• Campus
    • Campus
    • Student Life
    • Administration
    • Faculty
    • Higher Education
  • City & County
    • City & County
    • Chapel Hill
    • Carrboro
    • Education
    • Public Safety
  • Politics
    • Politics
    • North Carolina
    • National
  • Sports
    • Sports
    • Men's Basketball
    • Women's Basketball
    • Wrestling
    • Men's Tennis
    • Women's Tennis
    • Track and Field
    • Fencing
    • Swimming and Diving
    • Gymnastics
  • Culture
    • Culture
    • Arts & Entertainment
    • Food
  • Opinion
    • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Cartoons
    • Columns
    • Letters
    • Kvetching Board
  • Multimedia
    • Multimedia
    • Video
    • Galleries
    • Audio
  • About
    • About
    • Hiring
    • Board of Directors
    • Alumni
    • Corrections
    • Contact
    • Meet the editors
    • Policies & Bylaws
  • Advertise
    • Advertise
    • Policies
    • Events Calendar
    • Celebrations
    • Obituaries
  • Donate
  • Story Collections

  • HeelsHousing
  • Offline Chapel Hill
  • Shop
  • Buy Photos
  • 1893 Brand Studio
  • Alumni
  • Events Calendar
  • Celebrations/Obits
    • Celebrations
    • Obituaries
  • Southern Neighbor
  • Newsletter
  • Classifieds
  • Campus
  • City & County
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Culture
  • Opinion
  • Donate
  • HeelsHousing
  • Search
The Daily Tar Heel

Serving the students and the University community since 1893.

The Daily Tar Heel
    • Campus
      • Campus
      • Student Life
      • Administration
      • Faculty
      • Higher Education
    • City & County
      • City & County
      • Chapel Hill
      • Carrboro
      • Education
      • Public Safety
    • Politics
      • Politics
      • North Carolina
      • National
    • Sports
      • Sports
      • Men's Basketball
      • Women's Basketball
      • Wrestling
      • Men's Tennis
      • Women's Tennis
      • Track and Field
      • Fencing
      • Swimming and Diving
      • Gymnastics
    • Culture
      • Culture
      • Arts & Entertainment
      • Food
    • Opinion
      • Opinion
      • Editorials
      • Cartoons
      • Columns
      • Letters
      • Kvetching Board
    • Multimedia
      • Multimedia
      • Video
      • Galleries
      • Audio
    • About
      • About
      • Hiring
      • Board of Directors
      • Alumni
      • Corrections
      • Contact
      • Meet the editors
      • Policies & Bylaws
    • Advertise
      • Advertise
      • Policies
      • Events Calendar
      • Celebrations
      • Obituaries
    • Donate
    • Story Collections

    • HeelsHousing
    • Offline Chapel Hill
    • Shop
    • Buy Photos
    • 1893 Brand Studio
    • Alumni
    • Events Calendar
    • Celebrations/Obits
      • Celebrations
      • Obituaries
    • Southern Neighbor
    • Newsletter
    • Classifieds
  • In the News
  • Men's basketball
  • The OC Report
  • UNC Duke Rivalry 2019
  • Football
  • Men's lacrosse

1/22/2020, 12:57pm

Watchdog complaint calls for state investigation and penalties against SCV

Watchdog complaint calls for state investigation and penalties against SCV Buy Photos
Silent Sam in McCorkle Place
Katie Sweeney

Share

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Mail
  • Print
BY Charlie McGee

A decorated government watchdog is attributing years of illegal political activity to the North Carolina Division Sons of Confederate Veterans Inc. in a new complaint to the State Board of Elections, recommending major penalties against the pro-Confederate nonprofit that received a $2.5 million trust and $74,999 payment through backdoor dealings with the UNC System last November.

Former executive director of Democracy North Carolina Bob Hall filed the campaign finance complaint Wednesday morning. Earlier this month, The Daily Tar Heel reported that the SCV has been violating federal tax laws, illegally facilitating political donations and operating a political action committee in violation of its tax-exempt status for years.

