New Sheriff in BooneTown?

 

A new Political Action Committee (PAC) -- calling itself "Appalachian PAC" -- has decided to get involved in the Boone Town Council races this year with endorsements (unclear at the moment whether they also intend to give direct money donations to individual candidates, but they're raising money). Their under-developed website brags that they're "non-partisan," but the evidence so far suggests something more complicated. With Bill Aceto and Stacy C. Eggers IV ("Four") as donors and guiding lights, "non-partisan" isn't the first thing that comes to mind.

"Oh, look, there's Luke Eggers too!" Photos taken at the PAC's "launch" party and posted to their Facebook page show a careful, mixed guest list, with Democrats and Republicans (for example, both Eggers and Tommy Sofield, who ran with the Republican team for Watauga County Commish in 2020) and independents -- some of whom might have more of an investment connection than a shared political ideology. The "launch" party was clearly weighted toward real estate brokers and business developers. 

I have questions about their goals, let alone their intentions. The website is short on policy statements, long on generalities that raise more questions than they answer: "Our goal is to elect pro-business and pro-university candidates in local and statewide elections." The banner across the top of their Homepage: 

UNIVERSITY • BUSINESS • COMMUNITY

The repeated emphasis on university, an odd leg on this three-legged stool -- that just stops me cold. AppState needs political help? Well, yes, in their view, which actually answers another question: How does the university need/use real estate developers? AppState and its 20,000 students are always needing habitation, and increasingly the university administration looks to the local rental market to supply a lot of their needs. Dormitories are expensive to build, expensive to maintain. And why go to that expense when there are plenty of developers ready to supply another kind of dormitory space -- stuff that advertises 4 bdrm/4 bath -- at no expense to the university but $700 a pop from the students who rent those units.

Some guys correctly identified the university as a cash cow many years ago.

I'm apprehensive if those same guys intend to make the laws of Boone more conducive to their goals.

NCGOP Counts Its Four Eggers Before They Hatch

So ... you know that the special session rewrite of elections boards in NC got struck down by a three-judge panel as an unconstitutional infringement on the executive branch of state government.

You may not know that the Republicans in the General Assembly rejiggered that law (to pass constitutional muster, they think), which still strips authority from the governor. That Senate Bill 68 passed both houses of the General Assembly and is sitting on Governor Cooper's desk. Cooper has already announced that he will veto it, but he hasn't yet.

The NCGOP under Chair Robin Hayes isn't waiting. He's named his choices for the new State Board of Elections and Ethics, one of whom would be Stacy C. Eggers IV ("Four"), that Watauga County paragon of open elections and sparkling ethics.

Four Eggers.

Four Eggers.

Four Eggers -- on the State Board of Elections and Ethics.

The man famous in Watauga County for much malfeasance but most famous for this: "One County Attorney, Two Hats: Documents Show Attorney as "Author" Behind Key Resolutions."

The lawyer who worked non-stop for years to suppress the vote of Appalachian State University students.

Yes. That guy. The guy who forced Elections Supervisor Jane Ann Hodges into early retirement, who schemed behind the scenes with Paul Foley, and who got his brother Luke appointed to the Watauga BOE when his own nomination was rejected by the State BOE because of an obvious conflict of interest.

Four Freakin' Eggers.

Of course, S68 will be passed over Roy Cooper's veto, but then it'll be back in court. So we figure that Four Eggers gets the publicity without the job. You're welcome!

Breaking News: Court of Appeals Rules in Watauga Voting Rights Case

Did Watauga County citizens have the right to sue the State Board of Elections for rubber-stamping an Early Voting plan in the elections of 2014? Appears that they did have the right to sue, and to win in Superior Court.

BACKGROUND
In the summer of 2014, Eggers&Eggers&Aceto for the Watauga County Board of Elections imposed an Early Voting plan that conspicuously disabled Appalachian State University students.

A group of citizens, including several ASU students, sued on constitutional grounds.

On October 13, 2014, Judge Donald Stephens of Wake Superior Court ordered the State Board of Elections to place an Early Voting site on the ASU campus.

State Board of Elections appealed that decision to the NC Court of Appeals, but the elections of 2014 happened in the meantime, with an Early Voting site in the ASU Student Union.

NC Court of Appeals heard the appeal of Judge Stephens' order on August 12, 2015, and today -- almost a full year later -- the Court of Appeals dismissed the State Board of Elections' appeal and ruled the case moot.

This is good news. A precedent has been established in North Carolina for challenging unconstitutional manipulation of ballot access through Early Voting plans.

