It's 5.05 and welcome in to a Tuesday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 FM WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you.
Well, today is the final day for any recount requests to be filed across the state of North Carolina. As we saw back three weeks ago, primary elections taking place across the Tar Heels state for any candidate that has any questions or wants a recount after the county canvas process that we chatted about yesterday that happened on Friday. Today at noon is their deadline. All eyes remain on Rockingham in the northern portion of Guilford County, which completely comprises the 26th senatorial district here in the North Carolina General Assembly. And while the Phil Berger team has not at least As of this morning, it has not publicly announced that they have called for a recall.
There is now some back and forth between the campaigns. We'll start off with the Burger campaign. According to a press release Monday afternoon from Phil Berger's recount team, their claim is that voters in North Carolina's 26th Senate District, where he trails opponent Rockingham County by Sam Page by 23 votes, have contacted them with concerns that they may have received incorrect ballots during the recent primary election. In addition, the press release accuses Page's campaign of sending messages that critics could say could discourage voters from raising additional questions. Jonathan Feltz, a spokesman for the Burger recount effort, said that several voters have reported they were given a ballot that did not include the Senate District 26 race.
Felts said in the press release, a voter in Senate District 26 reached out and said that he was given a ballot that did not include that primary and that he knew of one other voter who had told him about the same experience. We then contacted other individuals who voted in the same community and have identified others who believe they were given the wrong ballot. Jonathan Feltz said that some of those voters have signed sworn declarations stating that they believe that they were issued incorrect ballots. The Burger Committee has asked the Guilford County Board of Elections to investigate whether those voters received the wrong ballot style, with the recount team also raising concerns about text messages sent to voters by individuals affiliated with Page's campaign. According to the Burger team, the messages warned that falsely claiming to have received the wrong ballot could constitute a felony.
Jonathan Feltz characterized the texts as an attempt to discourage. voters from speaking out. He said in the release, now voters in Senate District 26 are receiving text messages from the Page Committee with veiled threats that the voters are questioning if they receive the correct ballot is a felony offense. If anyone feels that they have received the wrong ballot, they should contact the recount team. Josh Howard, who is the former chairman of the North Carolina Board of Elections, also commented in Berger's release, saying, quote, when I was a federal prosecutor, I sent people to prison for buying votes and interfering with free and fair elections.
But even the most well-meaning election officials or staff members can make a mistake, such as giving somebody the wrong ballot. Howard said that the state's election review procedures are designed to allow voters to raise concerns before the results are finalized.
However, we'll note that that already happened with Howard saying, we want voters free to express their concerns and raise potential failures, whether those issues change an immediate outcome or identify systematic problems that we shouldn't make again. No candidate, campaign, or political entity should ever tamp down any effort to endorse fair elections. The Guilford County Board of Elections has not announced whether it will open an investigation into the ballot complaints. And we then late last night got a response from Sam Page's team. As I noted at the top, he is currently leading Phil Berger, the longest-serving Senate pro tem in North Carolina history, by 23 votes.
This press release was put out by Patrick Sebastian, who is working as the post. election advisor for Sam Page with the press release stating the Page campaign has learned from multiple sources that the Phil Berger campaign is contacting voters to ask whether they received the correct ballot and whether they would publicly claim they received the wrong ballot when they voted specifically a ballot that did not include Phil Berger's name One concerned voter said that the Berger campaign disclosed that they are calling thousands of people in an effort to find individuals who claim they received the wrong ballot. At least one person contacted does not live in Senate District 26, which can easily be confirmed by checking the North Carolina State Board of Elections voter file or the NCSBE website. Another situation unfolding, procedures in place to assure that takes place. The Guilford County Board of Elections, according to the press release, has careful measures in place to ensure voters are provided with the ballot that corresponds with their voting jurisdiction.
After a voter checks in, their authorization to vote form identifies the ballot that they are to receive by specific alphanumeric designation. The person receiving that ballot must align the ballot and retrieve them in that alphanumeric designation. They then use a barcode scanner to scan both the voters' authorization to vote form and the ballot to confirm a match. If there is no such match, the scanner alerts the poll worker. The press release goes on to say, additionally, the county board has confirmed that the number of ballots that were supposed to have been issued in this contest at early voting sites matches the number of ballots that were cast in the contest.
Noting in 2022, similar after-the-fact claims were proven to be untrue in a race that took place in Alamance County. In 22, it was a sheriff's race that was taking place. The Alamance County Board of Election did a full on investigation or pretty close to a full-on investigation at the time to determine whether there was any situation taking place there. They did not find that at the time. The press release wraps up by saying Phil Berger's campaign has been telling voters they are calling people in Jamestown to ensure that they received the correct ballot for District 26.
