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Brittany Newton |
House District 46 is an
R + infinity district in Columbus and Robeson counties, ruled over by House Majority Leader Brenden Jones, who's been
nicknamed by Thomas Mills "Boss Hogg" for his several reported connections to pay-to-play corruption in office. He's also rumored to be the power running the GOP-dominated NC House, rather than young Destin Hall, the actual Speaker, who's said to be more absent than in control. Brittany Newton is the brave native of Whiteville who put her name on the ballot to challenge the corruption.
According to her Facebook page, Brittany Newton is an eight-year Army veteran, a single mom who works four different jobs (Certified Nursing Assistant, tax preparer, HR assistant, and nail tech). In 2024, when a group of "Patriotic Millionaires" came to Whiteville to unite working-class Black and white residents around economic reform, the documentary film about the event, The Deciders, starred Brittany Newton as one of the most influential local voices calling for economic reform. Her participation ignited her and put the idea of running for office in her mind: "For the past three years, Brittany has been a team captain with The Deciders, a grassroots group fighting for a fair tax system and a living wage. After sending hundreds of postcards [to Brenden Jones] that went unanswered, she led a bus of 40 neighbors to Raleigh to meet with [Mr. Jones], only to find an empty office. They slid their stories under the door and went home. But Brittany realized that if our leaders won't open the door, we have to change who is sitting in the office" (Brittany Newton website).
Just reading that lifts my spirit.
Newton has also been endorsed by Run for Something, the national organization that recruits and supports first-time Democratic candidates, and she's been endorsed by Lillian's List of North Carolina.
You may support Newton's campaign by contributing here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/brittanyfornc. I did (full disclosure).
The Notorious "Boss Hogg"
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Brenden Jones |
Dan Kane's reporting in the
Raleigh News & Observer has raised substantial questions about Rep.
Jones's conduct, focusing on whether Jones used his legislative position to benefit politically connected private interests.
Item One: The ABC warehouse deal. North Carolina's ABC Commission needs a new liquor distribution warehouse. There were two competing ideas. The ABC Commission's preferred plan: borrow approximately $310 million, build the warehouse, have the state own it. Brenden Jones's Boss Hogg idea: a "public-private partnership," meaning that a private developer would build and own the warehouse, the state would lease it at an estimated cost to taxpayers of over $500 million for the next two decades. Kane reported that when Jones persuaded House members to approve language authorizing the public-private option, he stated on the House floor that ABC Commission Chairman Hank Bauer wanted it that way. Bauer later said through a spokesman that he never requested the amendment, that he actually opposed the public-private plan, and he later told Jones directly that it was a "horrible" idea.
Kane connected Jones's legislation to a Florida-based developer called M Group Companies: an M Group subsidiary owns land near Statesville suitable for such a warehouse; lobbyists representing M Group arranged meetings between Jones and the ABC chairman; M Group affiliates and associated donors contributed more than $500,000 to Republican legislative campaigns over several years; Jones was among the largest individual recipients, reportedly receiving about $59,000.
Item Two: The "Greater Carolina" bourbon-tours investigation. A separate but related investigation concerns whether the notorious Kentucky bourbon tours, in which Jones was a playah, were a cover for lobbyists' improperly providing gifts to legislators through these trips. Search warrants later revealed that discussion of the future liquor warehouse occurred during at least one of those bourbon trips. Because some of the same lobbyists also represented M Group, Kane's reporting suggests overlapping networks of influence, though these remain legally distinct matters. Four lobbyists—not Jones—have been indicted on misdemeanor gift-ban charges connected to the bourbon-tour investigation.
Item Three: The Ritual Flogging of Chapel Hill. In December 2025, Jones chaired a meeting of the House Select Committee on Oversight and Reform, grilling Chapel Hill–Carrboro City School Board Chair George Griffin and Superintendent Rodney Trice. Jones's yelling at the school officials over supposedly obscene books foisted on innocent school children was intended as catnip for the book banners and other low-information consumers of manufactured outrage. Jones repeatedly held up books he said the school system had recommended, called them "freaking trash" (because he couldn't say "fucking"), and contemptuously threw them over his shoulder onto the floor. Superintendent Trice testified that he had no knowledge that the books were being recommended to students, and the school district later maintained that Jones was referring to books that had appeared on a third-party resource list previously linked from the district's website rather than books assigned in classrooms or necessarily stocked in elementary libraries. Jones got the media he wanted, because bullying anything "Chapel Hill" appeals to the old, mean Jesse Helms crowd, now known as trumpists.
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Ray Pickett |
SIDE NOTE OF INTEREST
Rep. Ray Pickett (HD 93), who represents Watauga County in Raleigh and who was on at least one of the Kentucky bourbon tours and who never listed the trip on his financial interest disclosure form, has suddenly been elevated to the chairmanship of the North Carolina House Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Committee, with wide power over all alcohol policy legislation. Cozy world, that! Where Boss Hogg keeps his deputies in the chips.