Bill Aceto Acted Unilaterally in Demanding No Early Voting Site at ASU Student Union

Nancy Owen

So it's abundantly clear that Watauga Board of Elections Chair Bill Aceto acted unilaterally -- on his own -- while implying that he was speaking for "the Board of Elections" in demanding that no one ask for nor expect an Early Voting site in the ASU Student Union this November (where more people voted early per hour during the March primary than at all other Early Voting sites combined in the county). Aceto penned his letters to ASU Chancellor Sheri Everts, Caldwell Community College President Ken Boham, and the ASU Student Government Assn. without even informing nor consulting with his fellow Republican member Nancy Owen. (Aceto's letters are reproduced verbatim in the previous two posts, down column.)

Nancy Owen, who's actually the secretary of the Board, was kept in the dark. So if it wasn't clear to her before, she should know by now that she's merely a tool of Bill Aceto and of the real director of the Board of Elections, county attorney Stacy C. Eggers IV ("Four"). She's merely taken the place of the previous tool, Four Eggers' own brother Luke.

Nancy Owen certainly knows the "party line" -- prevent ASU student-voting at all costs -- but does she realize the damage being done to her own reputation? Or does she care?

Luke Eggers Resigns from Watauga BOE

Chair Luke Eggers has tendered his resignation from the Watauga County Board of Elections, effective today.

Everyone knew this would have to happen after his aunt, Becca Eggers, was appointed to a local judgeship. It's finally happened, one day in advance of the filing period for the 2016 elections.

Now taking bets on which hardliner Anne Marie Yates & Team will appoint in his place.

Core of the Argument Before the SBOE on Friday

Watauga County Board of Elections minority member Stella Anderson has submitted to the NC State Board of Elections (SBOE) an alternative Early Voting plan for the municipal elections upcoming in November, along with a highly detailed supporting argument. This is the conclusion of that argument (with my further notes below):

THE MAJORITY REFUSAL TO INCLUDE EARLY VOTING SITES IN ASU’S STUDENT UNION AND AT BLOWING ROCK TOWN HALL FOR THE 2015 MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS IS AN ABUSE OF DISCRETION AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THE TOWN OF BOONE’S YOUNGEST VOTERS 

While it is true the Majority has authority and discretion in determining one-stop voting locations, such discretion cannot stand against logic and evidence. There is no rational basis for the Majority’s refusal to establish one-stop voting locations in ASU’s Student Union and Blowing Rock Town Hall for the 2015 municipal elections:

            (1) The Watauga Board’s budget is not affected with the addition of early voting sites at ASU and in Blowing Rock because the municipalities pay the full cost;

            (2) Director Strach stated it is acceptable for local county Boards to get input from their towns in regards to one-stop voting locations, and other North Carolina counties did so;

            (3) Including one-stop sites at ASU’S Student Union and Blowing Rock Town Hall does not jeopardize the integrity of the elections nor undermine local Board authority in any way;

            (4) The Town governments of Boone and Blowing Rock have specifically requested one-stop locations in ASU’s Student Union and Blowing Rock Town Hall in order to increase voter participation and opportunity;

            (5) Including satellite one-stop voting locations in the ASU Student Union and Blowing Rock Town Hall will make up for this year’s inherent and dramatic reduction in early voting opportunities for Watauga County’s two largest municipalities;

            (6) The ASU Student Union is a preferred early voting site for voters of all ages, and both ASU’s Student Union and Blowing Rock Town Hall offer exceptional one-stop locations; and

            (7) Past election results unequivocally demonstrate that the lack of an ASU early voting site results in unconstitutional discrimination against the voting rights of a protected class of young voters.[i]

---

[i] Anderson, et al v. North Carolina State Board of Elections, “Petition for Judicial Review,” 14 CVS 012648, September 19, 2014.

Cowboys with an unconstitutional horse to ride

Note on (2) above: pursuant to a letter from Executive Director of the SBOE Kim Strach to all county boards of elections, suggesting that they consider input from municipalities before setting Early Voting plans for municipal elections, Stella Anderson wrote a letter to the four Watauga County towns (Chair Luke Eggers refused to write the letter). Both Blowing Rock and Boone requested satellite Early Voting sites, but when Anderson presented that request to the full Board of Elections, Eggers and Bill Aceto refused to honor the requests.

Note on (5) above: The Eggers/Aceto plan will slash Early Voting availability from 113 hours over a period of 2 ½ weeks in the 2013 municipal elections to a total of just 68 hours for 10 days this year, if the SBOE allows it to go forward. 

