Sep 2

Sep 2 NC House race features PAC money, cease and desist letters

In early August, Ward and Smith, PA sent a cease and desist letter to Wallace & Nordan LLP on behalf of Representative Chris Humphrey and the Chris Humphrey Campaign Committee. The letter was in response to a political advertisement sent out by the Conservation Votes PAC. Upon receiving the cease and desist demand, the Conservation Votes PAC declined the request.

“Rather than talk about my record of delivering hundreds of millions of dollars in support for businesses and schools in eastern North Carolina impacted by the Coronavirus, this dark money liberal group is lying about my record, claiming I voted for legislation before I was even a member of the House,” said Humphrey.

The advertisement accuses Humphrey of "securing $50,000 in taxpayer money to go to a non-profit directly connected to his wife”. The funding in question was provided to the City of Kinston by Senate Bill 469, Section S.B. 469 which was passed in 2018, vetoed by Governor Cooper, and then the veto was overridden by the North Carolina Legislature in December 2018. Humphrey was elected in November of 2018, and first assumed office on January 1st, 2019 and therefore did not vote on S.B. 469.

The cease and desist letter demanded that the PAC immediately and completely retract the advertisement, remove the advertisement from any further publication on or through any media, and altogether cease from any further distribution or publication of false, inaccurate, and defamatory information contained in the advertisement.

“We disagree with your characterization of my client's advertisement and respectfully decline to retract the substance of the statements contained therein,” said the Conservation Vote PAC in their response from Wallace & Nordan LLP.

According to their response, the $50,000 was appropriated for downtown revitalization in Kinston. The downtown revitalization organization in Kinston is Pride of Kinston, Inc. In the spring of 2019, the City Council announced the $50,000 “revitalization grant” to Pride of Kinston. In June 2019, Humphrey and Senator Jim Perry are in a photograph with a prop check, drawn on the State Assembly, and signed by Perry and Humphrey. The minutes of the Kinston City Council meeting of July 15, 2019 reflect Pride of Kinston Executive Director Leon Steele stated that Pride “had received $50,000 from Senator Perry and Representative Humphrey earmarked for decorations in Pearson Park”.

“We, therefore, decline your request for a retraction,” said the Conservation Vote PAC in their response from Wallace & Nordan LLP.

Humphrey believes there is a stark contrast between his values and those promulgated by some special interest groups.

“They are desperate to flip this seat because they know I am going to vote the way the people of eastern North Carolina want me to, and not the way their liberal bosses in Raleigh want,” said Humphrey.