As the Berger campaign should know, the small town of Jamestown is split between three state Senate districts. Naturally, many voters in Jamestown did not see Phil Berger on their ballot because they do not live in Senate District 26. Patrick Sebastian, the post-election advisor, ended the press release by saying, in a desperate attempt to cling to power after being rejected by voters, Phil Berger is questioning the very election system that he put in place. Voters should never feel pressured to defend candidates to say something that isn't true.
So, we definitely have some rising tensions in this race in Rockingham, in the northern portion of Guilford County. As currently, with the official vote totals that were verified by the county canvas process on Friday, show that Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page, at this point in time, has a 23-vote lead over Senate leader, Phil, current Senate leader Phil Berger, in this contest in Senate District 26. As I mentioned at the open of the program, the voter, the campaigns, and candidates have until noon today, Tuesday the 17th, to contact the Board of Elections in the various counties in which the contests are taking place and request what will begin as likely a machine recount that requests. Request does have to be in by noon. If not, then we will watch the final process of certifying those election results.
And Sam Page will, coming up later this year, early next year, become the representative for the 26th, the Senate District here in North Carolina. Since both campaigns began trading blows yesterday afternoon and into the evening hours, it would seem very likely, at least from my vantage point here this morning, not making a full-on prediction, but it would seem very likely that the Burger campaign will at least request that machine recount. And we will keep you up to date with that throughout the day as that announcement will likely come while we are not on the air here in our 5 to 6 a.m. time slot. You can head on over to our website, encourage you to head on over to our website, CarolinaJournal.com.
We'll have a breaking news story as soon as we get any confirmation. Also, a good time to follow the Carolina Journal on social media as well. We're on all major platforms, X, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram. Wherever you get your social media content, you can give us a follow there as well. Just search for Carolina Journal or visit our website, CarolinaJournal.com.
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Shop now at Amazon and search WimSound. That's W-I-I-M-S-O-U-N-D. 21 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 WBT. Keeping our attention in North Carolina this morning, out in the western half of the state, there's a group known as Grow NC that is still helping many communities in western North Carolina recover from the devastation and destruction from Hurricane Helene.
They are now discussing disaster investment zones. Leaders that are guiding long-term recovery efforts for western North Carolina are exploring a sweeping strategy to attract private investment, rebuild infrastructure, and strengthen the region's workforce pipeline as communities continue to recover from the storm damage and arguably the much larger discussion over economic disruptions and long-term impacts. Members of the Governor's Recovery Office for Western North Carolina, or GROW NC. And their long-term economic recovery subcommittee discussed those strategies during a March 9th hour-long virtual meeting that focused on economic data, workforce development, and federal policy tools that could accelerate rebuilding across the region. The full advisory committee met back just a couple of weeks ago to discuss a variety of other issues.
Among the most significant proposals under consideration is pursuing a federal disaster opportunity zone, which is a designation covering counties that were the hardest hit by the storm. That move, advocates say, could unlock long-term private investment in communities that are still almost two years later struggling to rebuild. Subcommittee members said that the designation could mirror programs previously used under other major federal disasters. Under current federal rules, states can designate certain low-come census tracts as opportunities. Opportunity zones, allowing investors to receive tax benefits for investing in businesses or real estate projects in those areas.
But committee leaders said that existing maps of potential zones in western North Carolina do not adequately capture the scope of Helene's damage. Sharon Decker, who is the senior advisor to Grow NC, told the group, the program as it exists doesn't quite do enough, noting that several distressed mountain communities would receive little or no coverage under the standard criteria. The proposal being discussed would instead designate the region's most impacted counties broadly as disaster opportunity zones, allowing for greater flexibility in attracting capital for rebuilding projects. Members emphasize that private investment will be essential for recovery over the next decade, with Sharon Decker once again telling the group, all of us agree that we've got to get more private investment into western North Carolina over the next one to 10 years. If adopted, the strategy The strategy would complement existing federal disaster programs as well as private contributions that are already flowing into the region, some of them also coming from various philanthropic organizations that have made significant donations in western North Carolina.