Note on (7) above: "Unconstitutional" ... that's exactly the word used by Senior Wake County Superior Court Judge Donald W. Stephens last year, when he ordered the SBOE and the Watauga Board of Elections to restore an Early Voting site in the ASU Student Union. That ruling hasn't been overturned.

SBOE Deals With Watauga ... Again!

Notorious Aceto & Eggers
Photo by Lonnie Webster

This coming Friday in Raleigh, the NC State Board of Elections will consider the challenge to the Watauga County Board of Elections' Early Voting plan, passed last month by the notorious Luke Eggers/Bill Aceto. Democratic member of the Watauga BOE, Stella Anderson, will present her alternative Early Voting plan to the SBOE, which actually honors the requests of the towns of Blowing Rock and Boone to establish satellite sites, at those towns' expense.

The notorious Eggers/Aceto pod refused those requests, because they (i.e., Stacy C. Eggers IV -- the even more notorious "Four" Eggers) are desperate to prevent any Appalachian State University Early Voting site as a precedent for 2016, when so much of the Republican agenda will be at stake.

With the most notorious of all Paul Foley gone from the SBOE, and a new dude being sworn in to his seat on Friday, there's no telling what might happen.

What Nathan Miller Said in Court This Morning

Miller

"Judge, there's no doubt that this is about politics."

UPDATED with additional information

The "this" in lawyer Nathan Miller's statement to Special Superior Court Judge Jeff Hunt of Henderson County is his petition (on behalf of Republican Party Chair Anne Marie Yates) to "compel" Appalachian State University to turn over another 9,000 of Professor Stella Anderson's e-mails that were not released, either because they were (1) confidential personnel matters, or (2) privacy protected communications with students, or (3) personal communications, having nothing to do with University business and, as such, not a public record.

Miller admitted that the fishing expedition is political after it came out in court this morning that Nathan Miller personally had complained about Professor Anderson to the University of North Carolina Board of Governors just a few hours after Anderson et al. had filed a petition in October 2013 with the State Board of Elections to remove Republican members Luke Eggers and Bill Aceto from the local Board of Elections for cause.

And soon after that, here came Anne Marie Yates, represented by Nathan Miller, demanding all of Stella Anderson's e-mails and alleging that she had violated the law by politicking on the ASU server. The 10,000 e-mails turned over to Yates did not satisfy the Republican Chair, mainly because the wild allegations being tossed around were not sustained by the evidence.

Yates, blocking the camera phone

Judge Hunt took no action this morning. He asked all parties to file briefs with him, arguing whether Anderson is subject to NC GS 126.13, which prohibits political activity by a state employee. The Attorney General's office in a prior opinion stated that UNC system faculty are exempt from most sections of 126. Faculty are classified as "EPA" (meaning Exempt from the Personnel Act).

Faculty are subject to a UNC BOG policy that mirrors 126.13 provisions, but that is not a matter to be adjudicated in the courts. Complaints of violations have to be directed to the UNC Board Of Governors, which Miller did in Anderson's case in October 2013. There was a full investigation of his complaint, and Anderson was cleared of any wrongdoing. Miller keeps trying to conflate the Public Records Request and the political activity complaint, which Anderson's lawyer maintains he cannot (or should not be allowed to) do. His only recourse through the courts in on the Public Records Request alone.

Miller had apparently chosen to ignore the EPA exemption and has claimed in court -- he did so again this morning -- that he does not know "to this day" whether Anderson is a member of the ASU faculty. That was a laughable statement. It was pointed out to Judge Hunt that in his complaint to the Board of Governors in October 2013, Miller himself identified Anderson as a professor at ASU.

Months ago, after Judge Hunt was assigned to the case, he proposed that perhaps an independent "referee" could be appointed to review all the e-mails and reach a conclusion about whether they were "public records." Guess who Nathan Miller nominated as potential "independent referees." No, really, guess…

Stacy C. Eggers IV ("Four") and Rep. Jonathan Jordan. I'm not making that up. Those are the two "unbiased" men that Nathan Miller thought would be excellent arbiters to paw through thousands of private e-mails … the brother of Luke Eggers, against whom Stella Anderson had filed a petition for removal from the Board of Elections, and the highly partisan Republican who represents Watauga County in the General Assembly.

For tone deafness, you will nowhere find more tin than dwells within the ears of attorney Nathan Miller. And for a model of political vindictiveness, also look no further.

Why Do Republicans Persecute the Young Rather Than Try To Win Their Votes?

So a gentleman asks me at the Farmer's Market, "Why don't the Republicans try to win hearts & minds of college students instead of constantly trying to block their votes?"

Excellent question.

