The Great Johnston County School Board Mess of 2023

 

Michelle Antoine

It all started with the election of Michelle Antoine to the Johnston County Board of Education in November 2022. Antoine is the mother of eight children, a once fit outdoor enthusiast, a Southern Baptist, and a crusading social warrior. She confesses her activities against Critical Race Theory with this "influencer brag" on her website: "[I] wrote historical, current, and informational speeches and delivered presentations across the state of North Carolina. Included topics: Critical Race Theory; Gender Theory; Law, History, and Racism in School Segregation in North Carolina...." (I bet that last one contained some scorching information.) 

Antoine ran with the backing of a conservative group calling itself Citizen Advocates For Accountable Government (CAAG -- rhymes with "gag"). CAAG had been aggressively accusing the existing Johnston school board with financial irregularities in the summer of 2022 leading up to Antoine's election, propagandizing for N.C. State Auditor Beth Wood "to come and take a close look at the finances of the Johnston County schools."

With her election, Antoine joined another notorious so-'n'-so already on the school board, Ronald Johnson, who had been indicted for extortion and other crimes in April 2023. He was also censured by the full school board (Antoine dissenting) and fired from his job with the Smithfield police department (for cause). With Johnson still sitting on the board under indictment and with his case pending, he sued the rest of the school board -- excepting Antoine -- in a Federal suit in June alleging civil rights violations. "Johnson says he’s a sexual assault victim. He claims he’s a victim of a conspiracy to remove him from political office and deprive him of a livelihood" (T. Keung Hui).

Another character enters the fray. Also elected to the school board in the elections of 2022, a man named Terry Tippett, who was actually the top vote-getter. He has no love apparently for either Michelle Antoine or Ronald Johnson, which all came to a head on Monday -- two days ago.

It gets complicated. Antoine had sued the school board back on September 12 and talked a judge into sealing the complaint because it contained information that could irreparably hurt Antoine. Antoine actually got a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the school board's getting a report from its attorneys about a grievance that had been filed against Antoine, which she alleged was defamatory. But meanwhile, the school board successfully got the case moved to Federal court, and the TRO ran out last Sunday, so on Monday the rest of the school board scheduled a special meeting to hear the official report on a grievance against Antoine which had been investigated by the attorneys. Antoine dropped her lawsuit before the Monday meeting, perhaps hopeful that the facts could stay hidden. They didn't.

All hell broke loose at the Monday special meeting. Ronald Johnson and Terry Tippett almost came to blows. There was actual physical movement toward one another (you can see the video evidence about Tippett's standing up here). Michelle Antoine had her mike cut off. She decried the "kangaroo court" that she believed she was the holy victim of. Terry Tippett called Antoine “the most uninformed person, the most disrespectful person, the most unprofessional person I’ve ever seen sit on the board of education or any board.” 

It's the trumpist brand, isn't it? that Antoine brought with her election. There are Michelle Antoines in many counties, hell-bent on disruption and destruction.

Running as a Democrat When You're Bound to Lose

 

By Justin King, who was a candidate for the Johnston County Board of Commissioners in 2020

Cross-posted with CarolinaForward.org

Justin King

I reside in the GOP hotbed of Johnston County, which borders the metro county of Wake. Johnston, like all wrap-around counties surrounding the metro counties in North Carolina, has been dubbed a “Countrypolitan” county by Duke professor Mac McCorkle. The word “Countrypolitan” is most associated with the changing sound of country music in the late 1960s that appealed to a broader market of listeners. McCorkle, along with Rachel Salzberg, recently authored a detailed report on the problems plaguing Democrats in Countrypolitan counties. Having run as a Democratic candidate in Johnston County during the 2020 election, I wanted to share my experiences in hopes that future candidates will take note as they build their campaigns.

Like many of the Countrypolitan counties, Johnston has been dominated by Republicans for two decades. The last Democrat elected to a countywide or state legislative office in Johnston was 2002. Nonpartisan races such as school board and city council have been the only areas of success for local Democrats. Hillary Clinton received just 33% of the countywide vote share in 2016. When I made the decision to run countywide for county commissioner in 2020, I knew the chances of winning were extremely unlikely. My campaign would not be measured by a winning or losing, but rather by pointing out the failures of Republican leadership in an effort to change the status quo.

According to the 2020 Census data, Johnston County is the fastest-growing county in North Carolina. The proximity to Raleigh has turned the western half of JoCo into a bedroom community for commuters. The counties dubbed Countrypolitan by McCorkle mostly suffer from the same structural issues as Johnston: underfunded schools, school overcrowding, congested roads, broadband access, and aging wastewater infrastructure. My campaign went directly at these challenges with detailed plans that not only excited Democrats but had crossover appeal to Republicans.

