their role as leaders of an affiliated PAC, according to a 'closure notice' issued by the State Board of Elections last Friday. Meanwhile, the person who filed the complaint that gave rise to the prosecution — veteran campaign finance watchdog Bob Hall — is criticizing the settlement of the matter as 'pitiful.' The case stems from the political controversy that surrounded the removal of the so-called 'Silent Sam' statute from the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill in 2018, and the subsequent back-and-forth that took place between UNC officials, state lawmakers, and private groups that sought to preserve and take control of the statue after it was torn down during a campus protest. In January of 2020, Hall filed a lengthy and detailed complaint with the Board of Elections in which he provided evidence that the North Carolina Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, along with individual leaders of the group and affiliated organizations were involved in illegally financing the NC Heritage PAC. That PAC, in turn, donated thousands of dollars to an array of Republican officeholders and candidates. Last Friday's notice reported that 'NC Heritage PAC Treasurer Mitchell Flinchum and NC Heritage PAC Assistant Treasurer Thomas Smith each pled guilty to one misdemeanor count of accepting monetary (cash) contributions in excess of $50 in violation of N.C.G.S. § 163-278.14(b). Both defendants were also ordered to pay the costs of court and a $100 fine.' The notice stated that it was notified of the plea arrangements by the Wake County District Attorney's office in January and that the complaint that gave rise to the investigation is now closed. In a news release publicizing the closure of the case and the convictions, Hall lamented the size and scope of the penalties. 'It's a pitiful settlement, but at least they admitted to engaging in criminal activity,' said Hall, who had asked for dissolution of the PAC and the disgorgement of tens of thousands of dollars of PAC contributions that benefited Republican politicians. Hall directed criticism at Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman for the modest nature of the punishment meted out. 'It's disappointing that the District Attorney took so long to accomplish so little,' Hall said. 'The way large amounts of cash moved in and out of SCV-related operations is highly suspicious and likely violated tax and anti-corruption laws in addition to a felony statute against filing false campaign finance reports.' The original complaint identified $28,500 in contributions to several GOP politicians — including Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler and Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger — that Hall argued were unlawful and should have been redirected to the state Civil Penalty and Forfeiture Fund. Hall's statement also quoted a pair of dissident Sons of Confederate Veterans members as being critical of the outcome. Robert 'Smitty' Smith, a SCV member who helped the State Board of Elections document the illegal contributions, said, 'The fine is basically nothing – it's like there's no consequences for all they [SCV leaders] did.' 'It's crazy that it took so long and they get away,' said Chadwick Rogers, another SCV member who witnessed the illegal activity by SCV leaders that others labeled 'money laundering.' Rogers said the punishment should have included SCV losing its charity status.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Liberty voters keep mayor in office, narrowly pass tax for law enforcement
Greg Canuteson won Tuesday's election to keep his seat as Liberty's mayor with 64% of the votes. Liberty voters also approved a sales tax for projects meant to improve public safety that Canuteson had promoted. Canuteson ran against Giselle Fest, a Republican known in the Liberty community for her association with the Sons of Confederate Veterans, in a race that drew upon a long-standing dispute over a statue of a Confederate soldier overlooking a local cemetery. Canuteson, a full-time lawyer in Liberty by day and former legislator in the Missouri House of Representatives, will continue to serve as the city's mayor for another four years. While his opponent ran on a campaign promising zero tax increases, Canuteson publicly supported the city's proposed public safety tax. However, he said this will be the last tax increase for Liberty for a while. During his time in office, Canuteson focused on infrastructure in the city such as adding street lights to downtown Liberty. Voters narrowly approved the public safety tax with 51%, which will increase the city's sales tax by one percent per dollar for projects meant to improve public safety. The tax will provide an additional $7.5 million for the city's law enforcement and first responders: $6 million will go toward salaries and benefits for police and firefighters, with $1.5 million annually through bonds for a renovated station police station, and the remaining costs going toward equipment.