The DTH’s reporting prompted Hall — whose decades of public interest work has, among many things, garnered him a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” — to begin his own assessment of the SCV, as well as the viability of taking his own legal action.

After about a week of follow-up research and interviews, Hall said he had corroborated the DTH’s reporting. 

Now, his complaint calls for an investigation and extensive action by the state’s election authority, including the forfeiture by various Republican officials of thousands in past contributions they've received from the SCV’s illegally-formed NC Heritage PAC.


Editors Picks

Here's what students need to know about voting in the primaries


A startup by a UNC professor seeks to lower global cancer treatment disparities


Meet the UNC senior who won the prestigious Churchill Scholarship




A complaint filed by Bob Hall with the State Board of Elections, calling for an investigation and enforcement actions against the North Carolina Division Sons of Confederate Veterans Inc.


The five separate enforcement actions recommended by Hall are as follows:

  • Termination of the NC Heritage PAC as a political action committee illegally created by NC SCV in violation of state (and federal) laws;
  • Penalties against leaders of NC SCV for (a) soliciting contributions to the NC Heritage PAC during NC SCV local and state meetings, (b) depositing money intended for a NC SCV affiliate in the PAC’s account, (c) attributing PAC donations to individuals who were not the true donors, and (d) filing false campaign finance disclosure reports with the State Board;
  • Penalties against NC SCV and NC Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Camp #1695 for using organizational resources to support the operations of a PAC;
  • Disgorgement or forfeiture of any funds held by the NC Heritage PAC through payment of its funds to the NC Civil Penalty and Forfeiture Fund;
  • Disgorgement of the $28,500 that the NC Heritage PAC contributed to state legislators, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler and other candidates by directing their campaign committees to send payments to the State Board equal to the amount they received from the PAC.

A Board of Elections spokesperson declined to comment, pointing to a new policy which was adopted by the board and went into effect on Dec. 27, 2019, establishing a structure and guidelines for campaign finance complaints, including the confidentiality of materials gathered during investigations.

Hall told the DTH that the recent policy has no bearing on how the Board of Elections will assess his complaint’s evidence. He did say that under the policy, the board can more easily prioritize complaints of a serious nature for early investigations.

“These are serious violations that involve an organization in the middle of controversial dealings with the state and the University System, and I would hope that the Board of Elections would act promptly to get to the bottom of these matters,” Hall said.

@bycharliemcgee

special.projects@dailytarheel.com


Next up in Special Projects and Investigations

  • Sustainability officer fired, contrary to UNC statements; energy initiative sputters

  • Behind closed doors: UNC System concealed $74,999 deal's role in Confederate payoff

  • Unmarked graves of enslaved people demonstrate Chapel Hill's dark past


The Daily Tar Heel welcomes thoughtful discussion on all of our stories, but please keep comments civil and on-topic.

Latest Print Edition

Print Edition Print Archive

MLK Jr. Day and Social Justice

Special Print Edition

The Greatest Rivalry in College Sports

The Daily Tar Heel and the Chronicle at Duke are are joining forces to make a special Rivalry Edition and to see which program can raise the most money between now and Feb. 8.

Help The Daily Tar Heel beat The Chronicle today!

Donate Now!
    • Front Page
    • Campus
    • City & County
    • Politics
    • Sports
    • Culture
    • Opinion
    • Donate
    • HeelsHousing
Daily Tar Heel To Homepage
109 E. Franklin St. Suite 210, Chapel Hill, NC 27514
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Shop
  • Buy Photos
  • 1893 Brand Studio
  • Alumni
  • Events Calendar
  • Celebrations/Obituaries
  • Southern Neighbor
  • Offline Chapel Hill
  • Newsletter
  • RSS
  • Classifieds

All Rights Reserved

© Copyright 2020 The Daily Tar Heel

Powered by Solutions by The State News.

The Greatest Rivalry in College Sports

The Daily Tar Heel and the Chronicle at Duke are are joining forces to make a special Rivalry Edition and to see which program can raise the most money between now and Feb. 8.

Help The Daily Tar Heel beat The Chronicle today!

Donate Now!