You can have the greatest plans in the world, but if you do not have the party infrastructure to help support you, your success will be limited. This is in no way the fault of anyone within our local party, but part of a broader problem across the Countrypolitan landscape for Democrats. When you lose election after election, people lose hope and stop showing up. The biggest challenge I encountered was getting people to give money for a campaign that they knew would lose in the end. I understand the mindset of not wanting to support a losing campaign, but please do not send $50 to someone running against Madison Cawthorn and tell me that was a good investment because it made you feel good. I ended up raising more money from Republicans than Democrats, which was fine by me. One dollar from a Republican spent the same as one dollar from a Democrat.

The N.C. Democratic Party will have to address the disparity in resources offered to counties outside the metro areas. I do not want to hear the excuse that the financial support is not available to help county parties and local candidates. The amount of money that was spent by the state party and respective caucuses in 2020 on state legislative races is staggering. We have enough data on elections to know that almost all legislative races are going to be determined by the presidential outcome. My recommendation to Democratic party officials is to create a slate of vetted candidates running in local contests that they feel have potential for higher office in the future. Provide them access to a paid consultant that works with them on communications and cash collection for their campaigns. A donation from the state party would also be nice!

In the end, my campaign lost just as I had anticipated. I held out a glimmer of hope of winning until the Trump turnout surge started showing up in the early voting numbers. The surprising outcome was that I received a greater percentage of the vote (41.6) than both President Biden (37.05) and Governor Cooper (40.66). Not only did I outperform the top of the Democratic ticket, but two of my biggest campaign issues have seen significant progress since the election. For the first time ever, Johnston County Public Schools received their full classroom funding request from county commissioners. In addition, we are on the verge of passing the largest bond referendum in the history of the county to support school construction. Neither of these two issues would have been addressed in this manner had I not pounded the table for them as a candidate.

The recent redistricting outcomes have provided a path for Democrats to take back control of the General Assembly this decade. That path runs through Countrypolitan counties. Democrats in North Carolina must produce their own Countrypolitan brand of music that attracts new listeners to gain enough seats to win back control of the General Assembly. If not, we will be listening to another decade of the same songs from Phil Berger and the gang. My low budget, pandemic year campaign is proof that Democrats can have crossover appeal in today’s political market.

The Daily Show Went to Johnston County

 

Despite Cawthorn, Johnston Co School Board Votes To Keep Mask Mandate

 

The Johnston County School Board last night reaffirmed its mask mandate for all public schools. The vote was 4-3, with Democrats Kay Carroll and Terri Sessoms, joined by Republicans Al Byrd and Lyn Andrews, providing the majority.

Congressman Madison Cawthorn, roving far outside his own district in search for fame and money, led a march of anti-maskers to the Johnston County school board meeting last week to demand an end to the masking policy. The school board postponed a vote until last night because vice-chair Terri Sessoms could not attend last week's meeting.

Madison Cawthorn: Not As Big as Goliath, But Bigger Than a Wart

 

Madison Cawthorn leading the march in
Smithfield yesterday

In Johnston County, NC -- where Madison Cawthorn took a spa day yesterday -- there are 15 active cases of COVID and 50 quarantines among public school staff, and a whopping 178 active cases with 782 quarantines among students. Yet, Cawthorn sagely opined in front of the Johnston County school board last night that masks are a socialist plot.

Johnston is a large, heavily populated county lying slightly south and east of and directly adjacent to Wake. Downtown Raleigh is 30 miles north. Possibly because of that proximity, Johnston has also grown. Its school system is the 7th largest in the state. Its capitol of Smithfield thrives with a sense of its own importance; its historic downtown made the list of National Historic Places. Though Johnston might be denser than many rural counties with growing suburbs, it's also stubbornly Republican. Lots of money went out of Johnston to support Jesse Helms back in the day, and Trump did just fine there last year (taking over 61% of the vote), so over generations it's remained blissfully Old South reactionary. 

It's school board consists of 7 elected members, currently 5 men and 2 women. Two, one woman and one man, are registered Democrats. The rest are Republican, even the Black member. Cawthorn's bizarre attack on sensible public health rules, staged anew in Smithfield last night, has become his roadshow act and his cash cow. Why was he in a different congressional district, 300 miles east of his own turf? Because he's riding the hobbyhorse of a developing right-wing crusade to keep his fundraising robust, and Johnston County evidently looked to him like the Breadbasket of Trumpism. 

(The county is split between three House districts and three Senate districts, but every last House and Senate member is a Republican [see below].)

Last night hundreds of Cawthorn fans (we're told) rallied in the parking lot of a shopping center -- enough enthusiastic people to draw the attendance of other Republican office-holders and would-be office-holders from all over the county, including from out of state. The crowd heard speakers along with Cawthorn and then marched to the school board offices. Some of them even got into that meeting room in Smithfield, which is (thankfully) very small.

So it wasn't quite like the scene in Buncombe, where a big crowd led by Cawthorn stormed the meeting and booed the members. There was only scattered applause from the audience in Johnston, because in that tiny meeting room were also people who supported the school board's mandate for masks (which is up for routine reconsideration right now). So it wasn't all lopsided anger over the "tyranny" of masks.