During the meeting, committee members also reviewed updates from recent briefings on recovery funding, with officials noting that more than $1.4 billion in philanthropic aid has already been committed to the broader recovery efforts, with multiple foundations and other groups coordinating to avoid duplication and maximizing the impacts of a pretty significant amount of money, $1.4 billion. Federal funding tied to water and sewer infrastructure is also beginning to move, though local leaders say that there will likely be more money needed to get many of those projects across the finish line. According to briefing materials discussed during the meeting, about 600 $185 million has already been appropriated from the state's revolving fund for projects tied to Her Helene recovery. Local governments across the western half of our state have submitted more than 100 applications for assistance, highlighting the scale of infrastructure damage and the demand for rebuilding some of those obviously critical resources when we're talking about. Things like basic water and sewer coverage.
Committee members also discussed financial challenges for municipalities rebuilding water systems, with some communities being relatively hesitant, at least at this point, to accept short-term repayment schedules, even zero-interest loans because of strained local government budgets following the storm. Turning our attention to tourism, which obviously is a major economic driver for many areas, not only here in North Carolina, but across the nation, economic data presented to the panel showed recovery is still uneven, particularly in tourism-dependent areas. Employment across the region remains slightly below pre-storm levels, according to analysis presented to the subcommittee. The hospitality sector, one of the mountain regions' largest employers, continues to lag. In the Asheville metropolitan area, hospitality employees were still about 7% below pre-storm levels one year after Helene, improving slightly but remaining nearly 6% below that baseline several months later.
Those figures highlight the ongoing challenges facing tourism-driven communities as businesses rebuild and visitor traffic gradually returns. According to Dan Greerlack, a consultant for the Tapestry Collective, said, The rest of the economy is doing okay, but this sector is really a drag. Manufacturing employment is part of Western North Carolina and has been for quite some time, particularly in areas where factory jobs dominate the local economy. Leaders are also working with the region's community colleges and other partners to launch a workforce initiative known as Good Jobs Western North Carolina. The effort aims to create roughly 1,200 additional jobs in high-demand sectors.
Including things like healthcare, manufacturing, and skilled trades. Officials say that the program will focus on identifying workforce gaps, aligning training programs with employer needs, and improving connections between education systems and local industries throughout the region. The initiative is set to be supported by the John M. Belk Endowment and the Leon Levin Foundation, which are helping fund early research and planning at this point. The project also seeks to better connect employers with community college training programs and identify where additional workforce investments might be needed.
One early finding from the workforce analysis suggests that some labor shortages are not simply due to retirements. Instead, turnover amongst early career workers is creating significant gaps in industries like healthcare, in part due to lower pay. Participants highlighted the region's extensive network of community college as one of its strongest assets as it moves forward with recovery, with programs across colleges covering a wide range of workforce fields, from manufacturing and engineering technology to healthcare and emergency services. Committee members said mapping these programs all across Western North Carolina colleges will help identify where training resources already exist and where gaps remain. The analysis could eventually help guide a regional coordination among colleges and large employers in western North Carolina.
So, as we look at the next phase, the Grow NC panel is expected to develop and draft a long-term recovery framework sometime later on this year. That strategy will outline economic priorities, workforce goals, and policy recommendations that are designed to accelerate recovery from Hurricane Helene at the same time while strengthening the region's long-term economic resiliency. Committee members also said that they will begin recruiting volunteers from within the group to lead work on specific policy areas, including workforce development, small business support, infrastructure investment, and tourism recovery. Leaders say that they hope that the plan will be ready for review by early summer. With subcommittee member Laura Leatherwood saying, We're trying to accelerate what we're doing.
The goal is to identify these gaps and address them so we can move people through the pipeline and into these sectors faster. As Western North Carolina continues rebuilding, the panel's work could very well shape the economic roadmap for the region's recovery over the next decade. You can read some additional coverage on Western North Carolina this morning and this work from the Grow NC panel. Those details over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. Search for the story with the headline: Grow NC Panel Ways Disaster Investment Zones.
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North Carolina is one of the few states across the nation that has an interesting law on the books. It's called Alienation of Afflection, and that is taking place here in North Carolina with a very high-profile former United States Senator to walk us through an interesting legal challenge that is continuing to take place across the state. Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Mitch, this is an obscure law that exists in North Carolina and a handful of other states. Essentially, as I understand it, it has to do with breaking up a marriage.
It's a pretty scandalous story. Tell us what you're tracking. Yes, so alienation of affection is a law that allows for a civil lawsuit for a basically a jilted spouse to sue someone else for breaking up his or her marriage. And it crops up in North Carolina politics and in the news every once in a while. And the reason that it's cropped up again is because of the presence in an alienation of affection lawsuit of former U.S.
Senator Kirsten Sinema of Arizona. You might be wondering, so why is an Arizona senator in a North Carolina alienation of affection lawsuit?