Why have Luke Eggers (sockpuppet for his brother, the Republican county attorney Stacy C. Eggers IV --"Four") and Bill Aceto made their project to discourage AppalachianState University students from voting so transparent, so obvious, so vulnerableto negative public reaction?

Why would Eggers and Aceto provoke a public scolding by the Chief Judge of the Wake Superior Court? Why would they act to invite the unbecoming label of "unconstitutional" to be attached to their official behavior by that same judge?

Why would they return to the exact same behavior and identical official decision to deny an Early Voting site on the ASU campus, which sort of begs for a new lawsuit that targets them personally for repeating their stupidity and acting to harm the constitutional rights of an entire class of citizens?

Why would they?

Why wouldn't they, rather, along with their Watauga Republican overlords, try to win the votes of college students instead of continually trying to squelch them? Why do they display hostility toward college-age voters in such a public way rather than send their ambassadors to this and other college campuses to persuade the young voters to their side?

Young Republican Tommy Adams spent many hours on campus trying to get votes when he ran for County Commissioner in 2012, but he lost. Why? Dunno, but it seems fairly obvious that whatever Republican candidates are peddling, the college age voter ain't buying.

Modern Republican conservatism evidentally turns off college students faster than an unbelieveably boring professor. Perhaps the contemporary Republican "brand" in North Carolina knows full-well that it'll never attract the young in substantial numbers -- at least, not if they're honest about what they intend to do in office -- and it's just easier to shut off ballot access for the 18-25 year-olds.

EggersEggers&Aceto Have Succeeded in Making the Watauga Board of Elections Into a House of Ill Repute

Cartoon by Andrew Cox

One thing above all others is crystal clear about the Four-Eggers-Luke-Eggers-Bill-Aceto administration of the Watauga County Board of Elections: they have gone and will continue to go to any lengths to hobble and discourage the voting of Appalachian State University students.

In the elections of 2014, while the Terrible Three were denying an Early Voting site for the campus of ASU, they were insisting that the town of Blowing Rock must have an Early Voting site, and Blowing Rock did indeed get their Early Voting polling site.

Now it's 2015, and the Terrible Three are claiming that Early Voting in Blowing Rock would jeopardize the integrity of the election process.

Why? All four municipalities in the county were asked -- at the suggestion of Kim Strach, executive director of the state Board of Elections -- if they would like to have Early Voting set up in their towns, understanding up front that they would be paying the freight for that service. Seven Devils and Beech Mountain both replied "no thanks," but Blowing Rock and the Town of Boone replied, "Yes, please!"

The Terrible Three were in a quandary. How could they give Early Voting in the municipal elections to Blowing Rock and deny it to Boone? You can almost hear the little wheels in their brains grinding: No, better not give it to either, as the unequal treatment might attract unwelcome attention.

So they denied the requested Early Voting sites to both towns, mainly to keep from having one on the campus of ASU. Got it?

Aceto and Eggers

So once again, the majority Eggers-Eggers-Aceto Early Plan for Watauga and a minority plan written by Stella Anderson will be going before the State Board of Elections, and it will be Mr. Josh Howard and his fellow SBOE members who will have to make the final decision.

The last time Mr. Howard et al. made that decision for Watauga -- 2014, --a law suit was filed and was ultimately successful against the State Board of Elections for siding with EggersEggers&Aceto. A Superior Court judge in Wake County ordered the State Board to place an Early Voting site on the ASU campus. The SBOE complied with that order the day before Early Voting was to begin. (Mere minutes after that SBOE decision, the state's Supreme Court weighed in -- without actually stopping the SBOE's decision. The State Supremes ordered the SBOE back into the NC Court of Appeals, which had already declined to stay the superior court judge's order. Nothing would be adjudicated until after the 2014 election was over.)

So ASU got its Early Voting site in the general elections of 2014, and as a matter of fact, more voters voted early at that site per hour than at any other Watauga County Early Voting site.

"Four" Eggers, master mind

The Superior Court judge had ruled on the basis of the infringement of Constitutional rights, saying that EggersEggers&Aceto had singled out a class of citizens for unequal and unfair treatment and that the SBOE had aided and abetted in that scheme.