What did the school board do?

Nothing. It delayed a vote because the vice-chair (one of two women who also  happens to be one of the two Democrats) missed the meeting (bereaving the death of her husband). The board put off action until she could return -- next Monday, virtually (hmmm), at 2 p.m. Taking bets what they end up doing. The mask mandate passed in August only 4-3, so there's every likelihood that two Republican members will cave to the pressure and vote to reverse themselves. Or maybe they'll develop some gumption. We wait to see.

Cawthorn's roadshow, no kidding. In Hendersonville Monday night, in Cawthorn's own district, he harangued the Henderson County School Board with his expert grasp on history -- "Tyrants thrive when freedom is sacrificed on the altar of safety," he said. "I believe that King George III would be immensely proud of Gov. Roy Cooper. He's running the state with an iron fist, liberty be dammed. He has ripped away your power and your will." Despite the theatrical aria to "our freedoms," and a large turnout of loud people supporting Cawthorn, the Henderson board nevertheless voted 6-1 to retain the mask mandate. D'oh!

Sometimes Cawthorn's attempt to intimidate local office-holders just looks silly and weak and produces nothing but noise.

Maybe Just Noise Is the Point

Maybe the efficacy of protesting mask mandates -- getting school boards to actually reverse their masking rules -- isn't Cawthorn's goal. Maybe he doesn't care about actual public policy, only cash returns and more Fox News and Infowars stardom. Conservative activists -- Trumpists -- love Cawthorn's masquerade of give 'em hell "patriotism," because since at least the rise of Ronald Reagan, the Right can't tell a huckster from a dumpster.

Western Carolina University political scientist Chris Cooper thinks Cawthorn is laying track to attempt to oust Sen. Thom Tillis in the primary of 2026, because by then MadCaw will presumably be out of diapers and old enough constitutionally to run for the Senate:

Cawthorn’s trip to Johnston County has been covered in media outlets across the state, and has spawned enough Twitter traffic to rival an early season Duke/UNC game. The attention is the point. And it’s working.

If the attention is both the means and the primary end, then fundraising is a secondary goal--and one that will likely be successful. Cawthorn raised over $1.7 million through June 30 of this year—a sum that dwarfs the receipts from established Republican members of Congress like Patrick McHenry and Virginia Foxx. When the fundraising numbers are revealed from September, 2021, I’ll bet you a beer (or ginger ale if that's more your speed) at any North Carolina brewery that the Johnston County event will spark a pop in Cawthorn's fundraising—a cash infusion that would come in handy for any candidate, but particularly one with Cawthorn’s burn rate [Cawthorn has been spending it as fast as it comes in].

It also seems likely that Cawthorn’s political aspirations extend past NC-11, making this out-of-district attention grab a little less confusing that it would be for a member of Congress who has no intention of running for higher office .... Cawthorn has not been shy about criticizing Republican party leadership and recently called Tillis “a terrible campaigner and a complete RINO” [Republican in Name Only]. It’s not much of a stretch to think that Cawthorn has his eyes on that seat.

The Johnston County School Board

Todd Sutton, Chair (R)

Terri Sessoms, Vice-Chair (D)

Lyn Andrews (R)

Al Byrd (R)

Ervin McKay ("Kay") Carroll (D)

Ronald Johnson (R)

Michael C. Wooten (R)

Johnston's House and Senate Reps

House

Donna McDowell White, Dist. 26 (R)

Larry C. Strickland, Dist 28 (R)

John R. Bell IV, Dist. 10 (R), House Majority Leader

Senate

Lisa S. Barnes, Dist. 11 (R)

Brent Jackson, Dist. 10 (R)

Jim Burgin, Dist. 12 (R) 

Raleigh "Pork"

Reporting in the News&Observer:

CLEVELAND -- An unincorporated community in western Johnston County will receive state money for downtown revitalization this year, although residents aren’t sure where their “downtown” is located.

North Carolina legislators this summer earmarked $30,000 for Cleveland, a fast-growing crossroads community of shopping centers and subdivisions that does not govern itself and does not have a traditional downtown.

The money surprised Johnston County leaders and residents. They hadn’t applied for the money, and so far no one has received direction on what it is meant for or any regulations for its use....

Only deep in this article do we get around to asking who could possibly be responsible for raining $30,000 onto a place that has no government entity capable of spending it.

Was it Sen. Brent Jackson who represents Johnston County and serves on the Senate appropriations committee?  "He said he was not involved in drafting this portion of the budget."

Was it House member Donna White, who represents Johnston County in the other body? She did not return calls from the reporter. Hmmm.

Why engineer pork for your home district and not want to take credit for it? Because it's irrational and shameful?

R

ead more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/johnston-county/article163254948.html#storylink=cpy