Well, this lawsuit was initially filed in Moore County Superior Court and didn't get much attention at all. But then, when Cinema's lawyers had it moved to federal court, it started hitting the radar and got national attention. CBS News and other major news outlets reported on this suit. We've had a recent development, and that is that Cinema's lawyers have now filed to have the case dismissed.
So, basically, in an alienation of affection lawsuit, the claim is that the defendant in the civil suit caused the breakup of a marriage, and so the plaintiff is trying to seek some damages from that person.
So, you get the loss of the marriage, but the hope in an alienation of affection lawsuit is that you get some sort of damage from the person who broke up your marriage.
Well, in Kirsten Cinema's response to that lawsuit, because her motion to dismiss is really the first response to it, other than having it moved to federal court, is, first of all, she admits having an affair with the person involved.
So the plaintiff is a woman named Heather Amel, who lives in Moore County. Her husband, Matthew Amel, was a secure, worked security for Kirsten Cinema and lived with Heather Amel in Moore County. But there is some debate about where he lived when he had his contact with Kirsten Cinema.
So she, in her court filing, that is asking for this case to be dismissed, admits. That she started a romantic relationship with this security detail member four or five months before he and his wife separated. But Cinema also said that everything that happened that's the source of this lawsuit happened while she believed that Matthew Amel was not living with his wife in North Carolina, that they're. As some kind of spurious commentary that's been made in the lawsuit, and we won't get into all the details, but there are various things that are alleged to have happened. And Cinema says, well, in some cases, I don't remember whether this happened, but if it did happen, he wasn't in North Carolina at the time.
And so the reason for calling for this case to be dismissed from Cinema's vantage point is what's called a lack of personal jurisdiction, that nothing that happened that would be the source of Heather Amel's concerns happened in North Carolina.
So it shouldn't be subject to this alienation of affection law. Mitch, we've seen, and I'm glad you mentioned this in the open, we've seen a couple of these higher profile cases. And of course, you add another factor to this when you bring in politics, whether it's state politics that we've seen in the past or in this case of Kirsten Sinema, a very high-profile former United States senator who made a lot of news over the last couple of years. How do these cases typically play out? I mean, as I mentioned at the open and as you talked about, these laws are not on the books in every single state.
Some folks kind of look at this and roll their eyes, kind of a weird thing to have on the books. Have you seen these things play out in the past? You know, it's happened so few times that I really don't remember an alienation of affection lawsuit going through, very often going through the whole procedure of a trial. Although there has been a case in North Carolina not too recent, not too distantly, in fact, I think it's within the last couple of months when some major TikTok influencer was involved in an alienation of affection suit. And perhaps there was an award of a very large judgment in that case.
I didn't follow that as closely since it doesn't involve a North Carolina political figure, but I did see a lot of news coverage about that. That involved alienation of affection. There was in North Carolina politics not too long ago, the Speaker of the State House was targeted with an alienation of affection lawsuit. That one ended up in a settlement.
So my guess is that's what happens in most of these cases, that someone files alienation of affection. And that there is some sort of settlement rather than having it go through a long, drawn-out trial. But it is a law that's on the books. And if the plaintiff in the case is unwilling to settle and wants to take it to a full trial, drag both the spouse and the person who is alleged to have broken up the marriage through the whole ordeal of a trial, that can happen. There can be a jury award.
So my guess is in most cases, the case is either thrown out because there's not enough proof that the person who's the defendant was, in fact, guilty of breaking up the marriage, or that there's a settlement because all the parties decide they don't want to have to go through a long, drawn-out legal process. You mentioned at the top that this was originally filed in Moore County Superior Court, and then Cinema and her legal team asked for federal court to take this over. Does that change any part of this equation as well?
Well, the only part that changes really is that you have a federal judge who is then looking over the North Carolina law instead of a state judge. There are certain circumstances in which a state lawsuit can be moved to federal court. I believe the main reason why this one can be moved to federal court is because Sinema is saying she doesn't have a contact with North Carolina that would allow her to be sued in the state court. Had it been in state court, you would suspect that all the proceedings in Moore County Superior Court would have forced her lawyers to be in North Carolina to deal with the basic safeguards and the basic procedures of North Carolina court that if she had out of state counsel, it would have been harder for them to keep up with.
Now, the attorney who's been working for her in this is based in Raleigh, so presumably. Knows North Carolina court procedures. But moving it to federal court means that you have a federal judge. Looking over this, still having to apply North Carolina law. We haven't seen.