In its subsequent appeal to the NC Court of Appeals (heard this very morning, as a matter of fact, in Raleigh), the SBOE only wanted one issue adjudicated. Even though the "harm" in Anderson et al. v. SBOE is now moot (meaning that since that election is over, the injury to voters once at stake is now of only academic interest), the SBOE nevertheless wants the Court of Appeals to rule that the plaintiffs in Anderson et al. v. SBOE (students unfairly discriminated against in the matter of ballot access) didn't go to the right court and that they should have to file a different type of law suit that would cost a lot more money and take a lot more work in a very constrained time-frame. The SBOE also argued that it was not acting in a quasi-judicial role when it refused an ASU Early Voting site, because it never issued findings nor considered evidence, even though it was supposed to. Therefore, the SBOE argued, the SBOE cannot be held accountable. Anderson et al. argued that the case is indeed moot, that the students won, and that the SBOE (not to forget EggersEggers&Aceto) are full of shit (okay, I paraphrased that last part).

It may take the Court of Appeals up to 90 days to decide what they can do with this case. In the meantime, the exact same issues are now guaranteed to land with a thud on the collective desks of the SBOE. Are they ready for round two, or will someone of the Republican persuasion on the SBOE decide that it might be better not to rubber-stamp once again the partisan stupidity of EggersEggers&Aceto?

Watauga Board of Elections: Potholed

This evening Watauga Board of Elections Chair Luke Eggers went all authoritarian about early voting sites for the municipal elections in November and declared that Boone and Blowing Rock could not have the sites those towns requested, even though Boone and Blowing Rock would be paying for them.

See if you can decipher his reasoning:

“On the surface," opined Eggers, who knows a thing or two about surfaces, the requests from the towns of Blowing Rock and Boone for Early Voting sites "sounds like a great idea. But the more I thought about it, what got me was we are reaching out to the candidates and letting them have a say. It would be the same thing if we went to the general election and asked the county commissioners, ‘Where do you want a site?’ ” (emphasis added)

"We are reaching out to the candidates"? What? Minority member Stella Anderson wrote the town managers of all the county's municipalities and inquired about their preferences for early voting sites. Is Eggers suggesting that the responses that were received were dictated by candidates running for reelection?

Now there's a man who's foremost concern is "integrity" -- "Eggers said he is trying to keep the integrity of the elections" -- never mind the puppet strings that his big brother "Four" Eggers has danced him on since August of 2013. Do the two Mr. Eggers think we don't see through them? Do they think their steadfast scheme to suppress the vote of ASU students isn't done at the behest of certain candidates, or at least to benefit their prospects?

In denying an early voting site -- once again -- on the campus of Appalachian State University, Eggers and Aceto are defying the Superior Court judge who ruled last year that their previous denial in 2014 was a violation of constitutional rights and the principles of equal treatment under the law.

In denying an early voting site in Blowing Rock, which they were eager to grant in last fall's general election and are now suddenly totally opposed to, Eggers and Aceto are proving that their foolish consistency has become the hobgoblin of their little partisan minds (forgive me, R.W. Emerson!).

Because the vote on the BOE this evening was 2-1, there'll be an appeal heard by the state Board of Elections (now minus member Paul Foley). Last year the SBOE sided with Eggers & Aceto, and what came of that? They got sued and lost, and the court forced the placement of an early voting site in the ASU Student Union.

Eggers & Aceto are going down that bumpy road again. That's some swell instruction that Four Eggers is forcing on his little brother Luke and on his other tool, Bill Aceto.

Luke Eggers to Watauga Municipalities: "You Have My Permission To Drop Dead"

This highly revealing passage appears in Jesse Wood's press coverage of yesterday's Watauga Board of Elections (BOE) meeting in the context of Early Voting during the upcoming municipal elections:

[Stella] Anderson said that she would like staff from the county elections office to reach out to all of the municipalities and see what early voting sites they would like to have. If those municipalities agreed to pay for the one-stop voting sites, then Anderson said there was “no reason” for the Watauga County Board of Elections to not approve those sites.

Eggers or Aceto didn’t offer a response to Anderson’s desire to seek recommendations from the municipalities during the meeting.

After the meeting, Eggers said that the office would certainly take any recommendations from the municipalities but said that there was no reason for the county to reach out to those municipalities regarding one-stop voting. [emphasis added]

The individual municipalities do pay the expenses for municipal elections, which would appear to provide a "reason" -- a very good reason -- for the county BOE to inquire what Early Voting sites the municipalities would like for their elections.

Luke Eggers

It was apparently such a novel idea to suggest that the BOE should actually ask the municipalities what they would prefer that Eggers&Aceto had no response during the meeting. (Plus Luke Eggers' big brother "Four" wasn't in the room to tell his little brother what to think, so he was rudderless.)

Only afterward did Luke Eggers decide he's better channel his big brother's total control over the BOE: "Why the hell would we ask anyone what they preferred in the way of Early Voting sites when County Attorney Four Eggers has all of that predetermined and securely locked down?"