Anything filed yet that suggests that Cinema wants to have the law declared unconstitutional, which sometimes that would be the reason why you would move a case from state to federal court, is you want the federal judge to throw out the law. We haven't seen any filing that's suggesting that at this point. But if Cinema were to put forward an argument that the alienation of affection law is unconstitutional as applied to her and the circumstances of this case, it would almost certainly have to go through the federal courts to do that. My guess is it's more likely that cinema did that just to make it easier on her own attorneys and her in case she has to deal with this case to be able to deal with the federal court rules, which she would be much more familiar with than North Carolina state court rules, which she would not as an Arizona senator, former Arizona senator. It's definitely a very interesting story.
We've got some more details on this original lawsuit, some of the national media coverage, Mitch, that you highlighted at the beginning. We've got all of that linked up this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. We appreciate the time this morning. Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Spring is calling, weddings, patio sessions, barbecues, and you want that drink vibe without sacrificing tomorrow.
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Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 WBT. We are keeping a very close eye on Senate District 26 this morning as noon today marks the end of the time that is available for candidates, not only in that race, but for races across the state of North Carolina to request a recount after the March the 3rd primary. Senate District 26 includes the very high-profile race between Senate leader Phil Berger, who has been in the North Carolina General Assembly since the year 2000, and Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page. As of Friday, the last Friday, a couple of days ago, the county canvas process, which made election results official, currently have Sam Page 23 votes ahead of Phil Berger. And the question remains and remained all weekend, what will Phil Berger and his team request a recount or challenge any ballot?
That were cast during either early voting or on election day back just a couple of weeks ago. According to a spokesperson for the Burger campaign, Jonathan Phelts, they are questioning whether some voters in Guilford County received the proper ballots when they showed up to vote. With a press release yesterday from the Burger recount team reading as follows: A voter in Senate District 26 reached out and said that he was given a ballot that it did not include the Senate District 26 primary, and that he knew of one other voter who told him about the same experience. We then contacted other individuals who voted in the same community and have identified others who believe that they were given the wrong ballot. That prompted a pretty immediate response from the Sam Page campaign.
According to Patrick Sebastian, who is titled himself as the post-election advisor for the Page campaign, highlighted that this very well. Could have been taking place in an area of Guilford County that does include a municipality that is split amongst multiple Senate districts. They write in the press release released last night by the Page campaign, Phil Berger's campaign has been telling voters that are calling people in Jamestown to ensure that they receive the correct ballot for District 26. As the Berger campaign should know, the small town of Jamestown is split between three state Senate districts. Naturally, many voters in Jamestown did not see Phil Berger on their ballot because they do not live in the 26th Senate District.
These claims from the Berger campaign are remaining with some accusations from Sam Page and his group that thousands of voters have been contacted in that area. There is also some commentary being made by the Berger campaign that those with the Page campaign are making accusations that claiming that you received the wrong ballot. It could amount to a felony.
So this is getting very heated here as the clock continues to tick against this 12-noon deadline today, as we have mentioned and as the coverage has continued over the last couple of weeks in this contest. Candidates have until 12 noon to file for a recount request. The race between Berger and Page is very much within the 1% threshold that is necessary for a recount to be allowable. And from all of our experts over at the John Locke Foundation and CarolinaJournal.com, they have all made the point that they feel very strongly that Phil Berger and his team will request that official recount. We have not seen that official notice as of this morning or as of late last night.
We will continue to keep an eye on this throughout the day. A good opportunity for you to head on over to our website, CarolinaJournal.com, and make sure you follow the Carolina Journal on all of our social media channels as well. We also have a way for you to get breaking news text alerts. If you head on over to our homepage, you'll see a blue banner right at the top that says sign up for breaking news text alerts. Head on over there, put in your phone number, and as statewide news breaks, which this absolutely would cross that barrier, you'll get those alerts.
Delivered directly to your cell phone. Those links over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. We will be keeping a very close eye on this throughout the remainder of the day today. This recount will start as a machine recount, meaning that all ballots cast in the contest will be run through high-speed tabulators in which election officials will see if the results that they deemed official back last Friday, if those totals and counts remain the same when those ballots are rerun. If there are some questions about that, there are some other procedures that could take place as well.
However, at this point, it does remain unclear whether that recount will be requested in the very high-profile and high-stakes race between Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page and the leader of the North Carolina Senate in Phil Berger. That's going to do it for a Tuesday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour. WBT News is next, followed by Good Morning, BT. We're back for you tomorrow morning, 5 to 6, right here on Charlotte's. FM News Talk 107.9 WBT.
